Methods
English-speaking couples living together and expecting their first child were eligible for this study. Participants were recruited from prenatal classes offered through 2 St. Paul HealthEast hospitals from November 1998 through August 1999. Research assistants visited 30 of 34 HealthEast prenatal classes during the third class session to describe the study, enroll participants, and distribute prenatal surveys. Potential subjects were told that couples randomized to the intervention would attend 2 breakout sessions that would address emotional and practical support around the time of childbirth. Data for this study were derived from prenatal surveys and from worksheets indicating partners’ anticipated postpartum work time commitments.
The prenatal survey completed independently by all subjects during the third prenatal class session was used to gather demographic data (age, sex, education, race, marital status, and employment status); information on work responsibilities, including the number of hours per week devoted to employment and various household chores; perceptions of equity of household responsibilities among partners (measured on a 1 to 7 scale where 1=partner does everything, 4=we share equally, and 7=I do everything); and satisfaction with the partner’s contribution to household responsibilities (1=very dissatisfied and 7=very satisfied).
Approximately half of the enrolled couples were then randomized to the intervention, which consisted of 2 30-minute breakout sessions held during the fourth and fifth prenatal classes. In the first session partners were asked to tell each other what the other person did to make them feel loved and cared for. During the second breakout session each couple completed a worksheet together that asked them to list the amount of time each partner planned to spend at 6 months postpartum doing various tasks, caring for their child, and participating in paid employment. Suggested time estimates for the work tasks (in hours per week) were provided (Table 1) based on the results of a previous pilot study that asked first-time parents to estimate their actual workloads at 6 months postpartum. Parents were also asked to indicate any time contributed to these areas by outside sources (eg, babysitter, daycare provider, relative, housekeeper).
Student t tests were used to investigate gender differences in the amount of time invested in work prenatally, perceived degree of sharing household tasks with the partner, satisfaction with the partner’s contribution to household work, and projected prenatal to postpartum work changes. Paired t tests were used to examine subjects’ anticipated prenatal to postpartum changes in workload. Congruency in partners’ perceptions about how they currently share household responsibilities was determined by summing their responses to the question, “Please circle the number that best describes how you and your partner currently share household responsibilities.” Responses were given on a 1 to 7 scale where 1=“partner does everything,” 4=“We share equally,” and 7=“I do everything.” Thus, a summed score of 8 indicated perfect congruency.
Results
Of the 722 expectant parents informed of the study, 76 were ineligible to participate (usually because they were not living with a partner), 346 refused to participate (the most common reason for refusal was concern about leaving the large classroom for a breakout session), and 300 (149 men and 151 women) agreed to participate, for a response rate of 46% (300/646). The mean age of the participants was 29.3 years (standard deviation=4.6); 93.3% were white; 88.6% were married; 97.9% were employed; and 62% had a 4-year college or advanced degree. A total of 132 people (66 men and 66 women) participated in the breakout sessions.
The amount of time expectant fathers and mothers devoted to various household tasks and employment prenatally is shown in Table 1. Although men and women contributed similar amounts of time to household work—18.2 and 20.0 hours, respectively—they tended to divide these tasks according to traditional work patterns, with men investing more time in household repairs, lawn care, and snow removal, and women spending more time with cooking, cleaning, laundry, and shopping. Compared with women, men worked longer hours at their jobs, and this resulted in a heavier mean total prenatal workload for men by 8.4 hours per week (P=.000).
In response to the question of how they shared household responsibilities, women reported a belief that they contributed more to household chores than their partners (mean=4.4 and 3.8 for women and men, respectively; P=.000). This finding is consistent with women’s slightly higher estimated contributions to household tasks (P=NS). Partners’ perceptions about how they shared household work were congruent: 90% of couples had summed congruency scores in the 7 to 9 range, which allows for no more than a 1-point deviation from a perfect summed congruency score of 8. On average men were more satisfied than women with their partner’s contribution to household work (mean=6.0 and 5.4 for men and women, respectively; P=.000). The projected prenatal to postpartum changes in workload were considerable for both men and women (Table 2). Women predicted an 85% increase, and men anticipated a 53% expansion of total workload, with a net result of women planning to work 9 hours per week more than men at 6 months postpartum (P <.001). Both men and women predicted significant increases in time spent on household tasks, child care, and total work; the projected changes in effort related to child care and total work were significantly greater for women than men (P=.000), as shown in Table 3. Both men and women planned to reduce their paid work commitments after childbirth, women to a greater degree than men (P=.000).