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Journal of Family Psychology 1996, Vol. 10, No. 1,60-71

Copyright 1996 by the American Psychological Association, Inc. 0893-3200/96/S3.00

Maternal Characteristics and Social Support Across the Transition to Motherhood: Associations With Maternal Behavior Marissa L. Diener and Sarah C. Mangelsdorf University of Illinois

This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

Lauren Heim Goldstein Wellesley College

This study examined associations among personality, mood, stress, and social support during the transition to motherhood and quality of maternal behavior at 3 months postpartum. Seventy primiparous, married women completed questionnaires during pregnancy and at 3 months postpartum. Mother-infant interactions were observed in the home. Maternal sensitivity and expressivity were differentially predicted by social support and mood. Women reported more life stress and less satisfaction with spousal support postpartum than prenatally. Women who reported feeling more anxious and worried prenatally were rated as less expressive in interactions with their infants. Surprisingly, prenatal satisfaction with support from the new mothers' parents was negatively associated with maternal sensitivity. Results highlight the importance of examining prenatal as well as postpartum experiences as possible antecedents of the quality of maternal behavior. The transition to motherhood ushers in many life changes and adjustments as well as new patterns, responsibilities, and routines (Antonucci & Mikus, 1988; Belsky, Rovine, & Fish, 1989; Grossman, Eichler, & Winickoff, 1980). Much research has focused on the transition to motherhood and what concurrent variables in a woman's life are associated with competent parenting. Many variables, including social support, life stress, mood, and maternal personality, are associated with the degree of warmth and sensitivity a new mother exhibits toward her

infant. However, little is known about how prenatal variables relate to the development of the mother-infant relationship during the infant's first year of life. Social support is associated with the adaptation to parenthood and positive mother-infant interactions. For example, research has shown that if a woman lacks adequate social support during pregnancy, negative outcomes, such as postpartum depression and insensitive parenting behavior, may follow (Cutrona, 1984; Crockenberg, 1981). Women who receive support during pregnancy experience more positive mental and physical health outcomes during the labor, delivery, and postpartum periods than women who do not receive support (Collins, DunkelSchetter, Lobel, & Scrimshaw, 1993; Cutrona, 1984). Several dimensions of social support are relevant to the transition to motherhood and mother-infant interactions. The issues relevant to the present study include the following: (a) the source of support, (b) the distinction between quantity of support and support satisfaction, (c) support acting as a buffer of negative life stress, and (d) negative aspects of support. The first dimension is the source of support. Women consistently report either their mothers or their

Lauren Heim Goldstein, Stone Center for Developmental Services and Studies, Wellesley College; Marissa L. Diener and Sarah C. Mangelsdorf, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois. We thank the families for participating in this study. We also thank Nicole Adelman, Lynne Celander, Emily Fairbanks, and Kathryn Humphrey for their assistance in conducting the research. Portions of this study were presented at the International Conference for Infant Studies in Miami, FL, May 1992, and at the Society for Research in Child Development meeting in New Orleans, LA, April 1993. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Lauren Heim Goldstein, who is now at Harold E. Jones Child Study Center, University of California, Berkeley, 2425 Atherton Street #6070, Berkeley, California 94720-6070. 60


TRANSITION TO MOTHERHOOD husbands as their primary postpartum support givers (Coffman, Levitt, Deets, & Quigley, 1989; Crnic, Greenberg, Ragozin, Robinson, & Basham, 1983; Levitt, Weber, & Clark, 1986). Support from spouse seems to have the most profound impact on outcome variables such as maternal well-being and adaptation to motherhood (Cox, Owen, Lewis, & Henderson, 1989; Crnic et al., 1983; Isabella & Gable, 1989; Levitt et al., 1986). Cox et al. (1989) found that primiparous women were warmer and more sensitive with their 3-month-old infants when they were in close, confiding marriages prenatally. Although support from spouse is crucial, there is also evidence of a general decline in marital satisfaction during the transition to motherhood (Cowan et al., 1985; Levy-Shiff, 1994). It is unclear whether this decline in marital satisfaction influences early maternal behavior. Support from one's mother also plays an important role during the transition to motherhood (Fischer, 1981; Tinsley & Parke, 1984). Fischer's (1981) findings indicate that "when daughters become mothers, mothers and daughters tend to re-evaluate each other and become more involved in each others' lives" (p. 1). Fischer reported that daughters with children are more involved with their own mothers than daughters without children. The second dimension of relevance is the distinction between support quantity and satisfaction. Support satisfaction refers to the subjective assessment of support as being adequate. Support quantity is generally the size of the support network (i.e., the number of people in one's network). In fact, both of these dimensions are related to a smooth transition to motherhood (Crnic et al., 1983; Levitt et al., 1986). Network size and support satisfaction in mothers of preschool children have been found to be associated with warm, nonintrusive maternal behavior (Jennings, Stagg, & Connors, 1991). It remains to be seen, however, whether support satisfaction and quantity during pregnancy are related to early maternal behavior. A third issue in the social support literature is whether support is important only in the presence of stress, or if it is important regardless of stress. One perspective, the support buffer hypothesis, suggests that social support plays an important role in buffering the negative impact of life stress (Cohen & McKay, 1984; Kaplan,

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Cassel, & Gore, 1977; Koeske & Koeske, 1991). This approach is controversial because it proposes that "social supports are likely to be protective only in the presence of stressful circumstances" (Kaplan et al., 1977, p. 49). Various studies have shown that highly stressful events paired with low social support were significantly more pathogenic than highly stressful events paired with high social support (see Cobb, 1976, for a review). Other researchers (e.g., House, 1981), however, refute the support buffer hypothesis, arguing that main effects of social support are found regardless of life stress. Finally, social support is usually thought of as beneficial; however, social support can also be experienced as problematic if it is not needed or wanted (Affleck, Tennen, Rowe, Roscher, & Walker, 1989; Coyne & DeLongis, 1986). Negative aspects of social support have only begun to be studied, and we know little about their influences on the transition to motherhood. Maternal stress in the first year of parenting is associated with less sensitive caregiving behavior and insecure mother-infant attachment relationships (Crnic et al., 1983; Egeland & Farber, 1984; Hiester & Sapp, 1991; Pianta & Egeland, 1990; Vaughn, Egeland, Sroufe, & Waters, 1979). In addition, prenatal stress has been linked to lower birthweight, earlier delivery, and other adverse birth outcomes (see Lobel, 1994, for a review; Lobel, Dunkel-Schetter, & Scrimshaw, 1992). In general, high levels of stress are associated with negative outcomes for mothers and infants. Studies examining effects of prenatal stress often focus on biological and physiological effects of stress on labor and delivery rather than on psychosocial effects on parenting behavior and outcomes. Very few studies prospectively assess the relationship between stress during pregnancy and maternal behavior during the first few months of parenting. One study that did examine prenatal stress retrospectively found associations between life events that occurred during pregnancy and the quality of the mother-infant attachment relationship at 12 months. Heim and Mangelsdorf (1990) found that women who reported having experienced many life events during pregnancy were more likely to have insecure-resistant attachment relationships with their 12-month-old infants. Other researchers have reported nonsignificant associations between prenatal stress and parenting behaviors (Hiester & Sapp, 1991; Noppe, Noppe, & Hughes, 1990).


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GOLDSTEIN, DIENER, AND MANGELSDORF

Another variable related to the quality of maternal behavior is maternal personality. Flexibility and positive affectivity are related to positive mother-infant interactions during the first year of life (Crockenberg & Smith, 1982; Mangelsdorf, Gunnar, Kestenbaum, Lang, & Andreas, 1990; Oates & Heinicke, 1985). For example, Mangelsdorf et al. (1990) found that mothers with high scores on positive affectivity were warmer and more supportive of their 9-monfh-old infants. Personality scales of neuroticism, extroversion, and ego strength have also been used to demonstrate the associations between maternal behavior and personality. In the majority of the research conducted in this area, maternal personality is measured concurrently; however, maternal personality assessed prenatally is also predictive of later parenting (Crockenberg & Smith, 1982; Isabella & Gable, 1989; Oates & Heinicke, 1985). Depression and anxiety during the transition to motherhood are associated with less affectionate, less sensitive, and less reciprocal mother-infant interactions 3 to 12 months postpartum (Barnett & Parker, 1986; Field et al., 1985; Fleming, Flett, Ruble, & Shaul, 1988; Grossman et al., 1980). In addition, infants of depressed mothers are at risk for a wide range of developmental difficulties (Murray, 1992; Radke-Yarrow, Cummings, Kuczynski, & Chapman, 1985). Associations have also been found between prenatal support and postpartum depression (Collins et al., 1993), indicating that women with smaller, less satisfactory networks experience more postpartum depression. Thus, it is important to assess the associations among prenatal and postpartum mood, social support, and early maternal behavior. The goal of this study was to prospectively examine the associations among maternal personality, mood, stress, and social support during the transition to motherhood and the quality of maternal behavior at 3 months postpartum. We predicted that prenatal support satisfaction would be associated with postpartum mood as found by Collins et al. (1993). Changes over time in stress, social support, and mood were assessed. On the basis of previous research, we hypothesized that women would report more stress and lower satisfaction with support from spouse postpartum than prenatally. In light of the support buffer hypothesis, we also hypothesized that women who experienced high support and low stress prenatally and postpartum

would be rated as more positive and sensitive in interactions with their infants at 3 months postpartum compared to women who experienced low support and high stress. We predicted that women who reported experiencing low to moderate stress, high social support satisfaction, large network size, low to moderate anxiety and depression, and more positive personality characteristics would be rated as more sensitive and positive in their interactions with their infants. Method

Participants The participants were 70 primiparous, married women who were recruited during pregnancy from Lamaze classes, obstetricians' offices, newspaper ads, and maternity clothing stores. Three women had premature infants, one woman moved, and one woman failed to complete the second phase of the study. These women were not included in the analyses presented here. In addition, two women completed the home observation but did not complete the postpartum questionnaires, and one woman completed the postpartum questionnaires but did not participate in the home observation. These women were included in the study with some of their data entered as missing. Thus, for some of the analyses, different sample sizes were used. Of the initial 75 women recruited, 67 women completed all phases of the study, for an 89% completion rate. The mean age of the expectant mothers was 29.49 years (SD = 3.79; range = 21-38). The majority of the women were middle-class, 74% of whom had completed at least a college degree. Ninety-eight percent of the women were White and 2% were African American. Mean length of marriage was 4.08 years (SD = 2.30).

Procedure During the third trimester of pregnancy, women were sent a consent form and a packet of questionnaires (described below) to be completed and returned by mail before the birth of their baby. Home observations were conducted at 3 months postpartum (M = 13.1 weeks, SD = 6.7 days). Before the home visits, we sent the mothers questionnaires that we collected at the time of the visit.

Measures The following variables were assessed both prenatally and postpartum. Social support. The social support measure used by Levitt et al. (1986) was adapted for use in this

TRANSITION TO MOTHERHOOD


study. Both satisfaction with and quantity of support received during pregnancy and during the first 3 months of parenthood were assessed. The women completed a network diagram of three concentric circles with the respondent at the center, which was designed by Kahn and Antonucci (1980). Women were asked to place people in their networks in the diagram on the basis of how close their relationships were; the sum of the number of people listed in each circle was called total network size. Next, women were asked to indicate how many people in their networks they relied on for eight different types of support. Emotional support quantity was defined as the average of the number of individuals providing the following five support types: confide in, talk to when upset, reassures you, respects you, and talk to about parenting and pregnancy concerns. The average number of individuals providing the following three support types was labeled practical support quantity: take care of you if ill, (expect to) baby-sit on short notice, and (expect to) help with caretaking of infant. Because total network size, emotional support quantity, and practical support quantity were significantly correlated (range r = .31 to .53, prenatally; r = .25 to .53, postpartum), they were summed to produce two composites (prenatal and postpartum) called total support quantity (prenatal M = 25.54, SD = 12.39; postpartum M = 26.45, SD = 11.06). The number of different types of support given by the women's spouses and parents was also calculated at each time point. There were a total of eight types of support that could be provided (as described previously). The prenatal means for types of support from spouse and for types of support from parents were 6.56 (SD = 1.38) and 3.17 (SD = 1.97), respectively. The postpartum means and standard deviations were 6.32 (SD = 1.56) and 2.98 (SD = 1.87), respectively. At both time points, women were asked how satisfied they were with the amount of support they received from their mother and their father. Ninetysix percent of the women's own mothers were still living, and 83% of their fathers were living. Eighty percent of the women had both parents living. They were also asked how satisfied they were in general with their relationships with their mother and their father. These items were rated on a 7-point scale (1 = least satisfied; 1 = most satisfied). Because these items (satisfaction with support and satisfaction with relationship) were highly correlated (range r = .79 to .85), they were averaged separately for each relationship to obtain support satisfaction composite scores. Because satisfaction with support from mother and father were moderately correlated (r = .37, p < .01, prenatally; r = .44, p < .001, postpartum), a satisfaction with parental support scale was computed as the mean of those two composites (prenatal M = 5.33, SD = 1.48; postpartum M = 5.39, SD = 1.48).

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The estimated Cronbach's alpha coefficients were .82 for the prenatal composite and .78 for the postpartum composite. Satisfaction with spousal support was assessed by averaging the women's ratings of the following 6 items: satisfaction with the amount of support from spouse, satisfaction with relationship with spouse, spouse makes you feel loved, spouse respects you, spouse agrees with you, and can confide in spouse. The estimated Cronbach's alpha coefficient for this scale was .86 prenatally and .91 postpartum. The prenatal and postpartum means were 5.24 (SD = 0.46) and 4.96 (SD = 0.81), respectively. Life stress. Life events were measured using a modified version of Sarason's scale (Sarason, Johnson, & Siegel, 1979). This checklist consists of 80 items listing various types of life events related to employment, finance, health (self and others), family relationships, and other miscellaneous life changes. Women were asked to indicate whether each event occurred; whether the event was perceived as positive, negative, or neutral; and how much of an impact the events had on their lives from 0 (no impact) to 3 (high impact). A negative life stress score was computed from the sum of the impact scores for the events perceived as negative. Thus, if a respondent reported a negative event to have an impact of 3 (high impact), this event would be weighted three times more heavily than an event that was reported to have an impact of 1. The events were weighted in this manner in order to take into account the respondent's perceptions of stress (Lamb, Thompson, Gardner, & Charnov, 1985; Terry, 1991). Next, the stress scores were corrected for the fact that the pregnancy life events questionnaire assessed life events experienced over a 6 month period, whereas the postpartum life events questionnaire assessed life events experienced in the first 3 months of parenting. This correction was computed by dividing the prenatal negative life stress score by 6 and the postpartum negative life stress score by 3 to obtain a stress-per-month score. These new variables were labeled prenatal stress per month (M = 1.08, SD = 1.04) and postpartum stress per month (M = 2.45, SD = 1.78) and were used in all subsequent analyses. Personality. Tellegen's (1982) Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ), which was designed to assess individual differences in personality in normal populations, was included in the prenatal packet only. This 300-item, forced choice questionnaire yields 11 subscales of primary personality dimensions and the following three higher-order traits: Positive Affectivity, Negative Affectivity, and Constraint. Positive Affectivity and Negative Affectivity were included in the analyses for this study. Positive Affectivity is similar to the extroversion-introversion factor on other personality measures (Tellegen et al., 1988) and is thought to reflect positive temperamen-


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tal characteristics. Negative Affectivity has been described as a neuroticism factor. The scales possess good internal consistencies (alphas range from .76 to .89) and retest reliabilities (30-day test-retest correlations average = .89; DiLalla, Gottesman, & Carey, 1993). Alpha coefficients for this sample ranged from .72 to .90. The means for Negative Affectivity and Positive Affectivity were 151.49 (SD = 11.83) and 124.65 (SD = 11.57), respectively. Mood. Anxiety was assessed using Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety 40-item questionnaire (Spielberger, Gorusch, Lushene, Vagg, & Jacobs, 1977). The items were rated on a 4-point scale (1 = not at all; 4 = very much so). Individuals were asked to rate how they felt "at this moment" (state anxiety) and how they "normally feel" (trait anxiety) on items such as, "I feel upset," and "I feel at ease." Two scores were computed at each time point: a state anxiety score and a trait anxiety score. The means for state anxiety and trait anxiety, respectively, were as follows: prenatal, 31.47 (SD = 8.23) and 33.74 (SD = 7.12); postpartum, 30.57 (SD = 7.81) and 33.48 (SD = 7.23). Depression was assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; Beck, Ward, Mendelson, Mock, & Erbaugh, 1961). We dropped seven items from the long version of the BDI because they would have been inappropriate for use during pregnancy. For example, questions about weight gain or physiological changes associated with pregnancy were removed from the scale (Cutrona & Troutman, 1986). A sum of the scores on the 14 items was computed and labeled the overall depression score (prenatal M = 3.73, SD = 2.95; postpartum M = 2.97, SD = 2.47). The means for this sample were similar to the depression mean reported by Cutrona and Troutman (1986). Depression and anxiety scores were moderately correlated (range r = .32 to .53, prenatally; r = .35 to .57, postpartum). To reduce the number of variables, we combined these scores to form mood composite scores. To ensure that anxiety was not overweighted in the composite, we computed a standardized sum of the trait and state anxiety scores and added this anxiety sum to the standardized score for overall depression. Thus, two standardized composite mood scores were computed: prenatal mood and postpartum mood. The means for the mood composites were as follows: prenatal, 0.00 (SD = 1.71); postpartum, 0.02 (SD = 1.72). Home observation. Home observations of mother-infant interactions were videotaped and consisted of 13 min structured play interaction followed by 27 to 47 min of unstructured interaction. The length of the unstructured interaction varied because of the infants' sleep schedules. Behavior was scored in 5-min intervals. For the structured play tasks, the researchers brought three different objects into the homes for the mothers to introduce to the infants. The

mothers were first asked to hold their infants and show them a colorful rattle for 3 min. For the second task, mothers were asked to put their infants in one of their own seats and show them a soft book for 5 min. For the third task, mothers were asked to put their infants in an infant seat with toys brought by the researchers for 5 min. The structured interactions were included to ensure that some of the same events would be observed across all of the dyads. In order to avoid possible order effects, the tasks in the structured episodes were presented in the same order across participants. For the unstructured episodes, mothers were instructed to "do whatever you would normally do at this time of day if you had time with your infant." A wide variety of activities were observed, including bathing, feeding, playing with toys, diaper changing, doing laundry, cleaning the house, and watching television. Maternal behavior scales. Isabella's (1993) global maternal behavior scales were modified for use with 3-month-old infants, and at times the descriptions of the scale points were written in more concrete and specific terms. The following maternal behaviors were coded on 5-point scales every 5 min during the unstructured interactions: positive affect, negative affect, expressivity, vocalizations, physical stimulation, object stimulation, responsivity, and sensitivity (see Isabella, 1993, for brief descriptions of these scales). During the structured interactions, the scales were rated for each separate task rather than every 5 min. For each behavioral scale, averages were computed for the structured and unstructured episodes. For example, in assessing positive affect, if the unstructured observation was 25 min in length, the positive affect scale scores for the five episodes were summed and divided by five. The negative affect scale was dropped from our analyses because of low frequency. Lauren Heim Goldstein and two research assistants coded the videotapes. One-third of the home observations were coded by all three coders to obtain reliability. When disagreements arose, consensus was reached, and the consensus rating was used. Correlations assessing interrater agreement were computed for each pair among three coders for each behavioral scale and then averaged. Interrater agreement for the responsivity and sensitivity scales during the structured episodes was low; consequently, these scores were dropped. Interrater correlations for all other scales ranged from .71 to .90. In order to reduce the number of variables, we conducted a principal components analysis on the maternal behavior scales (see Table 1). For the structured episodes, there was one expressivity factor. For the unstructured episodes, there were two factors: Sensitivity and Expressivity. On the basis of these components, three composites were computed by summing the scores on the scales that loaded highly


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Table 1

Principal Components Analysis of Maternal Behavior Scales


Maternal Behavior Scales

Structured episodes

Unstructured episodes

Expressivity

Expressivity

Sensitivity

Expressivity .87 .91 Positive Affect .77 .77 Object Stimulation .79 .55 Vocalizations .75 .76 Physical Stimulation .59 Sensitivity .94 Responsivity .89 Note. Eigenvalues and percentage of variance accounted for the following: structured expressivity component, 2.50 (64%); unstructured expressivity component, 3.18 (46%); and unstructured sensitivity component, 1.40 (20%). on each factor, yielding three scores of maternal behavior: structured expressivity, unstructured expressivity, and unstructured sensitivity. The sensitivity composite assessed the degree to which the mother promptly responded to her infant's behaviors and cues and the degree of attentiveness and consistency in the mother's behavior. This corresponds to Isabella's (1993) Sensitive Responsivity factor. The expressivity composites tapped the amount of positive affect and emotional tone (i.e., how the mother used her facial expressions, body language, and voice to communicate emotions) expressed toward the infant in addition to physical and object stimulation and vocalizations toward the infant. This set of behaviors corresponds to Isabella's Activity factor (Isabella, 1^93). Structured and unstructured expressivity were moderately correlated (r = .46, p < .01) Thus, an overall expressivity composite was formed by summing across the structured and unstructured scores (alpha = .85). The alpha coefficient for the unstructured sensitivity composite was .83. These composites (unstructured sensitivity and overall expressivity) were used in all subsequent analyses. Overall expres-

sivity and unstructured sensitivity were moderately correlated (r = .29, p < .05). Means for overall expressivity and unstructured sensitivity were 25.34 (SD = 3.74) and 8.56 (SD = 0.95), respectively, KesilltS Associations Across Time Correlations between the prenatal and postpartum variables are shown in Table 2. The strongest correlations were found between prenatal and postpartum satisfaction with parental support, prenatal and postpartum satisfaction with spousal support, prenatal and postpartum tQtal n q u a n t i t V ; p r e n a t a i a n d postpartum ^ and mood m f r . , ,_ c from s P ° u s e ' P r e n a t a l *** Postpartum types of support from parents, and prenatal and postpart u m stress per month. As predicted, prenatal support was associated with postpartum mood; specifically, women who were satisfied with the

Table 2

Intercorrelations of Prenatal and Postpartum Variables Postpartum variables Prenatal variables

1

2

3

.45** -.12 .77** 1. Satisfaction with parental support 2. Types of support from parents .50** .61** .12 .09 .20 .63** 3. Satisfaction with spousal support 4. Types of support from spouse .09 .08 .36** .03 5. Total support quantity .11 .27* 6. Stress per month -.33** .06 -.26* -.30* -.08 -.18 7. Mood -.14 -.15 -.21 8. MPQ Negative Affectivity 9. MPQ Positive Affectivity .06 .00 .10 Note. MPQ = Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire. * p < .05. **p < .01.

4

5

6

.10 -.07 -.15 .33** .08 .12 .56** .15 -.14 -.13 .57** .01 .06 .68** .26* .23 .61** -.20 .10 .26* -.04 .30* -.11 -.01 .10 .16 .02

7 -.12 -.08 -.42** -.19 -.16 .20 .52** .44** -.06


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support they received from their spouses prenatally reported more positive moods postpartum. We performed t tests to examine differences between prenatal and postpartum variables. Women experienced more stress per month postpartum than prenatally (t = 7.91, p < .001). Satisfaction with spousal support significantly decreased from the prenatal to the postpartum assessment (t = 3.70, p < .001). There were no significant differences over time for mood, satisfaction with parental support, or total support quantity.

Correlates of Maternal Behavior The behavioral composites were not related to prenatal or postpartum maternal employment status, education, maternal age, infant gender, or prenatal or postpartum stress per month. To examine associations among prenatal and postpartum support, mood, and personality and maternal behavior, we computed correlations. Prenatal and postpartum support quantity were both significantly correlated with sensitivity (prenatal r = .35, p < .01; postpartum r = .36, p < .01). Women with larger support networks prenatally and postpartum were rated as more sensitive. In addition, women with high satisfaction with support from parents prenatally tended to be rated as less sensitive in their interactions at 3 months postpartum (r = —.27, p < .05). Types of support from spouse prenatally was also significantly associated with sensitivity (r = .30, p < .05). Overall expressivity was significantly related to MPQ Negative Affectivity (r = -.26, p < .05), to postpartum mood (r = —.25, p < .05), and to postpartum types of support from spouse (r = .28, p < .05). These correlations reveal that the women who were rated as more expressive tended to report (a) being less anxious and worried prenatally, (b) experiencing less negative moods postpartum, and (c) having more types of support from spouse postpartum than women who were rated as less expressive.

Testing the Buffer Hypothesis In order to explore the effects and interactions of stress and support on maternal behavior, we created dichotomous prenatal and postpartum stress and support variables. The sample was divided at the median to form high and low

groups on the basis of stress per month scores during and after pregnancy. Satisfaction with parental support, satisfaction with spousal support, and total support quantity scores were also split at the median to form high and low groups on each dimension during and after pregnancy. A series of 2 X 2 analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were conducted with the stress and each of the three support variables as the independent variables within each time point and sensitivity and overall expressivity as the dependent variables. For example, a prenatal stress per month (high or low) by prenatal total support quantity (high or low) by sensitivity analysis was conducted as well as a prenatal stress per month (high or low) by prenatal satisfaction with parental support (high or low) by sensitivity analysis. For the prenatal total support quantity by prenatal stress per month ANOVA with sensitivity as the dependent variable, a significant interaction effect was found, F(l, 64) = 5.57, p < .05. A post hoc Spjotvoll-Stoline test for unequal ns showed that women who had larger networks and lower stress prenatally were more sensitive than women who had smaller networks and lower stress (p < .05). There was a significant main effect of prenatal satisfaction with parental support on sensitivity, F(l, 64) = 4.43, p < .05. Surprisingly, mothers who reported greater satisfaction with parental support prenatally were less sensitive in interactions with their infants at 3 months postpartum than mothers who were less satisfied. There was also a significant interaction between prenatal stress per month and prenatal satisfaction with parental support, F(l, 64) = 5.27, p < .05. A post hoc Spjotvoll-Stoline test revealed that women with high stress and low satisfaction with parental support were more sensitive than women who reported high stress and high satisfaction with parental support (p < .05). For the prenatal satisfaction with spousal support by prenatal stress per month analysis, women who were more satisfied with support from their husbands prenatally were more sensitive, F(l, 65) = 4.64, p < .05. There were no main effects for prenatal or postpartum stress or for postpartum satisfaction with spousal support. For the postpartum total support quantity by postpartum stress per month ANOVA, a main effect for support quantity was found, F(l, 63)

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TRANSITION TO MOTHERHOOD = 7.70, p < .01. Mothers who reported larger networks postpartum were more sensitive than women who had smaller networks. None of the ANOVAs with expressivity as the dependent variable was significant.


Predicting Maternal Behavior In order to understand the predictive power of the variables when examined collectively, we conducted regression analyses. We predicted that women who reported experiencing low to moderate stress, high social support satisfaction, large network size, low to moderate anxiety and depression, and more positive personality characteristics would be rated as more sensitive and positive in their interactions with their infants. Because of the limited sample size, we chose as predictors those variables that had the best predictive utility when simple correlations were examined. Both prenatal and postpartum variables were included in order to examine the relative contribution of each. A stepwise regression analysis was conducted to predict sensitivity from the following four variables: prenatal and postpartum total support quantity, prenatal satisfaction with parental support, and prenatal types of support from spouse. Three variables entered as significant predictors. On the first step, prenatal total support quantity entered the equation, F(l, 62) = 10.41, p < .01; /3 = .38; adjusted R2 = .13. On the second step, prenatal types of support from spouse contributed a significant 9% of the variance, F(2, 61) = 9.66, p < .001; j3 = .31; adjusted R2 = .22. Prenatal satisfaction with parental support was entered on the third step, and it contributed a significant 6% of the variance, F(3, 60) = 9.12, p < .001; /3 = -.27; adjusted R2 = .28). In order to explore whether the prenatal support variables were predictive of maternal behavior once postpartum variables were controlled for, we conducted a hierarchical regression analysis entering postpartum satisfaction with parental support, postpartum total support quantity, and postpartum types of support from spouse as a block, followed by prenatal satisfaction with parental support, prenatal total support quantity, and prenatal types of support from spouse. This equation was significant, F(5, 58) = 7.05, p < .001; Adjusted R2 = .32. Prenatal types of support from spouse and prenatal satisfaction with parental support both

entered the equation after the postpartum variables were controlled for; however, prenatal total support quantity did not enter the equation after postpartum total support quantity was controlled for. We used a stepwise regression analysis to predict overall expressivity from Negative Affectivity, from postpartum mood, and from postpartum types of support from spouse. Postpartum mood was a significant predictor, F(l, 59) = 5.98, p < .05; j3 = -.30; adjusted R2 = .08. Less negative mood postpartum was associated with greater maternal expressivity. To assess whether changes in stress and satisfaction with spousal support were significant predictors of maternal behavior, we conducted stepwise regression analyses using change scores (prenatal minus postpartum) as the independent variables and sensitivity and overall expressivity as the dependent variables. Change scores did not significantly predict maternal behavior.

Discussion The results of this study point to the importance of examining maternal characteristics and social support during both the prenatal and postpartum periods in order to fully understand the antecedents of individual differences in the quality of maternal behavior. Prenatal support was associated with postpartum mood, as we predicted. In addition, as we hypothesized, there was an increase in stress and a decrease in satisfaction with support from spouse over time. These findings are consistent with previous research on the transition to parenthood (Cowan et al., 1985; Levy-Shiff, 1994). The support buffer hypothesis was not supported by these findings; prenatal social support quantity was related to maternal behavior in the presence of low stress. The results also suggest that social support, mood, and maternal personality are important predictors of parenting quality. Women who described themselves as having more negative moods postpartum were less expressive in their interactions with their infants in the home observations than other women. Women who had larger support networks prenatally and postpartum and who were less satisfied with the support from their parents prenatally were more sensitive in the home observations. Women who were satisfied with

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support from their husbands prenatally were more sensitive to their infants.


Social Support Prenatal and postpartum social support were both associated with maternal sensitivity at 3 months postpartum, but social support was not related to maternal expressivity. The dimensions of support quantity and support satisfaction were differentially predictive of maternal sensitivity. For example, support quantity was positively associated with maternal sensitivity (i.e., mothers who reported a larger number of people in their social support networks prenatally and postpartum were more sensitive). On the other hand, satisfaction with support from parents was negatively associated with maternal sensitivity. In addition, although there was a decline in satisfaction with spousal support over time, this negative change was not associated with maternal behavior. Women with larger networks were found to be more sensitive in interactions with their infants than women with smaller networks. This finding supports other research in this area (e.g., Jennings et al., 1991). Mothers with larger networks may have more opportunity for companionship and have more of their emotional needs met; thus, they may be more able to focus on the needs of their infants. On the other hand, it is also possible that some women are more competent in eliciting support and sustaining relationships. This social competence may influence both their support and their behavior when interacting with their infants. Types of support received from spouse prenatally was also predictive of maternal sensitivity. Women who received more varied types of support from their spouses during the prenatal period were more sensitive to their infants. This finding points to the importance of the spousal relationship during pregnancy. Satisfaction with support from spouse prenatally was also associated with maternal sensitivity. Thus, having a supportive spouse during pregnancy may directly facilitate sensitive parenting behavior postpartum. As predicted, prenatal support was associated with postpartum mood; specifically, women who were satisfied with the support they received from their spouses prenatally reported more positive moods postpartum. Thus, support from spouse prenatally may have indirect ef-

fects on maternal expressive behavior by influencing postpartum mood. An unexpected finding revealed that higher satisfaction with support from parents prenatally was associated with less sensitive maternal behavior. Although this finding regarding support from parents was surprising, it is consistent with work of other researchers who have found that social support, in addition to having beneficial effects, may also have negative effects (e.g., Coyne & DeLongis, 1986). Specifically, some researchers have documented that the quality of social support may be independent of the number of relationship problems and conflicts (Rhodes, Contreras, & Mangelsdorf, 1994; Rook, 1984). In fact, negative features of social relationships may be more powerful predictors of behavioral outcomes and well-being than positive features (Coyne & Bolger, 1990). Two alternative explanations for this finding are as follows: (a) perhaps mothers were compensating for the perceived insensitivity of their own parents by being very responsive to their own infants; and (b) it is possible that mothers who were not especially sensitive may have received more child-care support from their parents. To test the latter explanation, we compared the sensitivity scores for women who received child-care support from their parents to women who did not; we found no differences between the groups of women, suggesting that this explanation is not plausible for this sample. Future research should explore these issues as well as how negative and positive aspects of close relationships affect parenting behaviors.

Life Stress As found in previous research, we found that the transition to motherhood is associated with increasing stress. Women reported experiencing significantly more stress per month in the first 3 months of parenting than during the first 6 months of pregnancy. In our investigation, there were no direct associations between life stress and quality of maternal behavior. This lack of an association is not surprising given the nature of the sample. The women in this sample were not highly stressed compared to other more disadvantaged samples (e.g., Pianta & Egeland, 1990). The stress these women did experience may not have been frequent enough or intense enough to have a direct effect on their behavior.

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When the interaction between stress and support was examined, it was predictive of maternal sensitivity. Women who reported greater support quantity and lower stress during pregnancy were rated as more sensitive in interactions with their 3-month-old infants. This finding is consistent with previous research that has found that social support and lower levels of stress are related to more sensitive parenting (e.g., Crnic et al., 1983). It is also interesting to note that prenatal mood was associated with both prenatal and postpartum stress. Women who reported negative moods prenatally tended to report more stress at both time points. This relationship between stress and mood should be investigated in future research.

Maternal Personality and Mood Interestingly, although maternal personality assessed prenatally was related to maternal behavior, it was associated with expressivity in the context of mother-infant interaction rather than sensitivity. Specifically, mothers who scored higher on Negative Affectivity and who reported more negative moods were less expressive when interacting with their infants, but they appeared to be no less sensitive. It is easy to imagine how a mother who is anxious and worried may be less positively expressive in interaction with her infant. Other investigations have also revealed that parental personality is differentially predictive of these two dimensions of parenting (e.g., Mangelsdorf et al., 1990). This result is consistent with past research that has also shown an association between negative mood and less expressive maternal behavior (Cohn, Matias, Tronick, Connell, & LyonsRuth, 1986; Cox et al., 1989; Field et al., 1985; Field et al., 1988). Several methodological limitations of this study should be noted. First, there was a lack of variability in demographic characteristics in this sample; a majority of the women were Caucasian and middle-class, and all of the women were married. Second, all of the women selfselected into the study, and it is unknown whether the participants may differ from women in the general population. Both of these variables may limit the generalizability of the results found in this study. In addition, the satisfaction with parental support composite consisted of four items (two for mothers and two

for fathers). A more detailed assessment of what comprises satisfaction with social support needs to be investigated in future research. In conclusion, maternal sensitivity and expressivity were differentially related to social support, mood, and personality during the transition to motherhood. Postpartum mood was predictive of expressivity, whereas prenatal support was predictive of sensitivity. Results highlight the importance of examining prenatal as well as postpartum experiences as possible antecedents of the quality of maternal behavior.

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Received September 22, 1994 Revision received February 22, 1995 Accepted May 9, 1995 •