Gender Roles and Alcohol Abuse across the Transition to Parenthood* JUDITH A. RICHMAN, PH.D.,KATHLEEN M. ROSPENDA, M.A., ANDMICHELE A. KELLEY, SC.Dfi Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, 912 S. Wood Street, Chicago, Illinois 60612 ABSTRACT. Objective: The transition to parenthood has been occur- ring within the context of the increasing labor force participation of women andpotential stress-related costs of "nontraditional" as well as '•raditional" gender role choices of new parents. This study addressed theextent to which gender role-related stressors lead to increased prob- lem drinkingacross the transition to parenthood. Method: Fifty-five married couples expecting their first child were obtained from seven Chicago area hospitals and surveyed witha mailed questionnaire at two points in time:(1) during the second trimester of pregnancy and(2) at 6 months following childbirth. The study examined bothwives'andhus- bands'changes in problem-related drinkingby comparing problem drinkingduringthe 6 months prior to pregnancy (retrospectively as- sessed atTime 1)withdrinking during the6 months following childbirth using a modified formof the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test.In addition, the study contrasted problem drinkers with nonproblem drinkers following parenthood with regardto role overload (over- whelming demands fromworkand familyroles), roledeprivation (loss of work role following parenthood) androle deterioration (decreased support from role relationships). Results: Thedata show increased prob- lem drinking for both mothers and fathers butfail to support either role overload or roledeprivation hypotheses. However, thedata arecongru- ent with the role deterioration perspective. Conclusions: If these find- ingsare replicated, futurestudies of gender rolesand alcohol abuse should focus greater attention onthe perceived quality of social roles be- yondnoting their presence or absence. (J. Stud. Alcohol56: 553-557, 1995) TUDIES linking gender role arrangements to alcohol use and abuse have addressed the extent to which women's and men's marital,parental and work-rolestatuses and re- sponsibilities aredifferentially linkedto drinking behaviors (Johnson, 1982; Lennon, 1987; Parkeret el., 1980; Wilsnack and Cheloha, 1987; Wilsnack and Wilsnack, 1992). How- ever, the main focus has been on the effects of women's, but notmen's,social roles andon marriage andemployment in contrast to parenthood. In addition, most studies havebeen cross-sectional in design andthuslimited in their ability to depict the dynamic processes by which involvement in social roles translates intovulnerability to deleterious drinking out- comes. Gender-role-related research linking parenthood withvul- nerability to problem drinking hasfocused on situations in- volving either role overload or role deprivation. The role-overload thesis views women's large scale entrance into the labor force during recentdecades as resulting in over- whelming roledemands (Gove and Geerken, 1977; Gove and Tudor,1973;Hochschild, 1989).Despite theiroccupational roles, women continue to shoulder the major burdenfor household and childcareactivities(Rosset el., 1983). How- Received: April 22, 1994.Revision: October 27, 1994. *This studywas funded by the Alcoholic Beverage Medical Research Foundation. An earlier version of thisarticlewaspresented at the Interna- tional Sociological Association XIII World Congress of Sociology, Biele- feld,Germany, July 1994. *Michele A. Kelley is with the School of Public Health, University of Illi- nois at Chicago. 553 ever,employed women havegenerally manifested better or comparable mental health in comparison with housewives (Gore and Mangione, 1983; Gove and Geerken, 1977; Rosenfield, 1980; Wilsnack et al., 1991; Wilsnack and Wilsnack, 1992).Yet, if domestic responsibilities arepartic- ularlystressful following entrance intoparenthood, therole overload hypothesis predicts thatfollowing parenthood em- ployed women should manifest greater distress and vulnera- bility to problem drinking compared to homemakers and fathers. Moreover, perceptions of doing too much and anun- fair amount of workshould also belinked to problem drink- ing. Relative to the limited empiricalsupport for the role- overload thesis, Wilsnack and Cheloha (1987) suggested that theassumption of few rather than many social roles (rolede- privation) maybe accompanied by greater loneliness, lower self-esteem and more limited socialsupport. Their study showed a significant link between fewer role relationships and problemdrinkingin women.From this perspective, homemakers who relinquish previous occupational roles followingparenthood should be mostvulnerable to prob- lem drinking. Finally,life transitions canalso be accompanied by roles that are not lost but, rather, diminished in their perceived qualityovertime (role deterioration). The transition to par- enthood may,in theprocess of tending to theneeds of a new- born, entaila shiftin energy from other social relationships. In particular, the presence of young children constrains the attention that spouses cangive to each other (Cutrona et al., 1990) and leads to decreased marital support (Campbell