What happens to the couple relationship when sharing parental leave? A prospective, longitudinal study

Family relationships are partly influenced by contextual features of the social environment, such as social policy systems and the extent of paid parental leave (Koslowski, Blum, Dobrotić, Macht & Moss, 2019). The mutual transactions between external factors and internal processes in family life are likely to affect the quality of the couple relationship, as emphasized in Bronfenbrenner’s (2001) bioecological model of human development. This theoretical framework describes how family processes are influenced by environmental events and that transitions occur throughout the life span and serve as trajectories for developmental change (Bronfenbrenner, 2001). The model addresses multiple factors that can facilitate the understanding of how parents’ decisions on parental leave influences both parents’ involvement in caregiving through reciprocal transactions between the societal and the individual levels, which might affect parents’ interaction and their relationship as a couple. The present study examines parents’ perceived couple relationship quality and how it is influenced by division of parental leave, in a sample of 280 Swedish parents who filled out questionnaires at 6 and 18 months after their child was born. We also examined whether parenting stress or coparenting quality had any bearing on the association between division of parental leave and couple relationship quality. The study contributes new knowledge on how parents of young children perceive their couple relationship in the context of equal division of parental leave, building on our previous studies in which other outcomes were measured. Sweden has a history of implemented welfare reforms to promote gender equality (Oláh & Bernhardt, 2008) and is highly ranked internationally in terms of gender equality (World Economic Forum, 2020). Parental leave rights for both mothers and fathers are regulated in the gender-neutral Parental Leave Act (SFS, 1995), and fathers have been afforded the same rights as mothers since 1974. Government policy encourages parents to share their parental leave equally, and the parental leave system is designed to stimulate a dual-earner model (Haas & Hwang, 2012). Fathers’ total use of benefit days has slowly grown since the introduction of the gender-neutral parental leave system in 1974, and today accounts for approximately 29% of the 480 benefit days afforded the couple for each child (Försäkringskassan, 2019). After a third so called “daddy month” was introduced in 2016, 90 days are today reserved for each parent, and most fathers, 88%, take some parental leave during their child’s first seven years, generally starting 13 to 15 months after childbirth (Duvander & Löfgren, 2019). Still, the proportion of parents who divide parental benefit days equally (each parent taking at least 40% of the leave) remains a low 18% (Försäkringskassan, 2019). This study was conducted between 2011 and 2013, before the third daddy month was added. During the study time period, each parent received 60 days, respectively, while the remaining days could be split however the parents wanted. The transition to parenthood is a major life event and its effects on the couple relationship are well established. However, the direction of the association is not always consistent. Several studies (Bäckström, Kåreholt, Thorstensson, Golsäter & Mårtensson, 2018; Canário & Figueiredo, 2016; Doss, Rhoades, Stanley & Markman, 2009; Lawrence, Rothman, Cobb, Rothman & Bradbury, 2008; Ngai & Ngu, 2016; Shapiro, Gottman & Carrère, 2000), as well as two meta-analyses (Mitnick, Heyman & Smith Slep, 2009; Twenge, Campbell & Foster, 2003), have shown significantly lower relationship satisfaction after the transition to parenthood, while the opposite, that is, higher relationship satisfaction, also has been shown (Kluwer, 2010). Potential reasons for a lower relationship quality include role conflict and restriction of freedom after the birth of a child (Oláh, Kotowska & Richter, 2018; Twenge et al., 2003), less positive spousal interaction (Houts, Barnett-Walker, Paley & Cox, 2008; Kluwer & Johnson, 2007), and the demanding task of combining childcare, household work, and paid work (Kushner, Sopcak, Breitkreuz et al., 2017; Yarwood & Locke, 2016). Experiencing early parenthood as stressful with insufficient communication between partners (Deave, Johnson & Ingram, 2008; Hansson & Ahlborg, 2016; Trillingsgaard, Baucom & Heyman, 2014), or suffering from sleep disruption as new parents (Medina, Lederhos & Lillis, 2009; Nelson, Kushlev & Lyubomirsky, 2014), also might contribute to lower quality of the couple relationship. Once the transition to parenthood is established, the dynamics in family processes may reflect changes in the couple relationship, as parental roles evolve with influence from ideals, values, norms, and contextual factors on the societal level (Bronfenbrenner, 2001). As the infant grows into toddlerhood, and primary caregiving often shifts from one parent to another when one or both parents return to working life, this time period generally involves the establishment of a new identity as a parent. The new situation often puts considerable strain on the couple relationship, and this time period may be crucial for the couple relationship. There is a paucity of research on how the couple relationship evolves in early parenthood, that is, during the child’s first year or two, in relation to different family social policy contexts. Childbirth and parenthood can produce cumulative effects of stress on parents (Younger, 1991). Although parenthood can be joyful, parental roles may also be associated with conflicting demands and multiple stressors (Deave et al., 2008; Nelson et al., 2014). Parenting stress can follow from a perceived discrepancy between specific demands associated with parenthood and the parent’s personal resources (Östberg, 1999). Parental roles associated with recurring struggles and parenting stress may in itself have consequences for the dyadic interactions in early parent–child relationships (Östberg, Hagekull & Hagelin, 2007), and has been shown to be related to parental bonding, and child executive functioning, in both mothers and fathers (de Cook et al., 2017). Both parents’ levels of parenting stress have been linked to the couple relationship quality (Durtschi, Soloski & Kimmes, 2017; Nelson et al., 2014). According to Durtschi et al. (2017), fathers’ parenting stress might influence the couples’ relationship quality to a greater degree than mothers’ parenting stress. The findings suggest that dyadic interactions between parents have synergistic effects on the partners’ parenting stress, whereby when parenting stress is high in one partner, the other parent is less affected by the partners’ stress. However, high levels of parenting stress may contribute to an increased risk of couple dissolution (Kerstis et al., 2014; Widarsson, Nohlert, Öhrvik & Kerstis, 2019). New parents establish their joint parenting relationship and negotiate parenting roles within a coparenting relationship that is distinct from, though related to, their couple relationship. Coparenting dynamics reflect to which extent parents support their partner’s actions and decisions, as they form a coparenting team (Feinberg, 2003). Coparenting has been referred to as the collaboration between parents, how they trust each other, and how they share parental responsibilities (Feinberg, 2003). Parents’ relational functioning as a couple seems to influence their joint parenthood, and evidence of longitudinal associations between relationship quality and coparenting functioning across the transition to parenthood has been found for both mothers and fathers (Christopher, Umemura, Mann, Jacobvitz & Hazen, 2015; Le, McDaniel, Leavitt & Feinberg, 2016). For mothers, the influence seems reciprocal, from coparenting functioning back to couple relationship quality, indicating that mothers are likely to perceive their partner’s engagement and support in parenting as associated with the quality of their couple relationship (Durtschi et al., 2017; Le et al., 2016; McClain & Brown, 2017). However, a recent study also found fathers’ perceptions of maternal support in their parenting (in terms of maternal gatekeeping) related to fathers’ couple relationship quality (Olsavsky, Yan, Schoppe-Sullivan & Kamp Dush, 2019). Consistent with these bidirectional associations, both parents’ perceived supportive coparenting quality as new parents has been shown to predict the quality of their own relationship after two years (Durtschi et al., 2017). Mothers’ support of their partner’s actions and decisions during coparenting has been linked to increased father involvement (Murphy, Gallegos, Jacobvitz & Hazen, 2017). Father involvement in their child’s care seems to influence coparenting quality (Jia, Schoppe-Sullivan & Eccles, 2011), and parental disagreement about the maternal role may be a source of conflict in the triadic mother–father–infant interaction (Favez, Tissot, Frascarolo, Stiefel & Despland, 2016). Fathers’ involvement in the care of their child may not only be positive; it also might trigger parental friction, often referred to as “maternal gatekeeping” (Schoppe-Sullivan et al., 2008). Maternal gatekeeping can either encourage or discourage fathers’ parenting engagement, affecting their share of parenting and degree of coparenting (Puhlman & Pasley, 2013). Fathers might be sensitive to their partner’s criticism, but also might feel supported when their partner offers practical support in how to carry out parenting tasks (Sheedy & Eubands Gambrel, 2019). Sharing parental leave has been reported to facilitate couples’ understanding of each other’s everyday life (Almqvist, Sandberg & Dahlgren, 2011), which might contribute to higher quality of the couple relationship. Recently, in the context of the United States which has no national paid parental leave policy, Petts and Knoester (2019) found associations between length of leave and parental in terms of higher perceived relationship satisfaction and less reported relationship conflict by mothers who before than by a longitudinal study of the same fathers’ leave taking after childbirth and length of parental leave were associated with relationship quality one year after and the association the first years after birth & 2020). recent study by and in and found that the father parental leave for any period of time were at lower risk of dissolution than the father no leave, but was no association between equal division of parental leave and relationship the Swedish context fathers’ parental is to include caregiving and of gender equality is in the & 2017). Fathers’ who with their share of parental leave, and who they had time on parental leave have been found to lower relationship satisfaction and higher risk of than fathers who are with the division of parental leave & 2016). However, mothers might they perceive that their parenting role and as is by the involvement (Schoppe-Sullivan et al., Parents’ collaboration and of their parenting and responsibilities often is a of which might stress on the couple relationship et al., 2016). Parental roles are early in parenthood and the for interactions in family life et al., a for increased understanding of the quality of the couple relationship in early family life and how it is affected by division of parental supportive coparenting can be established, couple relationship quality may throughout and et al., 2016; Le et al., 2016). our previous found that parental leave equally was associated with lower parenting stress in fathers, but not in mothers & and with higher coparenting quality in both mothers and fathers & with not the leave who parental leave equally also have reported higher satisfaction with their partner’s involvement in caregiving than who not share equally & 2019). As parenting stress and coparenting quality are likely to have a bearing on couple relationship quality, it is of also to how parents’ division of parental leave influences their couple relationship. the of this study was to associations between division of parental leave and change in perceived quality of the couple relationship in parents of and whether this association is influenced by parenting stress or coparenting quality. We that equal division of parental leave is associated with couple relationship quality this association be by parenting stress and coparenting quality The study a longitudinal in which were a from mothers and fathers of children at two time when the child was 6 months and 18 months were from child in of were for by at the child The child serve of in their and both and were that parents be and be in the Swedish to the The about the study to both mothers and fathers, and who to who were the of the by or by and addresses and addresses were The first was to parents at as a by or a to their were to after and The was at to parents who had in the first and to partners who had not at the parents to to and were each a After two parents mothers and fathers, the to a of The at was to the parents who had to the first and to of their partners who had not to the first for a total of After two parents mothers and the a of The present of the 280 parents mothers and fathers, who to both the 280 parents, were who in only the first the proportion of mothers was than who both other were found between mothers or fathers and were to to the and the approximately to The study was by the in were between 2011 and The were into two on how they reported at how they had the parental equal (each parent taking parental leave at least 40% of the and parent, generally mothers taking than of the time on parental parental leave was in with the of the Swedish (Försäkringskassan, 2019). were between the that they had not parental leave as they had to were a total of were in the equal and at 280 Fathers Fathers The reported in this is the change in couple relationship quality in mothers and fathers of and whether this is affected by division of parental This was as change in perceived couple relationship quality between and and with the of & The is on the which was and to the Swedish and and by et al. The into dyadic dyadic dyadic satisfaction dyadic and dyadic is on a from to are for each and by the of in the for each are to a that from to a perceived quality of couple relationship. for the sample were for mothers and for were on perceived parenting stress, with the Swedish Hagekull & and perceive quality of with the Parenting & 1999). also were on parental leave division and family The on role social relationship and The form a as a of higher parenting stress. The is and has been for parenting stress in parents of young children et al., the were for mothers and for fathers at The is a of the perceived between from to on a and of can from a working with the other parent. The is and has been for parenting in parents of children years & & 2014). were and respectively, for mothers and fathers in the sample at The Swedish of by and was with from the were for and study are as and or as and and for each and for the total of the were were for of and of was for multiple were with change in couple relationship quality from to as and division of parental leave as The were in the first model only division of parental leave was a parent, and a other than were with and of with each other while parental with a parent for mothers, for for these they were first as in one a parent, was associated with the with a of and was in a the parenting stress and coparenting quality in a parents who to in the at and and at were in the were by to between were level of was for Parents’ total time on parental leave with of time leave, between mothers in the and the between fathers was in total time on parental leave also the and the quality of couple relationship at and the of the and the is in by reported division of parental leave at and fathers in the equal reported the on the and on the dyadic dyadic and dyadic Parenting stress and coparenting quality at is in in relation to division of parental The equal reported the higher levels of both parenting stress and coparenting quality, in both mothers and The and the model for change in couple relationship quality from 6 to 18 months after childbirth are in fathers, the first was equally parental leave was significantly associated with higher perceived couple relationship quality The model of the in the change in couple relationship quality mothers, the first was not supported since no association was found between division of parental leave and perceived couple relationship quality. a parent, was in the as a with for mothers, and for for the in the multiple the association not the of in the and the are the As the was not supported for fathers, the association between division of parental leave and couple relationship quality in the for parenting stress and coparenting quality However, the roles of parenting stress and coparenting quality were not to for parenting stress, and to for coparenting indicating that these factors not affect couple relationship quality. mothers, the model no association between division of parental leave and couple relationship quality to and the was not The of this study is that parental leave equally is associated with higher perceived couple relationship quality 18 months after childbirth in fathers, but not in mothers, with not parental leave no effects of parenting stress or coparenting quality in either The findings contribute on how both mothers and fathers with different division of parental leave perceived the quality of their couple relationship, and about how fathers’ as primary for a period might influence the of how their couple relationship involvement during equally parental leave to influence fathers’ on their couple relationship quality with a bioecological system (Bronfenbrenner, on processes within the present study how external and internal factors and might influence how parents perceived their couple relationship quality during early The social and which are the for our are from the Swedish parental leave both parents equal to paid parental this parents’ division of parental leave may their engagement in working life and which through reciprocal transactions between and influences family is in with the bioecological (Bronfenbrenner, as parental roles are time in to contextual and fathers’ taking an equal share of the parental leave seems to influence their of the couple relationship quality as the family functioning is and However, when our in the of previous it is to in that contextual to parental leave et al., 2019). findings in family research considerable for when parenthood, and a in risk of their relationship in a less positive et al., our findings suggest that parents’ levels of perceived relationship quality from to 18 months after the in a Swedish context during transition to parenthood et al., with the of fathers parental leave Parents’ on the total and on of the suggest that both mothers and fathers who parental leave equally were most with their relationship quality. However, only fathers’ of equally parental leave significantly to a greater change in the couple relationship in from to 18 months after though the of the effects is in of in the with a theoretical of the findings might that equal of parental leave contributes to higher satisfaction with the relationship quality in The change may be of the that most of the relationship change may have from to et al., The is supported by previous Swedish research on fathers’ satisfaction with how parental leave they and with their relationship et al., 2016). The association between division of parental leave and fathers’ perceived couple relationship quality in the changes one when fathers who parental leave equally had primary caregiving for a period of time than fathers who less parental fathers it to their child’s caregiving and in a that mothers care about the quality of family these fathers might be likely to their parenting influence their of the couple relationship quality as well as the quality of This is in with previous research that of parental leave parents’ understanding of each other’s parenting and everyday life et al., et al., 2017). Fathers’ parental leave taking has been as a of a to family life & parents’ of parental roles during equally parental leave were not in the family dynamics as that equally parental leave be associated with parents’ couple relationship satisfaction, was for fathers but not for This is in to Petts and (2019) that fathers’ parental leave taking and length of time on parental leave was associated with perceived couple relationship satisfaction only in mothers, but not in the between the United States & and Sweden in contextual for paid parental leave can some understanding to the The that most Swedish fathers take some parental leave that fathers are to be in the for caregiving (Duvander et al., and Swedish mothers might not fathers’ leave taking in the same as mothers in the study & 2019). found that division of parental leave not to influence mothers’ of the couple relationship in the same as it influences fathers’ previous research has to the of fathers’ involvement for mothers’ of couple relationship quality & Brown, 2017). the of association between parental leave and mothers’ perceived couple relationship that mothers feel with their share of parental leave and that couples’ decisions on division of parental leave have no bearing on how they perceive their couple relationship. This of decisions about division of parental leave & 2017; & might that primary caregiving generally is for mothers than for fathers, and that couples’ on how to divide their leave to the of the proportion of leave by their that have been as for the parental leave are and work life gender has been found to be the most of parental leave division et al., that mothers not in their of their couple relationship is with previous Swedish which also not any association between mothers’ with their division of parental leave and relationship satisfaction et al., 2016). studies are to the study findings and the the found in fathers, but not in mothers, between parental leave division and change in perceived couple relationship quality. no support for the that the association between division of parental leave and change in perceived couple relationship quality was by parenting stress. This was since previous research has such a between parenting stress and relationship quality (Durtschi et al., 2017). study also not previous findings of an association between parents’ on coparenting and relationship quality Durtschi et al., 2017). that the couple relationship and parents’ joint parenting in terms of coparenting are distinct related in the family these might be affected by division of parental leave to be other or of couple relationship dynamics in relation to parental leave to be The findings from our study have for parents, and on the understanding of family relationships and consequences of different parental leave The of equally parental leave, with a on the couple relationship, of family life and in terms of on parental roles and affecting life in different social and contexts. may that their division of parental leave may affect the quality of their couple relationship, and reflect on and for their when division of parental may these within individual and parent support may that these findings reflect Swedish parents’ of different parental leave division and consequences for relationship dynamics within the which can contribute for of social Although our study was one of the first to division of parental leave and associations with change in perceived couple relationship quality from both parents’ of this study be the sample might be in since only parents were about the to the on This to which may also be the of only or to The parents were which could be as a in family and working life, but this might also high between and less sample might different in the couple relationship satisfaction and the influence of division of parental leave, and have in our and to the the from each of the two could the of the parents to share parental leave equally may have been to in the which might the high proportion of equally parents in our of our the was before the introduction of the third month of the individual However, the month has shown no on the of parents who share parental leave equally (Duvander & so the are likely to be also in could be as a that not a dyadic in of of the However, to associations of mothers and fathers the sample of 280 parents The for each a of couples’ and individual parents’ to from a the of individual was by is the on it be out that an association was established, its direction is not equal parental leave to couple relationship, or a relationship parents to share their leave the context of the on the Swedish parental leave system both parents the same to parental leave and their engagement in working life, of the to other with different contextual This study changes in couple relationship quality related to parents’ division of parental The of an association between division of parental leave and change in perceived couple relationship quality fathers, but not mothers, is the of the findings suggest that parental leave equally is linked to higher couple relationship quality at 18 months after childbirth in the study knowledge about consequences of division of parental leave for relationship satisfaction when equal of parenting responsibilities is into findings on the of parental leave and couple relationships dynamics are to in between parents, and

Affect (linguistics) · Association (psychology) · Context (archaeology) · Coparenting · Developmental psychology · Quality (philosophy) · Welfare · Family Support in Illness · Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum · Psychology · Social Psychology · Work-Family Balance Challenges

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