Health & Medicine
Expectant Parents Behavior in Doll Study Uniquely Displays Co-Parenting Skills Before Birth
Kathleen Lees
First Posted: Aug 25, 2014 10:21 AM EDT
Expectant parents who played with a doll infant were found to help show researchers which couples might have co-parenting conflicts after their baby arrives.
"The extent to which couples support or undermine each other's interactions with the doll predicts their co-parenting behavior a year later," said Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan, co-author of the study and professor of human sciences at the Ohio State University, in a news release. "We saw the same kinds of behaviors between parents when they were interacting with their baby that we saw a year earlier with the doll."
For the study, reserachers videotaped 182 couples during their third trimester of pregnancy while they played with a doll that represented their future child. Next, researchers analyzed how the couples interacted with each other while taking care of the doll.
Findings revealed that couples acted similarly toward each other with the real baby as they did with the doll. However, this meant showcasing both positive and negative behaviors.
"Some of the couples were very positive, saying nice things to each other about their parenting. With the doll they might say 'You're going to be such a great dad.' After the birth of the baby, their talk would be very similar: 'You're such a natural.'"
However, others were not as kind to their partner, questioning their technique and being critical of each other.
All of the study participants were part of the New Parents Project--a long-term study that investiages how dual-earner couples adjust to their first time as parents.
During the study, an assistant who played the role of a nurse presented the baby to each couple, grouped into 5 minute sessions. First each future parent was asked to play with their doll alone and then with their partner. Afterward, they discussed their experience with each other.
Nine months following the birth of participants' children, researchers then had a different team of research assistants watch videotapes of the parents playing with their infant and rated the quality of the couples' co-parenting behaviors.
Findings showed that how parents interacted with the doll from earlier in the study was similar to how they treated and functioned as a couple with their actual baby.Future research into these types of studies can helped potentially give intervention methods that could help with some unhealthy behaviors exhibited in families.
More information regarding the findings can be seen via the Journal of Family Psychology.
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First Posted: Aug 25, 2014 10:21 AM EDT
Expectant parents who played with a doll infant were found to help show researchers which couples might have co-parenting conflicts after their baby arrives.
"The extent to which couples support or undermine each other's interactions with the doll predicts their co-parenting behavior a year later," said Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan, co-author of the study and professor of human sciences at the Ohio State University, in a news release. "We saw the same kinds of behaviors between parents when they were interacting with their baby that we saw a year earlier with the doll."
For the study, reserachers videotaped 182 couples during their third trimester of pregnancy while they played with a doll that represented their future child. Next, researchers analyzed how the couples interacted with each other while taking care of the doll.
Findings revealed that couples acted similarly toward each other with the real baby as they did with the doll. However, this meant showcasing both positive and negative behaviors.
"Some of the couples were very positive, saying nice things to each other about their parenting. With the doll they might say 'You're going to be such a great dad.' After the birth of the baby, their talk would be very similar: 'You're such a natural.'"
However, others were not as kind to their partner, questioning their technique and being critical of each other.
All of the study participants were part of the New Parents Project--a long-term study that investiages how dual-earner couples adjust to their first time as parents.
During the study, an assistant who played the role of a nurse presented the baby to each couple, grouped into 5 minute sessions. First each future parent was asked to play with their doll alone and then with their partner. Afterward, they discussed their experience with each other.
Nine months following the birth of participants' children, researchers then had a different team of research assistants watch videotapes of the parents playing with their infant and rated the quality of the couples' co-parenting behaviors.
Findings showed that how parents interacted with the doll from earlier in the study was similar to how they treated and functioned as a couple with their actual baby.Future research into these types of studies can helped potentially give intervention methods that could help with some unhealthy behaviors exhibited in families.
More information regarding the findings can be seen via the Journal of Family Psychology.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone