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This study tests competing explanations for the link between the transition to motherhood and declines in wives' marital satisfaction. Using data from the first and second waves of the National Survey of Families and Households (N = 569), we found that new mothers' marital satisfaction declines could be attributed to reductions in wives' quality time spent with their husbands and to increases in perceptions of unfairness in housework. Family role traditionalization in the wake of the birth of a child did not directly explain marital satisfaction declines but was linked to perceptions of marital unfairness. Attendance at religious worship services did not moderate the association between the transition to motherhood and marital satisfaction changes.

Although discussions of parenting refer to quality time, parents' views of quality time have not been explored. Using the Sloan 500 Family Study, this article examines how 220 parents from 110 dual-parent families define the spending quality time with their families and finds 3 distinct views: Structured-planning parents saw it as planned family activities, child-centered parents emphasized heart-to-heart talks with their children, and time-intensive parents believed that all the time they spent with their families was quality time. Mothers and fathers both valued quality time, but, particularly when parents within a household disagreed, mothers more often described having a more active parenting role and assumed greater responsibility for quality time, reflecting a gendered division of parenting within the home. Key Words: family interaction, parenting, parenting styles, qualitative research, work family balance. "Quality time" has become part of our cultural discourse concerning what it means to be a "good" parent. Yet, for all its use in discussions of parenting, parents have not been directly asked what quality time means to them and whether or how they use it in regard to their own families. In this study, I look at how parents define spending quality time with their families. One of the first popular discussions of quality time was in a Business Week (1977) article investigating the "small" but "fast-growing" trend of mothers holding highpowered executive jobs. A few of these women admitted that having a demanding career could negatively affect their children; however, most insisted their children were not being harmed because it was not the amount of time they spent together that was important; rather, it was the quality of the time that mattered. But what these mothers meant by quality was not addressed and, similarly, academic discussions of parenting have overlooked what parents consider to be quality time with their families. Exploring the activities, amount of time, and nature of interactions that parents define as quality time is important for gaining a better understanding of the tension parents experience in balancing their work and home lives. In a sample of married middle-class couples with children, there were three distinct views of quality time: structuredplanning parents felt quality time was planned family activities, child-centered parents saw it as heart-to-heart talks, and time-available parents believed that all the time they spent with their families while at home was quality time. Parents were similar, however, in that their views were shaped by their concerns over meeting work and home responsibilities while still attending to the needs of their children. Mothers and fathers both valued quality time, but, particularly when parents within a household disagreed, mothers more often described having a more active parenting role and assumed greater responsibility for quality time, reflecting a gendered division of parenting within the home. Cultural models of parenting such as quality time give guidance to parents regarding what children need (i.e., quality tune with their families), who should be meeting those needs (i.e., parents), and a rationale for why quality time is important for the child, the family, and even the larger society (i.e., quality time will counter the negative effects of parents working outside the home) (Hays, 1996, p. 221 ). Yet, such cultural messages are often not consistent meaning that parents are confronted with mixed messages of what it means to be a good parent. Spock (1945/1998), the well-known parenting expert, defined quality time as the "close, nurturing, and lovingly responsive" interactions between parent and child that occur during everyday routines such as household chores. Web sites aimed at working parents have promoted the idea that quality time should be relaxing and fun family activities, such as a vacation or a family game night, intended to help families take a break from hectic work and school schedules (e. …

Mothers' time-use patterns were compared in families in which infants spent more than 30 hours per week in child care (In-Care group; n = 143) versus 0 hours per week (At-Home group; n = 183) from birth to 6 months of age. In-Care group mothers spent about 12 fewer hours per week interacting with their infants, for about 32% less time; fathers of these infants were more involved in caregiving. The groups did not differ in the quality of mother-infant interaction. In the In-Care group, quantity of in teraction was related to greater separation anxiety and concerns about effects of maternal employment. Time-use data were not related to child outcomes at 15 months of age. Results suggest that the effect of extensive time spent apart on the quantity and quality of mother-infant interaction may be smaller than anticipated. Key Words: child care, mother-infant interaction, time use. Dramatic increases in the labor force participation of women with young children in the United States have led to a concomitant increase in the use of early and extensive nonmaternal child care, usually beginning in the early months of life (Hofferth, Brayfield, Deich, & Holcomb, 1991). The increasing use of extensive child care in early infancy has generated scientific debate about the effects of child care on children's development and the mother-child relationship (see Lamb, 1998). One of the chief concerns is that early entry into child care may have a negative impact on the ability of the mother and infant to develop a synchronous relationship. That is, long hours spent apart may provide insufficient time for the mother to learn about her infant's cues and biological rhythms (Brazelton, 1986), and her appropriate and sensitive responses to these cues are vital for fostering the infant's optimal development (see Kelly & Barnard, 2000). A particular area of concern is the infant's attachment security to the mother. According to attachment theory, the degree of mother-infant sensitivity and responsivity forms the basis for the development of the infant's secure (or insecure) attachment to her (see De Wolff & van Ijzendoorn, 1997). The security of this attachment, in turn, is important because it predicts children's subsequent peer relations, affect regulation, selfesteem, ego resiliency, and behavior problems (see Thompson, 1998). Thus, to the extent that maternal sensitivity and responsivity decrease when the mother and infant spend long hours apart, then we would expect an increase in the risk of insecure attachment and other less optimal outcomes. Infants form important and independent attachments to their fathers and other caregivers as well. However, a comparison of the relative influence of infant-mother and infant-father attachment on child outcomes has indicated that the infant-mother relationship is a stronger predictor (Thompson, 1998). These results, coupled with concerns about the effects on children of large increases in maternal employment hours, have led to a focus on the early mother-child, rather than father-child, relationship within the child-care and employment literature. Within the child-care literature, several studies focusing on early infancy have supported the hypothesis of a negative association between the amount of child care and the quality of motherinfant interaction, but the majority of researchers have not (see National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network [NICHD ECCRN], 1999, for a review). Analyses from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care are especially relevant in this regard, because a subset of these data were used in the present report. Longitudinal analyses of the main data set indicated that greater hours per week in child care were related to somewhat less maternal sensitivity and child engagement in mother-child interaction in the first 3 years of life (NICHD ECCRN, 1999). However, this relatively small decrease in the quality of mother-child interaction did not appear to have an impact on the infants' attachment security to their mothers, except when mothers were highly insensitive (NICHD ECCRN, 1997). …

A content analysis of 490 Father's Day and Mother's Day comic strips published from 1940 to 1999 indicates that the culture of fatherhood has fluctuated since World War II. "Incompetent" fathers appeared frequently in the late 1940s, early 1950s, and late 1960s but were rarer in the late 1950s, early and late 1970s, early 1980s, and early 1990s. Fathers who were mocked were especially common in the early and late 1960s and early 1980s but were less common in the late 1940s, early and late 1954s, and early and late 1970s. Fathers who were nurturant and supportive toward children were most evident in the late 1940s, early 1950s, and early and late 1990s, with the longitudinal pattern resembling a U-shaped curve. Differences between fathers and mothers also oscillated from one decade to the next. Key Words: comic strips, culture, fatherhood, gender, motherhood, social change. How do popular portrayals of fathers in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s compare with popular portrayals of fathers in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s? Have the portrayals improved? Have they gotten worse? Is there any variation at all? The issue here is not whether the conduct of fatherhood has shifted, but whether the culture of fatherhood has changed (LaRossa, 1988). When it comes to conduct, studies have shown that with the increase in the number of dual-earner families, more fathers are spending large blocks of "quality time" with their children, although men still lag behind women in this regard (Pleck, 1997). On the other hand, because of the long-term escalation in divorce, many nonresident fathers have only minimal contact with their daughters and sons. The behavioral picture of the contemporary male parent thus can be said to have both a good side and a bad side (Furstenberg, 1988). What about the culture of fatherhood (i.e., the norms, values, beliefs, and expressive symbols pertaining to fatherhood)? How much change can be discerned here? Scholars may be better equipped today to answer this question than they were 15 years ago, but a careful examination of the four studies that have directly tested "the changing-culture-of-fatherhood hypothesis" (Day & Mackey, 1986; LaRossa, Gordon, Wilson, Bairan, & Jaret, 1991; Atkinson & Blackwelder, 1993; Coltrane & Allan, 1994) indicates that much still remains unknown. In the first effort to systematically tackle the question, Day and Mackey (1986) compared single-panel family cartoons published in the Saturday Evening Post between 1922 and 1968 with similar kinds of cartoons published between 1971 and 1978 to see whether "the role image of the American father" in popular culture had been transformed. They found that up to the late 1960s, fathers were significantly more likely than were mothers to be characterized as incompetent (e.g., as "awkward," "unhandy," or "gawky"), but in the 1970s, the incidence of incompetence for men and women was statistically similar. Because of the convergence in how cartoons portrayed fathers and mothers during the second period in contrast to the disparity of their portrayals in the first, Day and Mackey concluded that the 1970s marked a paradigmatic shift in the culture of fatherhood. As they saw it, the percentage of mothers in the labor force, the decline in birth rates, and the fervent advocacy of gender equality in the 1970s (brought on by the feminist movement) had prompted the traditionally minded Saturday Evening Post cartoonists to reduce their satirical attacks on fathers. A new, improved version of fatherhood had come on the scene. Social scientists have long recognized that humor can reveal patterns of stratification (e.g., see Mulkay, 1988; Wilson, 1979), hence the premise that the incompetence level of cartoon characters could be used as a barometer of social trends does have validity. Nonetheless, were Day and Mackey (1986) correct about the 1970s? Had the image of the American father basically been consistent until then? …