DIVISION OF HOUSEHOLD LABOR AND MATERNAL FUNCTIONING AMONG AT-RISK MOTHERS
Open Access
- Author:
- Hunt, Elizabeth Grisa
- Graduate Program:
- Human Development and Family Studies
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- June 18, 2010
- Committee Members:
- Douglas Michael Teti, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Douglas Michael Teti, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor - Keywords:
- transition to parenthood
African American
preterm infants
division of labor - Abstract:
- Despite the elevated incidence of preterm births among African Americans, very little is known in this population about division of labor (household, childrearing) between parents and maternal functioning. This study examines the applicability and validity of a reliable questionnaire of household labor division and support (Who Does What?; Cowan & Cowan, 1988) in a predominantly low-income sample of urban-dwelling African American mothers with preterm infants. It was hypothesized that when the division of labor in household and child care tasks was satisfactory (according to mothers), relationship quality and parenting self-efficacy would be high or increase over time and parental stress levels would be low or decrease over time. Participants were African American mothers of premature infants recruited into a larger study (Preterm Infant Development Study), recruited from four hospitals in the Baltimore/Washington, DC area. Of 173 mothers recruited, 79 who were married or living with partner served as subjects, and assessments occurred at 32-36, 40-44, 54-58, and 94-98 weeks post-conceptual age for these analyses. Scales used included the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (Spanier, 1976), Parenting Stress Index – Short Form (PSI-SF, Abidin, 1995), Maternal Self-Efficacy Scale (Teti & Gelfand, 1991), and Who Does What? scale (WDW; Cowan et al., 1978). The WDW yields discrepancy scores between what the mother wishes to have and what she actually experiences, in terms of division of labor. The greater the discrepancy, the less satisfied she is with the support she receives. Alphas were calculated for the WDW from their respective time points; reliabilities ranged from .70 to .90. WDW labor division discrepancy scores and two of the maternal functioning variables showed strong associations at both contemporaneous and distal time points in predicted directions. For example, difference scores on household tasks were significantly related to relationship quality at Times 1, 2 and 3, rs (77) = -.41, -.35, -.25, respectively, but became non-significant at Time 4. Difference scores on childcare at Time 1 and parenting stress at Times 2-4 points were significantly correlated, rs (77) = .20, .19, .24, respectively. In addition to these contemporaneous findings, longitudinal analyses will be conducted to examine change in maternal functioning over time in relation to mothers’ satisfaction with household and childcare responsibilities.