Becoming a parent: The relation between prenatal expectations and postnatal experience

The relationship between individuals' prenatal expectations about parenthoo d and their postnatal experience of parenthood was examined. Seventy-three primiparous couples were interviewed during the 3rd trimester of pregnancy and asked open-ended questions regarding their expectations. A content anal ysis of these expectations identified several themes. A cluster analysis, u sing these themes as variables, identified 3 clusters of women labeled prep ared, fearful and complacent and 4 clusters of men labeled prepared, fearfu l, complacent, and mixed. Postnatal comparisons indicated that women and me n in the prepared cluster generally demonstrated better adjustment than did individuals in the other clusters. Results are discussed in terms of the c ontent of expectations about parenthood, gender differences in these expect ations, and the association between prenatal expectations and postnatal exp eriences.