TY - JOUR
T1 - Prenatal Childbearing Motivations, Parenting Styles, and Child Adjustment
T2 - A Longitudinal Study
AU - Nachoum, Reut
AU - Moed, Anat
AU - Madjar, Nir
AU - Kanat-Maymon, Yaniv
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 American Psychological Association
PY - 2021/9
Y1 - 2021/9
N2 - To have a child is among individuals’ most important and meaningful decisions, with far-reaching implications. Despite evidence linking this decision to a wide variety of consequences, little is known about what motivates people to have children, and even less so about the long-term effects of different childbearing motivations on parenting and child adjustment. This study took a self-determination theory (SDT) perspective, examining how prenatal maternal autonomous and controlled childbearing motivations are related to child behavior problems through parenting styles. The rationale was that prenatal autonomous (sense of volition and self-fulfillment) and controlled (feeling pressured) childbearing motivations would shape later parental styles (autonomy-supportive vs. controlling, respectively) and, consequently, child adjustment. Over a period of 2 years beginning at pregnancy, 326 Israeli mothers reported their prenatal childbearing motivations, as well as parental styles and child behavior problems 20 months postpartum. Results of a path analysis revealed that prenatal autonomous childbearing motivation predicted autonomysupportive parenting, yet the latter was not associated with children’s behavior problems. Prenatal controlled motivation predicted controlling parenting, which, in turn, predicted children’s internalizing and externalizing problems. No direct effects of childbearing motivation on children’s behavior problems are observed, suggesting that childbearing motivation is a distal antecedent operating through more proximal factors such as parenting style. Findings were robust to children’s temperamental tendencies and sociodemographic risk factors such as maternal age, high-risk pregnancy, and preterm birth.
AB - To have a child is among individuals’ most important and meaningful decisions, with far-reaching implications. Despite evidence linking this decision to a wide variety of consequences, little is known about what motivates people to have children, and even less so about the long-term effects of different childbearing motivations on parenting and child adjustment. This study took a self-determination theory (SDT) perspective, examining how prenatal maternal autonomous and controlled childbearing motivations are related to child behavior problems through parenting styles. The rationale was that prenatal autonomous (sense of volition and self-fulfillment) and controlled (feeling pressured) childbearing motivations would shape later parental styles (autonomy-supportive vs. controlling, respectively) and, consequently, child adjustment. Over a period of 2 years beginning at pregnancy, 326 Israeli mothers reported their prenatal childbearing motivations, as well as parental styles and child behavior problems 20 months postpartum. Results of a path analysis revealed that prenatal autonomous childbearing motivation predicted autonomysupportive parenting, yet the latter was not associated with children’s behavior problems. Prenatal controlled motivation predicted controlling parenting, which, in turn, predicted children’s internalizing and externalizing problems. No direct effects of childbearing motivation on children’s behavior problems are observed, suggesting that childbearing motivation is a distal antecedent operating through more proximal factors such as parenting style. Findings were robust to children’s temperamental tendencies and sociodemographic risk factors such as maternal age, high-risk pregnancy, and preterm birth.
KW - Autonomous motivation
KW - Child adjustment
KW - Parenting styles
KW - Self-determination theory
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85108168414&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1037/fam0000826
DO - 10.1037/fam0000826
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C2 - 33705172
AN - SCOPUS:85108168414
SN - 0893-3200
VL - 35
SP - 715
EP - 724
JO - Journal of Family Psychology
JF - Journal of Family Psychology
IS - 6
ER -