Prenatal Childbearing Motivations, Parenting Styles, and Child Adjustment: A Longitudinal Study

Reut Nachoum, Anat Moed, Nir Madjar, Yaniv Kanat-Maymon

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)715-724
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Family Psychology
Volume35
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 American Psychological Association

Keywords

  • Autonomous motivation
  • Child adjustment
  • Parenting styles
  • Self-determination theory

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