Due to the responsibilities to care for a newborn, first-time mothers encounter parenting stress. Both married and single mothers experience parenting stress, but single mothers experience a higher amount of parenting stress. Copeland and Harbaugh proposed a series of factors that contributes to the development of parenting stress, which can diminish the likelihood of successful parenting. Lowering the amount of parenting stress can be beneficial for successful parenting, which is tremendously important for the well-being of the infant. According to the Belsky's Model of the Determinants of Parenting, there are three essential parenting domains which contribute to successful parenting. This includes parent contributions, child contributions, and contextual sources of stress and support (Copeland & Harbaugh, 2005). In this article, …show more content…
The amount of stress a first-time mother undergoes affects the infant significantly. The psychological stress related to parenting interferes with the quality of parenting and the infant's health (Copeland & Harbaugh, 2005). Preventing parenting stress in single mother is crucial to the well-being of the newborn because the mother is the key influence on the infant's physical, cognitive, emotional, and social growth (Copeland & Harbaugh, 2005). The most effective method to resolve this problem is to reduce the stress levels of single mothers. Introducing a postpartum support film and a hotline to new single mothers is the ultimate mechanism to reduce stress levels. Accomplishing parenting stress in single first-time mothers can certainly benefit families and societies. Families with single mothers or anyone in the society can operate the hotline when in need of service. The postpartum support film can also be beneficial to fathers in this society. Beside first-time mothers encountering stress, first-time fathers do as
Harrison, L. J. and Ungerer, J. A., (2002). Maternal Employment and Infant-Mother Attachment Security at 12 Months Postpartum. Developmental Psychology, Vol. 38, No. 5, 758-773.
Having a child can be the happiest moment of a person’s life. A sweet little baby usually gives new parents tremendous joy. That joy can be accompanied with anxiety about the baby and the responsibility the new parents are faced with. The anxiety, in most cases, fades and joy is what remains. For some new mothers, however, the joy is replaced with a condition known as postpartum depression. “Postpartum depression is a serious disorder that until recently was not discussed in public…Women did not recognize their symptoms as those of depression, nor did they discuss their thoughts and fears regarding their symptoms” (Wolf, 2010). As such, postpartum depression is now recognized as a disorder harmful to both mother and infant, but, with early detection, is highly treatable with the use of psychotherapy, antidepressants, breastfeeding, and other natural remedies, including exercise.
Although there are many factors that affect the development of the fetus, research on the specific effects of prenatal maternal stress and the resulting negative outcomes for the development of the fetus will be reviewed. While there is knowledge of these harmful effects in scientific and medical communities, researchers are still in the midst of discovering the results of these negative effects on human development. An overall review of the literature suggests that this topic is still relatively new in research as most of the articles make note that despite the amount of current research studies, there are still many unanswered questions.
Let us take a look at the most important factor that determines the health of our adult relationships; that is infant attachment. From the time that an infant is born, those around him influence the way a child will act or react in any given relationship. It provides a firm foundation upon which all other relationships grow. The idea is that the success of all relationships is dependent upon the success of the first one, namely, of the bond between the infant and his mother or primary caregiver (Brodie, 2008).
Numerous studies have been conducted that indicate mothers with depression prior to birth and after birth can affect infant development. These include cognitive, behavioral, social, and emotional aspects. This paper will be examining two articles with similar methodologies and various responses displayed in the participants. Both articles take on similar approaches; however, one article examines how less-competent mothers with depression, negatively influences child behavior and the latter takes on the approach that maternal depression is a psychological response to economic pressures leading to negative responses to a child (Newland, Crnic, Cox & Mills-Koonce, 2013, p. 96). Wang and Dix (2013) examine the levels of depression and differences of behavior in depressed mothers and how this further influences a child’s development. This article found that children with depressed mothers that are highly competent and are able to do tasks efficiently and successfully may develop just as well as children with non-depressed mothers (Wang and Dix., 2013, p. 893). Alternatively, another article examines a variety of maternal psychological symptoms arising from early economic pressures and later parenting behaviors (Newland et al., 2013, p. 96). Furthermore, Newland et al. (2013) suggests that as a result of lower socioeconomic status, both depression and anxiety play a negative role in parenting behaviors (p. 96). Overall, this study suggests that economic hardships and pressures have an indirect influence on parents’ caregiving.
Infant attachment is the first relationship a child experiences and is crucial to the child’s survival (BOOK). A mother’s response to her child will yield either a secure bond or insecurity with the infant. Parents who respond “more sensitively and responsively to the child’s distress” establish a secure bond faster than “parents of insecure children”. (Attachment and Emotion, page 475) The quality of the attachment has “profound implications for the child’s feelings of security and capacity to form trusting relationships” (Book). Simply stated, a positive early attachment will likely yield positive physical, socio-emotional, and cognitive development for the child. (BOOK)
Babies come into this world with physical, and emotional dependencies to others and learn about the world around them, including about themselves through early human interactions. The role of the parents is to provide a solid, supportive foundation to facilitate interactions creating a secure, loving environment for the child to grow. At the core of the infant’s healthy social development is the mother-child relationship. Parenting style and how well the mother respond to child’s sensory social signals, effect child’s aptitude to bond to others including to their peers. However, other factors are important, such as father involvement, mother’s mental state and peers support.
Throughout nearly all studies, it has become clear that parenting seems to have two main aspects that build it: demandingness and responsiveness. With these two characteristics, there are 4 main “parenting styles” that can be distinguished, each having their own level of both features.
This essay addresses seeks to evaluates diverse parenting approach by a parent-child observation. From observing developmentally appropriate and inappropriate interactions with the parent and child, I will learn how parents teach, guide, and influence their children. First, I will briefly describe basic Information of the child and parent that I have observed. Next I will discuss the parent experience with transitioning to Parenthood. Throughout the essay, I will be discussing the parenting goals and beliefs, parenting challenges and reflecting on parenting from the parent perspectives. Lastly, I will discussing my observation from the parent and child interactions.
Transition to parenthood is one of the most demanding and increasingly complex life experiences that sets a couple’s future relationship trajectory for determining the quality and stability of their relationship (Kluwer, 2010). The infant’s arrival requires the couple to adjust not only to daily baby care chores but also to the new roles of parents, often leaving the interpersonal relationship between husband and wife to a low priority. The prevailing majority of scholarship describe different levels of decline in the quality of marital relationship postpartum (Wallace & Gotlib, 1990; Helms-Erikson, 2001; Twenge, Campbell, & Foster, 2003; Mitnick, Heyman, & Smith Slep, 2009; Kluwer, 2010; Umberson, Pudrovska, & Reczek, 2010). At the same time, some scholarship explains how couples have more joy, happiness and a sense of fulfillment in life because of the baby (Petch & Halford, 2008; Nelson et al., 2013), while other findings report identical levels of marital happiness before and after birth of the baby (Amato et al., 2003). A genuine controversy lies in whether a decrease or increase of couple happiness takes place at transition to parenthood. During this transitioning process, new sets of tasks challenge the couples to act in new roles and adjust their daily routines, behavior, and relationship. When the couples experience less relationship distress in completing the transition tasks, they have a higher potential to create a positive context for raising an emotionally and physically healthy child and less chances for divorce. Because divorce has negative lasting effects on descendants for the next three generations, including lower education attainment, lower income, higher relationship distress, and higher chances...
This paper will examine three of the areas associated with planning a newborn child, including single parenting, concerns and expectations parents have when planning for and having a child, and financial issues that mothers face when planning a pregnancy. (Specify if you are talking about single moms or parents/couples, if talking about all of them you might want to consider narrowing your research.)
Why did you choose this article? Obviously, being a mom means more than having given a birth to a child. It is loving, caring and devoting the whole life to raise my child to become a good, happy and successful person in life. This is a toughest and high intensive full time job with many requirements, but without salary payment. Like other moms on the world, I want to find out the most suitable parenting strategy for my child, as it is the determinant factor in child development, and also affects my child’s psychological and social functioning. I realized that the way I raise my child is often similar to the way I was raised by my parents, but it seems difficult and challenging to clearly understand, accept and modify my parenting style. My
11 Dec. 2011. Roman, Nicolette Vanessa. " Maternal Parenting In Single And Two-Parent Families
Mothers are the primary caretakers of the children. The fathers have had minimal care taking responsibilities. Many women, if they had a career before hand, have to give it up to stay at home with the child. Although, many fathers where the wives must work become important in the process of care taking because their role must increase to their children. Studies of human fathers and their infants confirm that many fathers can act sensitively with their infant (according to Parke & Sawin, 1980) and their infants form attachments to both their mothers and fathers at roughly the same age (according to Lamb, 1977).
Poster, E. (1984). Human Responses to Child Bearing. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 6(3), 99. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.