Annabel Marshall

Citation

Thesis Title
"Waiting for Baby" First Time Parents Talk about Worries during Pregnancy

Read article at Massey Research Online:

Positive and negative mood changes are common during pregnancy and both women and men can be faced with overwhelming worries at this time.  Ms Marshall explored the worry-talk of expectant first-time parents in order to increase understanding of their worries and bring us closer to the psychology of this transition.  She found that the expectant mothers and fathers experience pregnancy differently.  While women commonly talked about their worry as negative, pervasive, and consuming, men commonly talked about their concerns as intense but comparatively short-lived in response to a tangible event causing them to acknowledge the reality of the pregnancy.  All parents talked about concerns for baby''shealth and worries around parental responsibility.  Parents'' positive talk illustrated that worries existed within a context of excitement and wonder that is entailed by first-time parenthood.  These findings are important for therapeutic practices and for informing the development of psycho-education for new parents.

Supervisors
Associate Professor Keith Tuffin
Associate Professor Joanne Taylor