Parental leave and work adaptation at the transition to parenthood: Individual, marital, and social correlates

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Abstract

This study examined individual, marital, and social–contextual factors associated with the length of maternity and paternity leave and the parents' work adaptation at the transition to parenthood. Ninety-eight dual-earner parents of 3- to 5-month-old infants were surveyed following the mother's return to work. A shorter maternity leave (<12 weeks) was associated with higher maternal depression, lower parental preoccupation with the infant, less knowledge of infant development, more negative impact of birth on self-esteem and marriage, and higher career centrality. Fathers took an average of 6.5 days as paternity leave and longer leaves were related to positive employer reaction, higher paternal preoccupation with infant, more marital support, and higher family salience. Mothers' work adaptation was related to shorter work hours, higher marital support, lower depression, and career centrality, whereas marital support and career centrality predicted fathers' work adaptation. Shorter parental leave combined with perceived low-quality childcare predicted lower parental adjustment to the work role. Risk indicators at the transition to dual-earner parenthood and implications for social policy are discussed.

Introduction

The transition to parenthood marks a period of reorganization in the life cycle of families, associated with significant changes in the couple's relationship, responsibilities, and preoccupations Belsky & Pensky, 1988, Cowan & Cowan, 1992, Feldman, 2000, Heinicke, 1984, Levy-Shiff, 1994. With the numbers of employed mothers continuously on the rise, the transition to parenthood is also the time when many couples enter the role of dual-earner parents and must learn to balance work and family (Feldman, Masalha, & Nadam, 2001). In the United States, for example, 59% of mothers with infants under the age of 1 year were employed in 1996, compared to 31% in 1975 (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1997). Because mothers are still the primary caregivers in most households and take longer leaves than their husbands (Han & Waldfogel, 2003), the mother's return to work following the first childbirth starts the couple's life as a dual-earner family. The parents' adaptation to reemployment draws upon a range of risk and protective factors: parental well-being, marital relationship, subjective appraisal of the childbirth, attitudes toward work and family, investment in parenting, and the infant's dispositions and temperament. In addition to these intrafamily factors, positive adaptation to dual-employment depends on societal provisions to new parents, in terms of adequate and affordable childcare, support in the work place, and state and federal parental leave laws (Zigler, Frank, & Emmel, 1988). The goal of the present study was to examine the individual, marital, and social–contextual correlates of the length of maternity and paternity leave and assess factors that may be related to a more successful adaptation to reemployment among dual-earner couples at the transition to parenthood.

Theoretical and empirical accounts on the transition to parenthood (e.g., Cowan & Cowan, 1992) and the dual-earner family (e.g., Gottfried & Gottfried, 1994) underscore the need to evaluate adaptation at this stage from a multifactor, ecological, and systemic perspective. According to such perspectives, proximal and distal risk and protective factors interact in shaping parental adjustment and the family atmosphere Belsky, 1984, Sameroff, 1993. During the transition to dual-earner parenthood, stress is especially high. Results of a nationally representative study of 2958 employed men and women indicated that parents suffer more job stress than nonparents, stress is primarily related to the work–family balance, and the coping strategies of parents are less adaptive (Galinsky, Bond, & Friedman, 1996). Of the parents group, parents in dual-earner families experience more stress compared to single-earner families (Harwood, 1988), stress increases at the transition to parenthood (Owen & Cox, 1988), and women in dual-earner families are more stress-prone than their husbands during the transition (Lewis & Cooper, 1988).

Maternal stress following the first childbirth has been associated with changes in the marital relationship, in particular the decline in marital satisfaction experienced by some couples (Belsky & Pensky, 1988), the shift toward traditional role division, the husband's reduced participation in household chores (Ruble, Hackel, Fleming, & Stangor, 1988), and the low involvement of dual-earner fathers in childcare responsibilities Grych & Clark, 1999, Lamb et al., 1987. Marital support, on the other hand, is among the central predictors of family adaptation at the transition to parenthood (Parke & Beitel, 1988), and higher marital support has been associated with lower work–family interference (Hughes, Galinsky, & Morris, 1992). Maternal depression is another well-known risk condition following childbirth, affecting 8–10% of postpartum mothers (Burt & Stein, 2002). The father's physical and emotional support is among the central protective factors against maternal depression (Cutrona & Troutman, 1986), and increased father involvement reduces marital stress and facilitates the infant's social development at the transition to parenthood (Feldman, 2000). In addition, a difficult infant temperament exacerbates maternal stress and depression, interferes with maternal adaptation to reemployment, contributes to marital distress, and disrupts the formation of an optimal parent–infant relationship Feldman, 2003, Feldman et al., 2001, Levy-Shiff, 1994. Finally, risk and resiliency factors tend to be interrelated, exert both cumulative and interactive effects on parental adaptation, and have a stronger impact during periods of transition or reorganization Belsky, 1997, Rutter, 1987. Thus, it is likely that parental adaptation to reemployment following the first birth would be related to parent, child, and marital factors—the determinants of parenting (Belsky, 1984)—including parental depression, difficult infant temperament, and the level of marital support.

Apart from the family microsystem, the support provided by the social macrosystem to new parents is an important contributor to family adaptation. Three factors related to societal provision to parents have been found to increase parental functioning in the work role: work hours, childcare quality, and the length of parental leave. Flexible hours, greater autonomy, and more accepting employers' attitudes have been associated with lower work stress and better job functioning, emphasizing the importance of a supportive workplace culture and flexible work conditions to parental work adaptation (Galinsky et al., 1996). Feldman et al. (2001) found that shorter work hours and higher childcare quality predicted better work adaptation among women returning from maternity leave after the birth of their first child, but these factors had no effect on the father's work functioning.

With regards to the length of parental leave, until recently, the United States was the only industrial nation with no standard parental leave policy (Frank & Lipner, 1988). The Family and Medical Leave Act (1993), approved by President Clinton in 1993, granted unpaid leave of up to 12 weeks within the first year of childbirth to employees covered by the legislation, that is, those holding a full-time position in a workplace employing 50 persons or more. These minimal benefits stand in sharp contrast to parental leave policies in European countries, which offer a paid parental leave for the first few weeks after childbirth and up to 18 months of fully job-protected unpaid leave Kamerman, 1988, Ondrich et al., 1996, Wood, 2002. Research in European countries has pointed to the beneficial impact of a paid federal leave on family adaptation. A study of 17 industrial countries found that the provision of a paid maternity leave was associated with a decrease in infant mortality, an increase in women's participation in the work force during the childbearing years, and an increase in birth rates (Winegarden & Bracy, 1995). The introduction of a paid paternity leave in Scandinavian countries has been instrumental in changing employers' views on fathering, creating an accepting corporate atmosphere toward parenting, and increasing fathers' participation in childcare and family life Brandth & Kvande, 2002, Haas, 1992. On the other hand, the unpaid parental leave provided under the FMLA appears to have little effect on parents' leave-taking behavior. A recent survey of 8377 mothers and fathers from 1996 to 1999 showed that the FMLA had no effect on men's leave usage and had some, but not substantial impact on the length of maternity leave (Han & Waldfogel, 2003). Other reports confirm the limited effect of the FMLA, although more mothers have been reported to take leaves after the approval of the FMLA Klerman & Leibowitz, 1994, Waldfogel, 1999.

The length of maternity leave has been associated with various individual and contextual factors. It had been argued that to raise well-adapted children and a healthy society, parents must be provided an initial period of adjustment after childbirth Bronfenbrenner, 1988, Zigler et al., 1988. Following birth, parents require a period of total involvement with the infant, attentiveness to his or her communicative signals, and preoccupation with becoming a parent (Brazelton, 1986). This heightened involvement in the infant's well-being and growth—termed primary maternal preoccupation (Winnicott, 1956)—peaks during the first weeks of life (Leckman et al., 1999) and can be disrupted by the parent's early return to work. Diminished parental preoccupation is considered a risk signal that is associated with depression, anxiety, and reduced interest in the child (Feldman, Weller, Leckman, Kvint, & Eidelman, 1999). A short maternity leave has been associated with risk factors, including negative maternal affect and reduced sensitivity (Clark, Hyde, Essex, & Klein, 1997), work stress and overload, marital dissatisfaction (Hyde, Essex, Clark, & Klein, 2001), and increased depression and anxiety Gjerdingen & Chaloner, 1994, Hyde et al., 1995. Furthermore, it has been noted that the length of leave often interacts with other risk conditions, such as long working hours or low childcare quality, rather than exerting a direct impact on maternal adjustment. This implies that within a multirisk context, a short leave may exacerbate an already precarious maternal adaptation during a period of heightened stress. Finally, in contrast to research on maternity leave, nearly no information is available on fathers' leave usage or on the personal and contextual factors that are associated with fathers' leave-taking behavior (Han & Waldfogel, 2003).

Parental adaptation to reemployment depends not only on the parent's well-being and marital support or on the length of leave and employment conditions, but also on the centrality of the career and family aspects in the parent's life. Pleck's (1985) model on the “work–family role system” points to the close links between the individual's attitudes toward a role and functioning in that role. During periods of reevaluation of the work and family roles, such as the transition to parenthood, the centrality attributed to each role is especially meaningful to role adaptation (Voydanoff, 1989). For instance, maternal ambivalence toward the work role was found to predict lower functioning, higher depression, and increased maternal stress (Schwartzberg & Dytell, 1996). Thus, mothers who report higher career centrality may be inclined to take shorter leaves or to experience better adaptation to the work role. On the other hand, fathers who consider the family as a more salient aspect of their self-concept may tend to take longer leaves after the birth of their first child.

In sum, the present study examined factors that may be associated with the length of maternity and paternity leave and with the mother's and father's work adaptation following the first childbirth. Although the study is correlational and cannot point to causal factors, it is among the first attempts to examine a range of personal and contextual factors in relation to both maternity and paternity leaves and the parents' subsequent adjustment to reemployment. Guided by a systemic approach Belsky, 1984, Gottfried & Gottfried, 1994, the parent's well-being, attitudes toward work and family, infant temperament, marital support, employer's attitudes toward parenting, and employment conditions were examined as potential correlates of the length of parental leave and work adaptation.

With regards to the length of parental leave, lower parent depression, higher marital support, perception of the infant as less difficult, and positive employer's reaction to childbirth were expected to be associated with longer parental leaves. A longer parental leave was also expected to afford parents a better opportunity for the initial mental involvement and to correlate with higher preoccupation with the child. Whether the pregnancy was planned or not was examined as a predictor of the parental leave. Adapting a life-cycle perspective on the work–family issue (Friedman & Galinsky, 1992), it was hypothesized that a timely, planned birth that coincides with the parent's life goals would be associated with longer leaves. Finally, the parent's attitudes toward the work and family roles were examined in relation to the length of leave. In light of research on work and family salience in women and men Barnett & Baruch, 1987, Voydanoff, 1989, mothers with higher career centrality were expected to take shorter leaves, while fathers reporting higher family salience were expected to take longer leaves after the birth of their first child.

Mothers' and fathers' work adaptation were examined in relation to employment conditions: work hours, childcare quality, and the length of parental leave. In light of research on the contribution of these factors to maternal job performance (Feldman et al., 2001), we expected better work adaptation among women working shorter hours and those who perceived the quality of childcare as more optimal. In addition, marital support and parental depression were examined as the personal and contextual correlates of work adaptation. It was expected that parents experiencing lower depression and higher marital support would report better adaptation to reemployment. Consistent with the “work–family role system” model (Pleck, 1985), career centrality was expected to predict better work adaptation in women and men. Finally, according to the work of Hyde et al. (2001), the length of leave was examined in interaction with other risk factors in predicting parental adaptation to dual employment at the transition to parenthood.

Section snippets

Participants

Ninety-eight dual-earner mothers and fathers whose firstborn child was between 3 and 5 months old participated in the study. All participants were married and the participation of both partners was a prerequisite for inclusion in the study. All children were first-born, born at term age in a singleton birth, and were in good health since birth. To participate, the mother had to be employed prior to childbirth, take a period of maternity leave, and resume employment by the time of the survey.

Results

Results are reported in three sections. In the first section, experiences and attitudes of first-time dual-earner parents are reported. The second section explores differences in individual, marital, and contextual factors between mothers who took shorter (<12 weeks) and longer maternity leaves. The final section presents four hierarchical regressions predicting the length of maternity and paternity leave and the mother's and father's work adaptation following the first childbirth. Power

Discussion

Results of this study are among the first to reveal the multiple risk and resiliency factors in relation to the length of maternity and paternity leave and the parents' subsequent adaptation to reemployment among dual-earner parents at the transition to parenthood. Guided by a systemic and ecological approach—the most conducive framework to view the topic of parental leave Hyde et al., 2001, Zigler et al., 1988—the findings demonstrate that longer maternity and paternity leaves and better work

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by grants from the Israel Science Foundation (945/01) and the US-Israel Bi-National Fund to Ruth Feldman.

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    Current address: Department of Psychology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA.

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