Downloaded By:[B-on Consortium -2007]At:12:21 15 April 2008 Partner relationships during the transition to parenthood Barbara Figueiredo a *, Tiffany Field b,c , Miguel Diego b , Maria Hernandez-Reif d , Osvelia Deeds b and Angela Ascencio b a Department of Psychology, University of Minho, Portugal; b Department of Pediatrics, Touch Research Institutes, University of Miami School of Medicine; c Fielding Graduate University; d University of Alabama Partner relationships are relevant in the psychological adjustment during the transition to parenthood, but mothers have been studied more often than fathers in this respect. The Relationship Questionnaire (RQ) to assess positive and negative dimensions of the partner relationship, the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) to assess depression and the State Anxiety Inventory (STAI) to assess anxiety were administered to forty-three women and their partners recruited during the second trimester of pregnancy and seen again until after delivery in order to assess differences in women’s/men’s anxiety and depression according to partner relationships. Results indicate that women/men with a less positive relationship with the partner show higher anxiety than women/ men with a more positive partner relationship, and those women/men with a more negative relationship with the partner show both higher depression and higher anxiety than women/men with a less negative relationship with the partner. Also partners of women/men with a more negative partner relationship show higher depression than partners of women/men with a less negative partner relationship. Psychological adjustment during the transition to parenthood of both the women/ men and the partner is impacted by the partner relationship. Keywords: partner relationship; pregnancy; depression; anxiety Introduction Relationships are important for facilitating developmental changes and transitions and for buffering the impact of adverse life events. Relationships might contribute to the individual’s psychological adjustment, particularly when the levels of stress, vulnerability and developmental challenge are high, as during the transition to parenthood. However, relationships may also be the context of stressful events, leading consequently to poor health and psychological outcomes. Pregnancy and the postpartum periods frequently have negative consequences both for the partners’ relationship and for the psychological adjustment of both women and men. For example, childbearing women experienced higher level of symptomatology and poor social adjustment during late pregnancy and the early puerperium than non- childbearing women (O’Hara, Zekoski, Philipps, & Wright, 1990). Partner relationships have been noted to decline across pregnancy and the postpartum periods. Decreased proximity and communication and increased conflict and ambivalence between the two members of the couple result in less marital satisfaction and adjustment after compared to before delivery or early pregnancy (Cox, Paley, Burchinal, & Payne, 1999; Florsheim et al., 2003; Gloger-Tippelt & *Corresponding author. Email: bbfi@iep.uminho.pt Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, Vol. 26, No. 2, May 2008, 99–107 ISSN 0264-6838 print/ISSN 1469-672X online # 2008 Society for Reproductive and Infant Psychology DOI: 10.1080/02646830701873057 http://www.informaworld.com