In modern society, the role of fathers in parenthood tends to be as considered as the role of mothers. Becoming parent can lead to some positive effects, but also to some negative ones, which may have serious consequences on both parents and on the child. The purpose of the present work was to investigate whether a difference of a specific postpartum effect with regard to levels of perceived stress could be noticed in Swedish and French men who just became fathers for the first time. In this study, we pointed out the stress in daily life and the stress related to the role as a parent. All participants (nSwedish = 20; nFrench = 31) were men who became fathers for the first time a year or less before the measurement of stress. A questionnaire was submitted online and the data were analyzed using t-tests in order to measure the differences between French and Swedish regarding stress and ANCOVAs in order to measure if age and duration of the relationship have an impact on stress level. The results showed that Swedish fathers have a significantly higher perceived stress level than French fathers. However, there is no effect of age and duration of the relationship on the results. Moreover, no differences were found with respect to fathers’ parenting stress level.

The work observes the development and changes of perception of the relationships of a couple in the period of accepting the role of a parent. In its theoretical part, the work considers the relationship of a couple within a wider context of a family, describes the relationship of a couple from its beginnings to the decision of establishing a family, emphasizes experience of the woman during pregnancy and after giving birth and also deals with the man's view of this period. The conclusion of the theoretical part describes in more detail changes of the relationship during the transition to parenthood and introduces foreign research of this topic. The empirical part then presents the survey itself, where women expecting their first child expressed satisfaction with their relationship both during pregnancy and after giving birth. The evaluated areas of the relationship of a couple include intimacy, communication, shared time, support, care and appreciation. The quality analysis of the statements of the female respondents with regard to the individual evaluated areas specifies the quantitative findings. The survey demonstrates a significant decrease of satisfaction of women with the relationship within the explored period, particularly in the area of intimacy, manifestation of love, appreciation,...

In an attempt to strengthen marriages during the transition to parenthood, the Marriage Moments program was developed from Blaine Fowers' virtues based model of marital quality. Marriage Moments is a non-intrusive, mostly self-guided approach to marriage education, which is easily incorporated into childbirth education classes. The Marriage Moments curriculum stresses building marriage on a strong foundation of friendship and partnership. In this model, marital friendship is strengthened through a shared vision of life and important life goals; partnership is nurtured by the virtues of generosity, fairness and loyalty. This program was tested on 155 married couples that were expecting their first child. Couples were randomly assigned to one control or two treatment groups. The control group participated in a childbirth education class, but did not receive the Marriage Moments program. The instructor-encouraged treatment group viewed the Marriage Moments video in their childbirth education classes and were encouraged to do workbook activities by their class instructor; the self-guided treatment group couples were given the video and workbook to use at home. The Marriage Moments video is comprised of five, eight-minute segments introducing the marital virtues of friendship, generosity, fairness and loyalty. The workbook provides couples with additional information about the transition to parenthood and the possible applications of the virtues principles, including individual and couple activities. All couples were assessed using a battery of self- and spouse-report measures immediately before and after their child-birth classes and then at three and nine months after the birth of their babies. This longitudinal study examined the effect of the Marriage Moments program on marital virtues, marital quality, and intentionality. Relationship outcome measures included in this study were the Marital Virtues Profile, Revised-Dyadic Adjustment Scale, RELATE Satisfaction subscale and Transition Adjustment Scale. Treatment group couples reported high involvement in and enjoyment of the program. When asked to rate the program, couples evaluated the program as 'important' and 'worthwhile.' However, despite positive program evaluation, statistical tests revealed no consistent difference between the control and treatment groups over four times. Subgroup analysis also failed to reveal group differences when controlling for education, number of years married, and early marital distress. Suggestions for future study include contrasts of skills and virtues based curriculums, as well as high and low dosage interventions. In addition, this program should be studied in both clinical and educational settings.