Resilience in the Transition to Parenthood

Abstract

The transition to parenthood is a seminal experience marked by multifaceted change. Parental wellbeing over the transition has a robust literature but lacks a unifying concept to help synthesise disparate findings. Resilience theory incorporates holistic perspectives on responses to stressors and has been applied to provide theoretical structure within literatures such as chronic illness and complex trauma. In contrast, resilience in new parents is an underexplored area of the literature. This thesis aimed to provide an exploration of parental resilience during the transition to parenthood using a scoping review and applying thematic analysis to new parents’ accounts of the first year of parenthood. The first paper presents a scoping review which synthesises existing research in the area. Types of theories used, definitions, and operationalisation of resilience within the research is charted and compared. A scale assessing amount of theory integrated within each paper is applied to show the current state of the literature. Thematic analysis is used to examine researchers’ explanations for why they selected resilience as a concept of interest in their work. The paper articulates what has already been done in the area and highlights gaps in need of more development. Papers two and three use thematic analysis (as informed by Braun and Clarke) and thematic networks (as described by Attride-Stirling) to fill many of these gaps. The papers present findings from semi-structured, one-on-one interviews conducted with ten new parents (six mothers and four fathers) who were asked about resilience experiences within the first year of parenthood. An overall thematic network depicting resilience enhancing and hindering factors is presented and individual themes are discussed highlighting the novel contributions of this approach. An unpublished excerpt presents an analysis of new parents’ own definitions of resilience incorporating input from fathers which has not previously been done within this literature. Paper four presents an analysis of the relationship between parental resilience in transition to parenthood and gender norms; the most robust theme which came through in the thematic analysis as a whole. The unique context of transition to parenthood as a life stage and the way that social expectations and limitations of existing systems interact in ways which undermine parents’ wellbeing is framed by content produced by parents themselves. Finally, the cumulative findings of these papers are drawn together and an overall model of resilience in transition to parenthood is offered. A series of recommendations for future research as well as potential applications for clinical work are considered with reference to recommendations parents themselves made within the interviews. Overall, the thesis provides new information about the nature of resilience in the transition to parenthood for development in future research. Novel contributions include a figure categorising transition to parenthood factors in accordance with multisystemic resilience theory, analysis of new parents’ definitions of resilience (incorporating fathers’ views), thematic networks of factors which enhance and hinder resilience in new parents, and a model of resilience in the transition to parenthood.