DELAYED PARENTHOOD - AN EXPLORATORY-STUDY OF FAMILY FUNCTIONING

The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate the lives of families who delayed parenthood. Sixty-nine families who had their fir st child after the age of 35 completed standardized instruments that a ssessed marital satisfaction, parental stress, and family functioning. Some differences were found both between the scores of delayed parent s and the nonclinical normative scores and between men and women withi n a group of delayed parents. The findings of the present study sugges t that families who delayed parenthood are more similar than different from other families and that within a group of delayed parents mother s are more alike than different from fathers.