The appropriation of the parental role through communication during the transition to parenthood

This research investigates the appropriation of the parental role during the transition to parenthood. Ten married couples were interviewed separately and together before and after the birth of a first child. The interviews were analyzed through two different interpretive methodologies: constant comparison of individual interview incidents and analysis of selected couple conversational excerpts. An analysis of the data revealed three relevant dimensions salient to the appropriation of the parental role: role expectations, role enactment, and role negotiation. Within each of the dimensions a particular tension emerged which made expectations, enactment, and negotiation about the role of parent difficult. The dilemmas involve the accuracy/inaccuracy of one's role expectations, other's facilitation/inhibition of self's role enactment, and openness/closedness in negotiating the parental role with one's spouse. The implications of the findings are contrasted with previous work regarding expectations, the relationship of privacy regulation and comfort during role enactment, and the efficacy of openness in communication during the transition to parenthood.