Satisfaction with life and financial well-being following the transition to first parenthood – The con tribution of personality variables, financial threat perception, positive and negative emotions and quality of marital relationship.

The transition to parenthood is one of the most significant events in the adult life cycle, accompanied by many changes on the personal, marital, familial and financial levels (Lawrence et al., 2008). These changes by their very nature evoke stress, but in the long-term they may lead to greater satisfaction with life (Taubman-Ben-Ari et al., 2009). The current study is based on Lazarus and Folkman’s transactional model of stress (1984), and examines the contribution of personal characteristics (flexibility and self-efficacy),  appraisal of financial threat, positive and negative emotions, and relationship quality to satisfaction with life and sense of financial well-being in the transition to parenthood.

The study sample composed of 211 men and women who became first-time parents within the last two years and have only one child. The participants completed questionnaires in either electronic form or hard copy. The questionnaires included: Perceived Ability to Cope with Trauma Scale (Bonanno & Pat-Horenczyk, 2006), General Self-Efficacy Scale (Schwarzer & Jerusalem, 1995), Financial Threat Scale (Marjanovic, 2009), Positive and Negative emotions Schedule (Watson et al., 1988), Relationship Assessment Scale (Hendrick, 1988), Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener et al., 1985) and Financial Well-Being Scale (Norvilitis, Szablicki, & Wilson 2003).

As hypothesized, the findings suggest that satisfaction with life was greater among new mothers than new fathers, whereas new fathers reported higher levels of self-efficacy than new mothers. The sense of financial well-being did not differ between mothers and fathers.

Satisfaction with life in the transition to parenthood was positively correlated with both personal characteristics (flexibility and self-efficacy) and relationship quality, confirming the study hypotheses. Appraisal of financial threat was negatively correlated with satisfaction with life among new parents. Furthermore, higher positive emotions and lower negative emotions were associated with greater satisfaction with life. Finally, younger age and better general health were also associated with greater satisfaction with life.

Contradictory to the study hypothesis, the sense of financial well-being was not associated with personal characteristics (flexibility and self-efficacy). However, as hypothesized, the sense of financial well-being was negatively correlated with the appraisal of financial threat. Moreover, higher positive emotions and lower negative emotions were associated with a greater sense of financial well-being. The quality of the parents’ relationship was directly associated with their sense of financial well-being, though when entered into a model with the other study variables, relationship quality no longer contributed significantly to the sense of financial well-being. Finally, negative affect was found to moderate the negative association between appraisal of financial threat and the sense of financial well-being, so that when there were higher levels of negative emotions the negative association between appraisal of financial threat and sense of financial well-being was stronger.

The findings of this study contribute significantly both to research in the field of transition to parenthood and to practice. Mapping the personal, environmental and cognitive resources may help increase satisfaction with life and sense of financial well-being, and assist in developing preventative interventions relevant to this population.