Maternal well-being and family relationships: arrival of the second child

Family is one of the most important contexts in people’s lives and researchers have investigated family relationships and dynamics for many years. There are certain times that require change in family dynamics such as having a second child. Driven mainly from family systems theory (M. Bowen, 1978), this thesis investigates family relationships and maternal well-being in the context of twin families and when families are expecting their second child.

This thesis consists of 4 empirical chapters. Chapter 2 examined the well-being of 158 mothers of twins (Mchild age= 6.01 years, SD_age = 0.50) by using data from the Twins, Family and Behaviour Study (TFaB) -- a longitudinal UK study of twins born in 2009 and 2010. Chapters 3-5 use data from the project ‘From 3 to 4; Arrival of the Second Child’, that Prof. Alison Pike and I conducted. In Chapter 2, we showed that household chaos and child behaviour problems were related to maternal well-being. More specifically, higher levels of household chaos were associated with maternal internalizing symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress whereas more child behaviour problems were linked to more depressive and stress related symptoms but not anxiety. The study highlighted the importance of studying maternal internalizing symptoms separately.

We also examined internalizing problems in Chapter 3, when mothers were pregnant with their second child. Fifty-one mothers and their firstborn children were visited in their homes and mothers completed questionnaires. The results demonstrated that co-parenting and marital satisfaction were associated with maternal internalizing problems. Specifically, co-parenting was linked to depression and stress when controlling for marital satisfaction, whereas marital satisfaction was linked to anxiety. Once again, the importance of investigating maternal internalizing symptoms distinctively was emphasized by the study, and the results may inform future intervention studies.

Chapter 4 investigated the predictors of mother-first-born child relationship quality when mothers were expecting their second child. The determinants of parenting model proposed by Belsky (1984) was tested with three domains – maternal personal resources (well-being, effortful control), child characteristics (temperament, behaviour problems), and contextual factors (household chaos, child-care support, marital satisfaction) – used to predict mother-child relationship quality. Results showed that children’s easy temperament, less household chaos and more child-care support explained unique variance in positive aspects of the mother-child relationship. The findings give promise for several intervention programs such that to have more positive mother-child relationship quality, increased support for child-care, decreased household chaos as well as child temperament could be targeted.

Finally, in Chapter 5, the longitudinal predictors of first-born behaviour towards their 4-month-old sibling were investigated and we found that girls and children with easier temperaments subsequently tended to be more positive towards their newborn siblings, whereas better marital quality was linked to less sibling rivalry. The study extends the literature on early sibling relationships and suggest possible avenues for intervention.

Overall, the findings of the thesis have contributed to the literature and research on family dynamics when families are expecting their second child and give promise for several intervention studies to improve family relationships and functioning, especially during stressful transitions.