Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Tables
- Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction and Overview
- PART I CONDITIONS OF FAMILIES WITH YOUNG CHILDREN
- PART II CHILD-REARING PRACTICES
- 4 Meeting the Challenges of New Parenthood: Responsibilities, Advice, and Perceptions
- 5 Reading, Rhymes, and Routines: American Parents and Their Young Children
- 6 Child Discipline in the First Three Years of Life
- 7 Breastfeeding in the United States Today: Are Families Prepared?
- 8 Depressive Symptoms in Parents of Children Under Age 3: Sociodemographic Predictors, Current Correlates, and Associated Parenting Behaviors
- PART III DELIVERY OF HEALTH SERVICES TO MOTHERS AND CHILDREN
- PART IV FUTURE DIRECTIONS AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS
- Index
- References
4 - Meeting the Challenges of New Parenthood: Responsibilities, Advice, and Perceptions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 July 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Tables
- Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction and Overview
- PART I CONDITIONS OF FAMILIES WITH YOUNG CHILDREN
- PART II CHILD-REARING PRACTICES
- 4 Meeting the Challenges of New Parenthood: Responsibilities, Advice, and Perceptions
- 5 Reading, Rhymes, and Routines: American Parents and Their Young Children
- 6 Child Discipline in the First Three Years of Life
- 7 Breastfeeding in the United States Today: Are Families Prepared?
- 8 Depressive Symptoms in Parents of Children Under Age 3: Sociodemographic Predictors, Current Correlates, and Associated Parenting Behaviors
- PART III DELIVERY OF HEALTH SERVICES TO MOTHERS AND CHILDREN
- PART IV FUTURE DIRECTIONS AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS
- Index
- References
Summary
How do American parents respond to the changes involved in becoming a new parent? In this chapter, we consider three main questions: How do parents divide the responsibilities of daily care for the very young child? What different sources do parents use to obtain information and advice about parenting? and How well do parents feel they are handling their parenting responsibilities? All parents who participated in the Commonwealth Fund Survey of Parents with Young Children had a child under the age of three, so all had recently experienced the transition to being a new parent. The data from the Commonwealth Fund survey offer some of the only nationally representative data on these issues and provide a picture of child rearing in American families today.
THE CHALLENGE OF NEW PARENTHOOD
The transition to parenthood is a life-changing event. New parents are suddenly responsible for the care of a virtually helpless infant, who requires feeding, changing, and soothing 24 hours a day. Caring for a very young child is physically demanding, emotionally intense, and continuous; the transition to being a new parent is therefore both physically and emotionally challenging (Antonucci and Mikus 1998). Lack of sleep alone, part of the lives of all new parents, and often a new experience for them, may affect parents' perceptions of how well they are doing in their new roles and the help or advice they feel they need.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Child Rearing in AmericaChallenges Facing Parents with Young Children, pp. 83 - 116Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2002
References
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