Changes in the marital relationship after the first baby is born: predicting the impact of expectancy disconfirmation

A longitudinal study of 50 couples during the transition to first parenthood examined how failure to confirm expectations regarding the sharing of child-care and housekeeping responsibilities influenced postpartum reports of marital satisfaction. On the basis of recent theories of expectancy confirmation processes, 5 variables representing strength and importance were identified as possible moderators. As predicted, disconfirmation of stronger and more important expectations generally led to more negative reports about the marriage. Surprisingly, some subsets of wives showed opposite reactions; less negative feelings when they were doing more than they expected. These findings were interpreted in terms of personal and role traditionality influencing the valence of the reactions to expectancy disconfirmation.