The effect of premarital pregnancy and birth on the marital well-being of black and white newlywed couples.

Abstract

This study contrasts the marital well-being of 137 newlywed couples who entered a first marriage with or expecting a child with 216 couples who began a first marriage without children. Race as a moderating variable between parental status and marital well-being was examined. Whether there are differences in personal resources, family or origin resources, and marital processes between couples who experienced premarital pregnancies or births and those who were childless was tested. The importance of resources and marital processes in predicting the marital well-being of parents and those who were childless was explored. Controlling for age, cohabitation, and employment status, mothers and fathers with a child by their spouse were found to report higher marital instability than nonparents. Among men, however, parent status was not related to marital instability when income and education were also controlled for. Among women, parent status differences in marital happiness were found only among white women; mothers with a child by their spouse reported lower marital well-being than childless women and mothers in first marriage stepfamilies. Parent status was not related to men's reports of marital happiness. Men and women who experienced premarital pregnancies or births were found to be more economically disadvantaged and to have fewer family support resources in the first year of marriage than childless men and women. Mothers and fathers with children by their spouse are distinct from nonparents and parents in stepfamilies on some marital processes, reporting the lowest level of positive affective interactions and the highest level of negative affective interactions with their spouse. Marital processes (companionate activity, division of household labor, and affective interactions) predicted more variance in marital well-being reports than personal and family of origin resources did for both parents and those who were childless. Although parental status was related to particular resources and marital processes in the same way regardless of the race of the respondent, for other resources and marital processes, it was clear that being a black parent or a white parent affected the experience of adapting to the first year of marriage.