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The impact of the first child on marital happiness, life satisfaction, and self-actualization
Abstract
This research examines the effects of the first child on the parent's marital happiness, life satisfaction, and self-actualization using cross-sectional data from subjects who are childfree, in their third trimester of pregnancy, with 5-month old infants and with 24-month old toddlers. Using a purposeful sample of 185 subjects, the three dependent variables of marital happiness, life satisfaction, and self-actualization were examined. It was hypothesized that the addition of a child into a marital dyad would result in role changes and stresses. These changes would initially decrease the marital happiness but changes in overall life satisfaction and self-actualization would balance out these stresses. This study found that marital happiness did decline with the onset of childbearing. Life satisfaction was found to significantly increase across the four groups. Self-actualization did not change over the four groups, but it did decrease with the subjects who were pregnant and those with 24-month old children. In addition to the scales used within the questionnaire, the subjects were asked to respond to direct questions which asked them how they felt that the pregnancy or child affected the three dependent variables. The positive responses for all three variables demonstrated significant increases across the three groups with children. This study found trends indicating that first children cause some changes in marital happiness, life satisfaction, and self-actualization. Although marital happiness does go down, other aspects of life may be enhanced, so the overall effect is positive. This study suggests that multiple variables are influencing the impact of the first child on the individual.
Subject Area
Families & family life|Personal relationships|Sociology
Recommended Citation
Dalgas, Peggy Lee, "The impact of the first child on marital happiness, life satisfaction, and self-actualization" (1988). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8914072.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8914072