De couple à parent : des récits de transition selon l’approche des parcours de vie

The transition to parenthood has sparked innumerable studies that primarily stress the attrition of the conjugal relationship following the birth of the child. Recent assessments and studies in the field have somewhat qualified this judgment, and have emphasized rather the diversity of perceptions by subgroup, based on new paradigms built on the notion of complexity. The present article is the result of a life-story research activity involving some thirty couples living together in de facto or marital relationships. The couples were selected so as to cover a diversity of environments, of professions and of cultural backgrounds. The analysis of their life-stories, intersected with an account of the time they have lived together prior to having or planning to have (or not to have) children makes it possible to explore the changes experienced by the couples during such transition, grounded in a life-story approach.