Flourishing families – Exploring the correlates, causes, and consequences of parents' well-being

Transcript

• 00:00Just a couple of brief
• 00:01announcements before we get started
• 00:03today.
• 00:04I just wanted to remind
• 00:05you, next week is a
• 00:06jam packed week for Grand
• 00:07Rounds. We actually have not
• 00:08one but two Grand Rounds
• 00:10sessions
• 00:11next week. So we'll be
• 00:12hearing from Jack Turban,
• 00:14next Tuesday from one to
• 00:16two PM from UCSF. They'll
• 00:18be talking about supporting gender
• 00:19diverse youth across development.
• 00:22So that will be in
• 00:22our regularly scheduled Grand Rounds
• 00:25session. And then we'll have
• 00:27Patrick Lycan coming to us
• 00:28from the University of Leuven
• 00:29and, University College London, who
• 00:31will be talking about mentalizing
• 00:33based
• 00:34treatments for borderline personality
• 00:36disorder. And that will be
• 00:38on Wednesday afternoon at three
• 00:40PM in, three fifty George
• 00:43in room three zero five
• 00:44b. So that's room three
• 00:45zero five b in three
• 00:47fifty George. It's a lot
• 00:48of threes.
• 00:49So two special grand rounds
• 00:51next week, and I do
• 00:52hope you'll be able to
• 00:53join us in person for
• 00:54for both of those.
• 00:56And with that, I'd like
• 00:57to pass you over to
• 00:58doctor Rutherford to introduce our
• 00:59speaker for today.
• 01:04Hey. Good afternoon, everybody. I'm
• 01:07delighted and honored to introduce
• 01:08our speaker today, doctor Catherine
• 01:10Nelson Coffey. Doctor. Nelson Coffey
• 01:12is an associate professor of
• 01:13psychology at Arizona state university,
• 01:16and she also has an
• 01:17adjunct appointment here in the
• 01:18child study center.
• 01:20She was also one of
• 01:21the first Anur Gazell visiting
• 01:22scholars in parent and child
• 01:23development when she came to
• 01:25the child study center for
• 01:26her Zepatica in twenty twenty
• 01:28just before Yale and the
• 01:29rest of the world closed
• 01:30down for COVID.
• 01:31Nevertheless, it was a really
• 01:33productive visit while she was
• 01:34here, and we were excited
• 01:35that we were able to
• 01:36write a grant during that
• 01:37period, that we are now
• 01:39in recipients of. And so
• 01:40we have a two site
• 01:41study between ASU and Yale
• 01:43Charles City Center looking at
• 01:44social connectedness during the transition
• 01:46to parenthood.
• 01:47And I just wanted to
• 01:48say that I've, in addition
• 01:49to the formal introduction, I
• 01:51wanted to highlight I've learned
• 01:52so much from doctor Nelson
• 01:53Coffey, both as an academic
• 01:54and scholar as well as
• 01:55a person, and I'm very
• 01:56excited for you to all
• 01:57learn from her today. So
• 01:58please help me in welcoming
• 02:00doctor Nelson Coffey.
• 02:06Thank you so much for
• 02:07that kind introduction, and thanks
• 02:09to all of you for
• 02:10being here today. I'm really
• 02:11excited to share with you
• 02:12some of the work that
• 02:13I've been doing over the
• 02:15last several years about parents'
• 02:17well-being.
• 02:18But before I get started,
• 02:19I think it's important to
• 02:20acknowledge that just as it
• 02:22takes a village to raise
• 02:23a child, I feel that
• 02:24sometimes it takes a village
• 02:25to raise a researcher.
• 02:27I'd like to thank the
• 02:28many colleagues and collaborators
• 02:30who have contributed to the
• 02:31work that I'll be presenting
• 02:33today.
• 02:34Here I have my lab
• 02:35at ASU,
• 02:36as well as the institutions
• 02:38that have funded and supported
• 02:40some of this work.
• 02:42Raising children can be stressful.
• 02:45From
• 02:46navigating
• 02:47toddlers tantrums,
• 02:49challenging homework battles,
• 02:52and
• 02:53conflict during adolescence.
• 02:55Parents navigate a wide variety
• 02:57of stressors that change over
• 02:59the course
• 03:00of the lifespan.
• 03:02In fact, recently, the US
• 03:03Surgeon General published a report
• 03:05to call attention to parental
• 03:07stress, mental health, and well-being.
• 03:10This report included an alarming
• 03:11statistic
• 03:12indicating that forty eight percent
• 03:14of parents
• 03:15say that most days their
• 03:16stress is completely overwhelming.
• 03:19And this is important because
• 03:21parents
• 03:22and children's well-being are inherently
• 03:24intertwined.
• 03:26Parent mental illness is among
• 03:28the most common adverse childhood
• 03:29experiences,
• 03:30which we know confer significant
• 03:32risk across the lifespan.
• 03:34And parents' abilities to navigate
• 03:37this stress and bring the
• 03:38best versions of themselves to
• 03:39their interactions with their children
• 03:42has
• 03:42really important implications for child
• 03:44development.
• 03:45And so for these reasons,
• 03:47improving caregiver well-being has been
• 03:49highlighted as one of the
• 03:51most important methods
• 03:53of promoting
• 03:54child development.
• 03:56I've been investigating the correlates,
• 03:58causes, and consequences
• 03:59of parents' well-being for more
• 04:01than a decade, and today
• 04:03I'm really excited to share
• 04:04with you some of what
• 04:05we have learned from these
• 04:06studies.
• 04:08I'll be approaching this talk
• 04:10across three broad questions that
• 04:12have guided a lot of
• 04:13my research in this area.
• 04:17First, we will,
• 04:18address the question of what
• 04:19is the association
• 04:21between parenthood and well-being.
• 04:23Second,
• 04:24we'll ask why are some
• 04:26parents more or less happy
• 04:28than others.
• 04:29And third, we'll consider some
• 04:31strategies and benefits of enhancing
• 04:33parents' happiness.
• 04:36As I began
• 04:37exploring the association between parenthood
• 04:39and well-being, I started with
• 04:41this very simple question.
• 04:43Sorry. I don't know why
• 04:43that's repeating.
• 04:46And,
• 04:47but before we dig into
• 04:49that, I'd like to take
• 04:50a step back and consider
• 04:52what do I mean exactly
• 04:53when I talk about happiness
• 04:55or well-being.
• 04:56The primary outcome in the
• 04:58majority of my studies is
• 04:59subjective well-being, and this is
• 05:01a term that I use
• 05:02interchangeably
• 05:03with happiness.
• 05:04Subjective well-being includes three main
• 05:06components. The first is hot
• 05:08life satisfaction,
• 05:09which is considered the cognitive
• 05:10component of well-being or how
• 05:12a person is evaluating their
• 05:14life. Overall.
• 05:16The second is the experience
• 05:17of frequent positive emotions, such
• 05:19as
• 05:20gratitude,
• 05:20joy, or contentment.
• 05:22And third is the experience
• 05:24of infrequent negative emotions, such
• 05:26as sadness,
• 05:27frustration, or guilt.
• 05:29And so by this definition
• 05:30of subjective well-being, a happy
• 05:32person would consider their life
• 05:33to be going well overall,
• 05:36they would experience frequent positive
• 05:38emotions in their daily life
• 05:40and infrequent
• 05:41negative emotions.
• 05:43As a compliment to happiness.
• 05:45I also include other aspects
• 05:46of well-being in my research.
• 05:48For example, I often include
• 05:49measures of meaning in life,
• 05:51which also includes three components.
• 05:53There must be something about
• 05:55threes.
• 05:56And the first is a
• 05:57sense of coherence or the
• 05:59feeling that life makes sense.
• 06:01The second is a sense
• 06:01of purpose, which is related
• 06:03to having goal directed actions
• 06:05and pursuing important and meaningful
• 06:07goals.
• 06:08And the third is a
• 06:09sense of significance or the
• 06:10extent to which people believe
• 06:12that their life has value
• 06:13worth and important.
• 06:16A note about meaning in
• 06:17life is that often when
• 06:19we hear people talk about
• 06:20meaning in life colloquially,
• 06:22we hear people say things
• 06:24that specific parts of their
• 06:25life, such as their children
• 06:27or their work are their
• 06:28meaning or their purpose.
• 06:30But the approach to meaning
• 06:32in life that I and
• 06:33others use in research focuses
• 06:35more on meaning in life
• 06:36as a feeling that someone
• 06:38has
• 06:39about their life, more about
• 06:40how they feel in their
• 06:42life than about a specific
• 06:44activity or goal or,
• 06:46focus.
• 06:49I would also note that
• 06:51I look at subjective well-being
• 06:52and meaning in life as
• 06:54compliments to mental health. So
• 06:56in many of my studies,
• 06:57I also include measures of
• 06:59mental health symptoms, such as
• 07:01depressive symptoms or anxiety symptoms.
• 07:03And I think of this
• 07:04as providing a holistic perspective
• 07:07of mental health and well-being
• 07:09indicating that to be truly
• 07:11well, we are not simply
• 07:13absent of mental illness, but
• 07:14we are also experiencing these
• 07:16positive indicators of well-being.
• 07:20So in trying to understand
• 07:22parents' well-being,
• 07:23I started with a very
• 07:24simple question. What is the
• 07:26association
• 07:27between parenthood and well-being?
• 07:30And as I began
• 07:31digging into this literature,
• 07:33trying to find what existing
• 07:35studies
• 07:36indicated in this area,
• 07:38I came across what I've
• 07:40come to term the parenthood
• 07:42paradox.
• 07:43And
• 07:44this is based on prior
• 07:46literature demonstrating
• 07:47that relative to people without
• 07:49children, parents reported
• 07:51more depression,
• 07:53less positive affect and more
• 07:55negative affect
• 07:56and lower relationship satisfaction.
• 07:59Yet at the same time,
• 08:00they also reported
• 08:02more meaning, gratification and reward
• 08:05as well as greater happiness.
• 08:07And after looking at this
• 08:09literature, I became really intrigued
• 08:10by these findings and wondered
• 08:12to myself, how could it
• 08:13be that parents are reporting
• 08:16both more depression
• 08:18and more happiness?
• 08:21And it became really difficult
• 08:22to compare
• 08:23across studies
• 08:25and reach a bottom line
• 08:26because every study seemed to
• 08:28use its own methodological
• 08:30approach, its own unique sample,
• 08:31different statistical methods, different covariates
• 08:35of like wide variety of
• 08:36differences
• 08:37across
• 08:38these studies, making it difficult
• 08:40to understand
• 08:41what's what and who's who.
• 08:43And so like any good
• 08:45researcher, I decided to conduct
• 08:47some studies of my own.
• 08:49And so we started with,
• 08:51some simple questions. Okay. But
• 08:54using multiple methodologies
• 08:56seeking to address,
• 08:57how parents compare to non
• 08:59parents in global well-being,
• 09:01how they compare to non
• 09:02parents in their experience of
• 09:03daily emotions
• 09:05and,
• 09:06how they feel specifically when
• 09:08they're spending time with their
• 09:09children.
• 09:10In addition,
• 09:12so for this first study,
• 09:14we were looking at parents'
• 09:15happiness levels in general, and
• 09:17we drew from the world
• 09:19value survey, which includes nearly
• 09:21seven thousand respondents. This is
• 09:22a, nationally representative sample,
• 09:25of individuals in the United
• 09:27States.
• 09:28In addition to being asked
• 09:29many demographic and lifestyle questions,
• 09:32relevant to my research questions
• 09:34that participants in this,
• 09:36respondents to this survey were
• 09:37also asked how happy they
• 09:39felt,
• 09:40how satisfied they felt with
• 09:41their life and how frequently
• 09:43they thought about the meaning
• 09:44and purpose of life.
• 09:47So we started with a
• 09:48very simple question, which is
• 09:50overall, how do parents compare
• 09:52to non parents on these
• 09:53indicators of well-being?
• 09:55And what we found was
• 09:56that parents reported greater life
• 09:58satisfaction,
• 09:59greater happiness,
• 10:01and more frequent thoughts about
• 10:02meaning in life.
• 10:04Of course, this is just
• 10:05a snapshot of parents' well-being,
• 10:08at a single time point
• 10:09cross sectionally,
• 10:11the items that were used
• 10:13to assess well-being,
• 10:15were also single items and
• 10:17not necessarily the most validated
• 10:19and supported in the literature.
• 10:21We also considered that parents
• 10:23could be biased in their
• 10:24responses.
• 10:25They could respond be responding
• 10:27based on how they think
• 10:28they're supposed to feel,
• 10:30rather than how they actually
• 10:31felt,
• 10:33and where it may not
• 10:34necessarily feel quite so happy
• 10:36as they're living their daily
• 10:37life.
• 10:38So in this second study,
• 10:40we wanted to better capture
• 10:42parents' experiences
• 10:44as they were living their
• 10:45daily life.
• 10:47We again use a nationally
• 10:48representative sample of adults, ages
• 10:50eighteen to ninety four, and
• 10:52to replicate the findings from
• 10:54that first study
• 10:55w participants completed validated measures
• 10:58of global well-being,
• 11:00specifically the subjective happiness scale
• 11:02and,
• 11:03the center for epidemiological
• 11:05studies, depression inventory.
• 11:08Then they participated
• 11:11in a seven day experience
• 11:13sampling paradigm for this study
• 11:15as well. Each day at
• 11:17five random times throughout the
• 11:18day, they were contacted and
• 11:20asked to fill out questionnaires,
• 11:22asking them who they were
• 11:23with, what they were doing,
• 11:25their positive emotions
• 11:26at that particular moment, as
• 11:28well as how much meaning
• 11:29they felt at the present
• 11:30moment.
• 11:32Unfortunately, given the sample, we
• 11:33didn't actually capture enough moments
• 11:36when people were spending time
• 11:37with their children
• 11:39to, tease apart the effects
• 11:41of time with children versus
• 11:42other activities.
• 11:44But instead we considered, you
• 11:46know, how are parents feeling
• 11:48in their daily life throughout
• 11:49the day compared to people
• 11:51without children.
• 11:53And what we found was
• 11:55that,
• 11:56again, turning to those global
• 11:58indicators of well-being, parents reported
• 12:00greater happiness
• 12:02as well as lower rates
• 12:03of depression
• 12:04compared to people without children.
• 12:08Turning next to the indicators
• 12:10of,
• 12:11emotions in daily life.
• 12:13We also found that parents
• 12:15reported more positive emotions in
• 12:17daily life and a greater
• 12:19sense of meaning in daily
• 12:20life.
• 12:21So here we're starting to
• 12:23replicate those initial findings and
• 12:25get more of a sense
• 12:25that parents are, relatively happy
• 12:28compared to people without children.
• 12:30However, it still could be
• 12:31the case that parents are
• 12:33reporting their happiness
• 12:35when they are doing everything
• 12:36else, but taking care of
• 12:38their children.
• 12:39And that could be biasing
• 12:41these overall reports of happiness.
• 12:44And we, you know, hypothesize
• 12:45that if, you know, being
• 12:47a parent is truly associated
• 12:49with increases in positive emotions,
• 12:51then parents ought to feel
• 12:53those positive emotions when they
• 12:55are spending time with their
• 12:56children.
• 12:58And so in our third
• 13:00study, we sought to address
• 13:01that question of understanding
• 13:03how how happy parents feel,
• 13:05when they're specifically spending time
• 13:07with their children. We recruited
• 13:09one hundred and eighty six
• 13:10parents for this study,
• 13:12and asked them to complete
• 13:14a day reconstruction method,
• 13:16which asks participants to reconstruct
• 13:19the entire day from start
• 13:20to finish episode by episode.
• 13:23For each episode, they then
• 13:25reported,
• 13:26their positive emotions,
• 13:28across several items,
• 13:30as well as how much
• 13:32meaning in life they felt
• 13:33for each specific episode.
• 13:35So to give you a
• 13:36better sense of
• 13:38what this looks like in
• 13:39terms of this day reconstruction
• 13:41method, I pulled some data
• 13:42from one of the participants
• 13:44in this study.
• 13:45And so here you can
• 13:47see that they've kind of
• 13:48this part of this specific
• 13:49participant has broken apart,
• 13:51their day episode by episode.
• 13:53So each line in this
• 13:54table represents a separate episode
• 13:57of the day. They noted
• 13:58what time it began and
• 14:00when it ended. So we
• 14:01have some information about how
• 14:02long it lasted.
• 14:03They made some initial notes
• 14:05to themselves about how they
• 14:06felt, and then they responded
• 14:08to those validated measures of
• 14:10positive emotions and meaning in
• 14:11life. So you can see
• 14:12that this person got up
• 14:14and got their kids ready
• 14:15for school.
• 14:16Then they dropped them off,
• 14:17played with some puppies, which
• 14:19just sounds delightful,
• 14:21drove to work. And then
• 14:23later on picked up their
• 14:24kids from the babysitter and
• 14:25played with them. And then
• 14:26ultimately,
• 14:28put their kids to bed.
• 14:30Notably, what you might see,
• 14:32here is that some of
• 14:34these experiences that this participant
• 14:36had,
• 14:37involved spending time with their
• 14:39children,
• 14:40which we term childcare,
• 14:43and other
• 14:44things did not, which we
• 14:47describe as, you know, just
• 14:48the other stuff that they
• 14:49did during the day.
• 14:50So this approach allowed us
• 14:52to look within parents' experiences
• 14:55and kind of break apart
• 14:56their day
• 14:57based on when they're spending
• 14:58time with their children versus
• 15:00the other stuff that they
• 15:01do throughout the day.
• 15:04And make a comparison
• 15:05of the emotions and sense
• 15:07of meaning that people feel,
• 15:09based on these different categories.
• 15:12So for our analysis, focus
• 15:14on comparing
• 15:15time with children versus the
• 15:17rest of the day. And
• 15:18again, what we found is
• 15:19that parents reported
• 15:21more positive affect when they
• 15:23were spending time with their
• 15:24kids,
• 15:24as well as greater sense
• 15:26of meaning,
• 15:27compared to the rest of
• 15:30their own day.
• 15:33So across these three studies,
• 15:35we have some confidence that
• 15:37parents are in fact happy.
• 15:40This holds true when we
• 15:41look at global well-being, daily
• 15:43well-being, and specifically when people
• 15:45are spending time with their
• 15:46children.
• 15:47Now you might notice that
• 15:49these, the, this, these studies
• 15:51were published over a decade
• 15:52ago and you might think
• 15:53to yourself, well, things have
• 15:54changed,
• 15:56in the last ten years
• 15:57and they certainly have.
• 15:59And I'm delighted
• 16:01that the, these findings have
• 16:03been replicated by others.
• 16:06Most notably parents reported,
• 16:08greater happiness than people without
• 16:10without children in another kind
• 16:12of general sample.
• 16:13This held true even during
• 16:15the pandemic,
• 16:16which as a parent myself,
• 16:17I found a bit surprising.
• 16:19I'm not gonna lie.
• 16:21It was also true among
• 16:23older adults over the age
• 16:25of sixty.
• 16:26We've also replicated
• 16:28the finding that parents report
• 16:30greater positive emotions when they're
• 16:31interacting with their children compared
• 16:33to the rest of their
• 16:34days. These findings have been
• 16:35replicated by,
• 16:37myself in my lab, as
• 16:38well as other external folks
• 16:40that I haven't been involved
• 16:41with. So I feel fairly
• 16:44confident in these findings
• 16:46that parents
• 16:47are reporting, you know, some
• 16:49level of happiness,
• 16:51but often when I get
• 16:52asked about this literature and
• 16:54you know, what is the
• 16:55take home message? I often
• 16:57say, you know, what I
• 16:58take away from this is
• 16:59that most parents are happy,
• 17:01but you might have noticed
• 17:02that those differences were relatively
• 17:05small.
• 17:06In fact, if we go
• 17:07back to that first
• 17:09study from the world values
• 17:10survey
• 17:11and plot the s the
• 17:13mean scores for parents and
• 17:15non parents around a normal
• 17:16distribution.
• 17:17Parents reported it was about
• 17:19seven point seven five on
• 17:20the life satisfaction
• 17:21item. This is what that
• 17:23distribution of scores
• 17:24would look like,
• 17:26compared to non parents who
• 17:28reported
• 17:29slightly under seven point five.
• 17:31You can see that these
• 17:33distributions
• 17:34are largely
• 17:35overlapping.
• 17:36And this is kind of
• 17:37just a word of caution
• 17:40to avoid
• 17:41over interpreting
• 17:42findings like this.
• 17:44I'm not trying to suggest
• 17:46that people should have children
• 17:48to make them happy or
• 17:50things like that. This is
• 17:51not necessarily a causal statement.
• 17:54And there are lots of
• 17:55ways to be happy
• 17:57without having children.
• 17:59But the, the, this distribution
• 18:01also highlights to me the
• 18:03variety of experiences
• 18:04across parents.
• 18:06And it made me start
• 18:08to wonder what leads some
• 18:10parents to be,
• 18:12much happier
• 18:14and other parents to be
• 18:15less happy
• 18:17and
• 18:18whether that might provide opportunities
• 18:20for intervention and support for
• 18:22parents.
• 18:23And so more recently, my
• 18:25research program has been focused
• 18:27on addressing these questions of
• 18:29understanding the variety of experiences
• 18:31among parents
• 18:33rather than comparisons
• 18:35to people without children.
• 18:38And so that brings me
• 18:39to my second question,
• 18:40which is why are some
• 18:41parents happier or less happy
• 18:43than others?
• 18:45To better understand when, why,
• 18:47and how parenthood could be
• 18:48associated
• 18:49with both greater and lower
• 18:51levels of well-being,
• 18:53I conducted a comprehensive review
• 18:54of this literature, including more
• 18:56than a hundred studies from
• 18:58psychology, sociology,
• 18:59and behavior economics.
• 19:01And one answer to this
• 19:02question,
• 19:03why are some parents happier
• 19:05than others?
• 19:06Could be due to a
• 19:08variety of demographic and psychological
• 19:11factors that moderate the association.
• 19:14So perhaps, you know, some
• 19:16parents are happier than others
• 19:17because they have greater levels
• 19:19of social support and having
• 19:20more social support is associated
• 19:22with greater happiness
• 19:23among parents and less social
• 19:25support is associated with lower
• 19:26levels of happiness
• 19:28or, you know,
• 19:29parents' employment status, a variety
• 19:31of factors.
• 19:33I also consider
• 19:35the psychological
• 19:36processes
• 19:37that could explain these different
• 19:39trajectories as well. And the
• 19:41top path of this model,
• 19:42I propose why parenthood might
• 19:44be associated with greater well-being
• 19:46specifically
• 19:47when parents experience.
• 19:50Greater
• 19:51purpose and meaning in life,
• 19:53fulfillment of their social roles,
• 19:55satisfaction of their psychological
• 19:57needs for autonomy, competence, and
• 20:00connectedness and greater positive emotions,
• 20:02then those will all support
• 20:04greater levels of well-being among
• 20:06parents.
• 20:07But sometimes raising children is
• 20:09not always sunshine
• 20:11and rainbows.
• 20:12And I propose that when
• 20:14parents experience greater negative emotions
• 20:16and stress,
• 20:18when they experience financial strain,
• 20:20sleep disturbance, and fatigue and
• 20:22difficulty in their romantic relationships,
• 20:25then they would experience lower
• 20:26levels of well-being.
• 20:29I use this model as
• 20:30a conceptual guide to my
• 20:32research program,
• 20:33and I have also,
• 20:35tested pieces of it empirically.
• 20:38I'm not going to present
• 20:39a full test of this
• 20:40model today. Don't worry.
• 20:42But instead I'm going to
• 20:44be presenting some studies highlighting
• 20:45the work that I've done,
• 20:47using this model as a
• 20:48guide.
• 20:50And I'd like to start
• 20:51by,
• 20:52considering the role that parent
• 20:54gender might play in understanding
• 20:57their well-being.
• 20:58Due to social and gender
• 21:00norms,
• 21:02moms and dads have very
• 21:03different experiences
• 21:05in parenting, which may have
• 21:07important implications
• 21:08for their overall well-being.
• 21:11And so I wanted to
• 21:12understand this better.
• 21:15And so I conducted
• 21:17a couple of studies to
• 21:18understand gender differences and parents'
• 21:20well-being.
• 21:21I turned first to the
• 21:22National Survey of Families and
• 21:24Households,
• 21:25which includes more than thirteen
• 21:26thousand
• 21:27respondents from the United States.
• 21:30And they reported their happiness
• 21:32on a single item,
• 21:35about, you know, how happy
• 21:36they would say they are
• 21:37these days, as well as
• 21:38completing the
• 21:40CESD
• 21:41again.
• 21:43And here I was interested
• 21:45in whether gender moderated the
• 21:47association
• 21:48between
• 21:48parenthood and well-being.
• 21:51And what we find is
• 21:52that turning first to parents'
• 21:54reports of happiness
• 21:56is that fathers report greater
• 21:58happiness than men without children.
• 22:02Whereas mothers were actually reported
• 22:04lower levels of happiness
• 22:06compared to women without children.
• 22:09The difference between fathers and
• 22:11mothers in this study was
• 22:12also statistically significant with fathers
• 22:15reporting greater happiness
• 22:16than mothers.
• 22:19Turning next to,
• 22:21depressive symptoms. We again found
• 22:23that fathers reported fewer depressive
• 22:26symptoms than men without children
• 22:27and compared to mothers,
• 22:29whereas there was no difference
• 22:31in depressive symptoms between mothers
• 22:33and women without children.
• 22:35So in this study, what
• 22:36we see is that
• 22:38dads tend to be benefiting
• 22:40more in terms of well-being
• 22:42-being
• 22:43from, fatherhood than moms are
• 22:44from motherhood. We wanted to
• 22:44follow this up again to
• 22:46get a better
• 22:48sense of how people are
• 22:49experiencing parenting in their daily
• 22:50life.
• 22:57We collaborated
• 22:58with the team who developed
• 23:00the track your happiness app,
• 23:03which prompts people
• 23:05throughout the day to reflect
• 23:06on their happiness levels as
• 23:08well as a variety of
• 23:09different experiences.
• 23:11Specifically,
• 23:12participants were contacted three times
• 23:14per day
• 23:15and,
• 23:15during waking hours and asked,
• 23:18how they felt at the
• 23:20current moment,
• 23:21ranging from very bad to
• 23:24very good,
• 23:25as our indicator of happiness.
• 23:29They were then prompted,
• 23:31with a variety of questions
• 23:32about what they were currently
• 23:33doing.
• 23:34And you can see there's
• 23:36a long list here of
• 23:38options that they could choose
• 23:40from, but included
• 23:41here were options
• 23:43such as taking care of
• 23:44your children,
• 23:45as well as talking or
• 23:47having conversation with someone.
• 23:50If people said, yes, I
• 23:51am talking or having conversation
• 23:52with someone, they were asked
• 23:54a follow-up question about who
• 23:56are you talking to? So
• 23:57they could indicate, oh, I'm
• 23:58talking to a friend, a
• 23:59partner,
• 24:01important for our research question,
• 24:02our children. Yeah. Question.
• 24:05Were the activities mutually exclusive,
• 24:06so they say they were
• 24:08both preparing
• 24:09for the children?
• 24:11Yes. The second one. They
• 24:12are not mutually exclusive. People
• 24:14can be do doing multiple
• 24:15things at once, which is
• 24:17a great question.
• 24:20And so we were interested
• 24:23in, again, understanding gender differences,
• 24:26and people's experiences
• 24:28caring for their children,
• 24:30or interacting with their children.
• 24:33So on the left hand
• 24:34side of the screen, these
• 24:35are the results for childcare.
• 24:36So this is when people
• 24:37said, yes, I'm taking care
• 24:39of my child compared to,
• 24:42you know, other, the other
• 24:43things that they did in
• 24:44their daily life. And what
• 24:45we found is that for
• 24:47women,
• 24:49mothers reported lower levels of
• 24:51happiness when they were engaged
• 24:52in childcare,
• 24:54compared to their other daily
• 24:57activities.
• 24:58Whereas for men, they reported
• 25:00higher levels of happiness when
• 25:02they were engaged in childcare,
• 25:05compared to their own other
• 25:06daily activities.
• 25:08Turning next to,
• 25:11interactions,
• 25:12we find that
• 25:14mothers reported higher lows levels
• 25:16of happiness when they were
• 25:17interacting
• 25:18with their children.
• 25:20But when we look at
• 25:21fathers, they were even happier
• 25:24when they were interacting,
• 25:26with their children compared to
• 25:28their other daily activities. So
• 25:29this was a significant moderation
• 25:31effect by order of magnitude.
• 25:34And so I think that
• 25:34this question that was raised,
• 25:36which is, you know, what
• 25:37other activities might people be
• 25:39doing,
• 25:40and could that play a
• 25:41role?
• 25:42And we did some I
• 25:44don't have a slide on
• 25:45this, but we did do
• 25:46some follow-up analysis to see,
• 25:48you know, are there gender
• 25:49differences
• 25:50in the secondary
• 25:51activities people, mothers and fathers
• 25:53are doing when they're engaged
• 25:55in childcare?
• 25:56And what we
• 25:57see is that fathers are
• 25:59much more likely to indicate
• 26:01that they are also engaged
• 26:02in play and leisure,
• 26:04when they are taking both
• 26:07taking care of their children
• 26:07and interacting with them, which
• 26:07would support that increase in
• 26:08positive emotions.
• 26:22So it's kind of up
• 26:23to the participant. So we
• 26:24didn't prompt them to tell
• 26:26us more about what are
• 26:27the other activities, but it
• 26:28could be, like I guess,
• 26:30what is considered child care
• 26:32versus just interacting?
• 26:34Yeah. So an example might
• 26:36be like, and this is
• 26:38defined by participants themselves. Right.
• 26:40And so it's all kind
• 26:41of self defined. Are you
• 26:43engaged in childcare versus interacting?
• 26:45But,
• 26:46and participants
• 26:47could say both. Right? I'm
• 26:48taking care of my children
• 26:50and I'm interacting with them.
• 26:52But example might be, like,
• 26:54I am,
• 26:56driving my child to soccer
• 26:58practice.
• 26:59Maybe you consider that,
• 27:01childcare or I'm changing a
• 27:03diaper
• 27:04or giving a bath or
• 27:06feeding a snack. Right? These
• 27:08are all things that
• 27:09I personally would consider childcare.
• 27:12But if I'm also,
• 27:15reading a story,
• 27:16to my child or having
• 27:18a conversation with them
• 27:20or,
• 27:21you know, telling them a
• 27:23story or,
• 27:25my son has been into
• 27:26jokes a lot lately. He's
• 27:27been telling me a lot
• 27:28of jokes. So they're the,
• 27:29that kind of like talking
• 27:31interaction,
• 27:32I think would be the
• 27:33key. And so you might
• 27:34be, so you,
• 27:36depending on the age of
• 27:37the child, you might be
• 27:38able to care for your
• 27:39child in certain ways without
• 27:41really engaging or talking with
• 27:43them.
• 27:44Right. And so that would
• 27:45be kind of that distinction.
• 27:51So together, these,
• 27:53those initial studies on gender
• 27:55provide evidence that fatherhood seems
• 27:57to be more consistently associated
• 27:59with greater well-being,
• 28:01than motherhood does.
• 28:04And in particularly, we saw
• 28:06that fathers demonstrated greater well-being
• 28:08overall than men without children,
• 28:10and they also reported greater
• 28:11positive emotions while they were
• 28:13engaged in childcare
• 28:14and interacting with their children.
• 28:17On the other hand, mothers
• 28:19were reporting lower happiness levels,
• 28:20greater depressive symptoms, and less
• 28:22happy when they were engaged
• 28:24in childcare.
• 28:26And this evidence is consistent
• 28:28with other accounts
• 28:30indicating that moms are often
• 28:32responsible for a lot of
• 28:34the chore like tasks of
• 28:36parenthood.
• 28:37They tend to be,
• 28:39you know, more responsible
• 28:41for preparing meals, potty training,
• 28:43changing diapers, transportation,
• 28:46and also carry a much
• 28:48heavier mental load associated
• 28:50with parenthood. And I think
• 28:52these are
• 28:53potential contributing factors.
• 28:56On the other hand, we
• 28:57did see that fathers were
• 28:59more likely to be engaged
• 29:00in play with their children,
• 29:02which may lead them to
• 29:03feel more positive emotions,
• 29:05when they're engaged in parenting.
• 29:08In,
• 29:09this also points to the
• 29:11potential role of positive emotions
• 29:13as a valuable mechanism,
• 29:16to support parents' well-being.
• 29:18In other studies, I've also
• 29:20found that parents age,
• 29:22their marital status,
• 29:24and their attachment style also
• 29:26moderate the association
• 29:27between parenthood and well-being.
• 29:30And together, the this demonstrates,
• 29:33I think, one way of
• 29:34understanding the dynamics of parenthood.
• 29:37I propose that each of
• 29:38these moderating factors
• 29:40Can be understood via the
• 29:42different mechanisms in the top
• 29:44path of this model
• 29:46So the evidence from these
• 29:47studies points to positive emotions
• 29:49as a at least partially
• 29:52explaining
• 29:53the gender divide in parents'
• 29:55well-being.
• 29:56And better understanding these psychological
• 29:59processes
• 30:00also provides a foundation
• 30:02for developing interventions to promote
• 30:05parents' well-being.
• 30:07And of course, this brings
• 30:08me to,
• 30:09my third question of the
• 30:10day, which is what are
• 30:11the strategies and potential benefits
• 30:14of enhancing parents' happiness?
• 30:19To answer this question, I
• 30:20have been implementing
• 30:22positive activity interventions
• 30:24among parents.
• 30:26A large literature has emerged
• 30:27investigating
• 30:28whether and how it might
• 30:30be possible for people to
• 30:31become happier with intentional effort.
• 30:34These studies typically involve assigning
• 30:36people to practice
• 30:38a positive activity intervention.
• 30:40Then these involve simple and
• 30:42intentional practices
• 30:44that are meant to mimic
• 30:45the thoughts and behaviors of
• 30:46naturally happy people.
• 30:48For example, in my own
• 30:50work using longitudinal
• 30:51experimental designs, I have discovered
• 30:54that being kind to other
• 30:55people,
• 30:56expressing gratitude,
• 30:58and affirming one's sense of
• 30:59belonging and social groups all
• 31:02lead to increases in happiness
• 31:04and well-being over time.
• 31:06And this work provides
• 31:08a rigorous
• 31:09approach
• 31:10to investigate the causes of
• 31:11parents' happiness
• 31:13and to provide recommendations
• 31:15for parents seeking to improve
• 31:17their own happiness and well-being.
• 31:21In addition, although most prior
• 31:23work on positive activity interventions
• 31:25focuses specifically
• 31:27on individual well-being,
• 31:29I'm also interested in using
• 31:32these
• 31:33strategies as a tool,
• 31:35not only to promote parents'
• 31:37happiness,
• 31:38but to better understand
• 31:40how parents' happiness
• 31:41can also contribute to improving
• 31:44the lives of the entire
• 31:47family, especially given that we
• 31:48know that caregiver and child
• 31:50well-being
• 31:51are closely related to one
• 31:53another.
• 31:55So today I wanna spend
• 31:56some time talking about gratitude
• 31:58in particular.
• 31:59Prior research demonstrates that gratitude
• 32:02is associated
• 32:03with
• 32:04a wide variety of emotional
• 32:05and relational benefits.
• 32:07So I thought that this
• 32:09could be a valuable tool
• 32:11for improving parents' well-being and
• 32:13family functioning.
• 32:15Specifically,
• 32:16prior work on the benefits
• 32:17of gratitude has suggested
• 32:19that it's beneficial across contexts.
• 32:21It leads to greater happiness,
• 32:25improved health,
• 32:26more pro social behavior
• 32:28or kindness to other people,
• 32:30greater patience,
• 32:32which I think is especially
• 32:33key for parents,
• 32:35and is particularly beneficial in
• 32:37the context of relationships.
• 32:39Although most of the prior
• 32:40work on the benefits of
• 32:41gratitude and relationships has focused
• 32:43on romantic relationships or friendships
• 32:45and fewer studies had considered,
• 32:48gratitude and parent child relationships.
• 32:52So based on that prior
• 32:53evidence, I thought that gratitude
• 32:55would be a great resource
• 32:56and potential pathway for improving
• 32:59parents' well-being
• 33:00and supporting families.
• 33:02And to,
• 33:04since very few studies that
• 33:06explored gratitude in a family
• 33:08context, I started
• 33:10with a more observational
• 33:11approach,
• 33:13using a daily diary methodology.
• 33:16And so we evaluated whether
• 33:17gratitude was associated with well-being
• 33:20and family functioning in daily
• 33:21life.
• 33:22In this seven day paradigm,
• 33:25we recruited two seventy participants
• 33:28for this study
• 33:29and every day for seven
• 33:30days, they responded to the
• 33:32prompt, People give care to
• 33:34their children in both good
• 33:35and bad times. Sometimes giving
• 33:37this care is easy and
• 33:38enjoyable, whereas other times it
• 33:40can be difficult and frustrating.
• 33:42Please describe a time today,
• 33:43be it easy or difficult,
• 33:45when you gave care to
• 33:45your child.
• 33:47Please describe what your child
• 33:48was going through and what
• 33:49you did.
• 33:50And so we had this
• 33:51really rich dataset with all
• 33:53of these daily experiences,
• 33:56that parents had caring for
• 33:58their children.
• 33:59And we wanted to capture,
• 34:02the whole spectrum.
• 34:03With this prompt, we were
• 34:04not only interested in
• 34:07the pleasant moments with children,
• 34:09but we wanted this more
• 34:11realistic
• 34:12perspective
• 34:13of parents' experiences.
• 34:16After responding to this prompt,
• 34:17participants
• 34:18reported a variety of daily
• 34:21well-being outcomes, including positive and
• 34:23negative emotions,
• 34:25which importantly included a single
• 34:26item measuring gratitude, feelings of
• 34:29gratitude.
• 34:30They reported their, the satisfaction
• 34:32of their psychological needs for
• 34:33autonomy, competence, and connectedness,
• 34:36as well as their, how
• 34:38satisfied they felt with their
• 34:39life that day and how
• 34:41much meaning they felt with
• 34:42their life that day.
• 34:44In addition, parents reported how
• 34:46close they felt to their
• 34:47child on a daily basis
• 34:49on a scale ranging from
• 34:51one to seven.
• 34:53And,
• 34:53I had a wonderful
• 34:55team
• 34:56of students go through and
• 34:57read and code all twelve
• 34:59hundred
• 35:00of these diary responses,
• 35:03and coded them for
• 35:05the amount of conflict that
• 35:07was present in these interactions,
• 35:09as well as the level
• 35:10of warmth and support that
• 35:11parents were providing for their
• 35:13children.
• 35:15Finally,
• 35:16we, while we were interested
• 35:17in understanding the association
• 35:19between daily feelings of gratitude
• 35:22and well-being outcomes
• 35:24at the daily level, we
• 35:26wanted to make sure that
• 35:27this was
• 35:28unique to gratitude.
• 35:30And so we included a
• 35:31variety of covariates
• 35:32in these analyses,
• 35:34to make sure that these
• 35:36patterns weren't reflective
• 35:38of parent age or how,
• 35:40how, many children they had
• 35:42a variety of demographic factors.
• 35:44And we also wanted to
• 35:46distinguish,
• 35:47felt gratitude on a daily
• 35:49basis from the experience of
• 35:50other positive emotions, such as
• 35:52happiness, which was also included
• 35:54as a covariate.
• 35:57All right. So like I
• 35:58said,
• 35:59we were interested in gratitude
• 36:01at the daily level. And
• 36:03so we conducted multilevel modeling
• 36:05analysis,
• 36:06which allowed us to piece
• 36:07apart,
• 36:08within person variability
• 36:10and gratitude. So how much
• 36:12does one parent fluctuate in
• 36:14their feelings of gratitude from
• 36:15one day to the next
• 36:17from
• 36:18excuse me, between person variability?
• 36:21Or how much gratitude does
• 36:22a person feel over the
• 36:24course of the whole week,
• 36:25and how does that compare
• 36:26to,
• 36:27other people?
• 36:42Level?
• 36:43Is that related to other
• 36:45indicators of well-being at the
• 36:46daily level and family functioning?
• 36:50And what you see is
• 36:51that that daily gratitude was
• 36:52associated with greater positive emotions,
• 36:55fewer negative emotions, more autonomy,
• 36:57competence, connectedness,
• 36:59meaning, and,
• 37:01daily satisfaction.
• 37:03And these findings were quite
• 37:04robust even as we,
• 37:07included all of those covariates
• 37:09in our model.
• 37:12So in general, what this
• 37:14tells us is that on
• 37:15days that parents felt more
• 37:16grateful than they usually did,
• 37:18they also
• 37:19reported higher levels of well-being
• 37:22across a variety of outcomes.
• 37:24Turning next to our family
• 37:27functioning outcomes.
• 37:29We again saw that on
• 37:30days that parents reported higher
• 37:32levels of gratitude, they also
• 37:33felt closer to their child,
• 37:35provided more warmth and support
• 37:37for their child,
• 37:38and demonstrated
• 37:40lower levels of conflict in
• 37:41those interactions.
• 37:44And this was,
• 37:45robust after the inclusion of
• 37:48covariates.
• 37:50So what we see here
• 37:51is that feeling grateful on
• 37:53a daily basis,
• 37:55throughout people's, you know, real
• 37:57experiences taking care of their
• 37:58children is associated with a
• 38:00variety of well-being and family
• 38:02functioning outcomes.
• 38:04But you might be looking
• 38:04at this and think to
• 38:06yourself, well, maybe they feel
• 38:08more grateful because they felt
• 38:10close to their child rather
• 38:12than gratitude
• 38:13leading them to feel close
• 38:15to their children, right. Is
• 38:17certainly plausible that these,
• 38:20associations
• 38:21are bidirectional.
• 38:22And so we wanted to
• 38:23understand
• 38:24whether gratitude might be causing
• 38:26some of these benefits for
• 38:28parents' well-being and family functioning.
• 38:31And so we implemented,
• 38:34an experimental
• 38:35design to better understand the
• 38:38causal role of gratitude for
• 38:40family well-being.
• 38:41We recruited six hundred and
• 38:43nineteen parents to participate in
• 38:45this study,
• 38:47and we randomly assigned per
• 38:49these parents to one of
• 38:51three conditions.
• 38:53Our first condition
• 38:54is a new gratitude activity
• 38:57that we developed called safe
• 38:58haven gratitude,
• 38:59which instructs people to write
• 39:01a gratitude letter to someone
• 39:02who made them feel cherished,
• 39:04protected,
• 39:05or accepted.
• 39:06And this is drawn from
• 39:08attachment theory, as well as
• 39:10Sarah Aljo's find remind and
• 39:11bind theory
• 39:12of gratitude, which argues that
• 39:14gratitude is meant to help
• 39:16draw our attention to high
• 39:17quality
• 39:18relationship partners.
• 39:20Our second condition was a
• 39:21general gratitude activity in which
• 39:24participants were instructed to write
• 39:25a letter to someone who
• 39:26was kind to them.
• 39:28And our third activity was
• 39:29a neutral control in which
• 39:31they wrote about the events
• 39:32of the previous day.
• 39:34For this study, participants were
• 39:35first randomly assigned to their
• 39:37activity and wrote these letters
• 39:39or wrote about their prior
• 39:41experiences.
• 39:42Immediately after they completed this
• 39:44activity,
• 39:46they reported their positive,
• 39:49empathic and negative emotions,
• 39:51their psychological needs satisfaction,
• 39:54which includes autonomy, competence, and
• 39:56connectedness,
• 39:56their sense of meaning in
• 39:57life and how close they
• 39:58felt to their children.
• 40:00Then they we followed up
• 40:02with them five days later,
• 40:04and ask them again about
• 40:05their positive and negative emotions,
• 40:07their psychological needs satisfaction, meaning
• 40:10in life, and subjective happiness.
• 40:12We ask them how close
• 40:13they felt to their child
• 40:14again five days later.
• 40:17And,
• 40:18we also ask them about
• 40:20a variety of family functioning
• 40:22outcomes, including parenting satisfaction,
• 40:25parental over control,
• 40:26positive child behavior, which includes
• 40:29the parents' perceptions,
• 40:30their perceptions
• 40:32of their child's negative behavior
• 40:34and their perceptions of their
• 40:35child's maladjustment.
• 40:38Given,
• 40:39that this is one gratitude
• 40:40letter that takes five to
• 40:42ten minutes to write, I
• 40:43didn't necessarily
• 40:44expect
• 40:45that
• 40:46writing
• 40:47this letter one time would
• 40:49change people's lives for the
• 40:50rest of time or even
• 40:52five days later. But instead,
• 40:54what I was interested in
• 40:55was whether any immediate benefit
• 40:57of writing these gratitude letters
• 41:00would translate into benefits
• 41:02over the course of the
• 41:03week.
• 41:04And so we first evaluated
• 41:07these immediate benefits of the
• 41:08gratitude letter, and then we
• 41:10conducted analyses looking at whether
• 41:12those benefits,
• 41:13were correlated with,
• 41:16the well-being, relationship quality, and
• 41:18family functioning outcomes five days
• 41:20later. So turning first to
• 41:21the immediate outcomes,
• 41:23we found that both gratitude
• 41:25activities
• 41:26elicited greater positive emotions,
• 41:29greater empathic emotions, which includes
• 41:31things like feeling compassionate, sympathetic,
• 41:34caring.
• 41:36Importantly, it also elicited greater
• 41:38gratitude as a manipulation
• 41:40check,
• 41:41and interestingly
• 41:42lower levels of competence.
• 41:46And turning next
• 41:48to our,
• 41:50mediation
• 41:51analysis. So,
• 41:52here we found that the
• 41:54experience of positive emotions in
• 41:56particular
• 41:57was especially beneficial,
• 41:59for parents over the course
• 42:00of the week.
• 42:02The this is just, you
• 42:03know, showing you what I
• 42:05showed before, but the gratitude
• 42:06letter activities led to increases
• 42:09in positive emotions,
• 42:10which in turn predicted parents'
• 42:12well-being five days
• 42:14later, including greater positive emotions,
• 42:16empathic emotions,
• 42:17fewer negative emotions,
• 42:19greater subjective happiness, greater meaning,
• 42:22and,
• 42:23greater psychological needs satisfaction.
• 42:27And turning next to those
• 42:29family functioning outcomes, the increases
• 42:31in positive emotions immediately following
• 42:34the gratitude activity
• 42:36led to greater,
• 42:37sense of closeness, parenting satisfaction,
• 42:40more positive perceptions of their
• 42:42child's behavior,
• 42:43fewer negative perceptions of their
• 42:45child's behavior,
• 42:46and lower parent reports of
• 42:48child maladjustment.
• 42:50One thing that I would
• 42:51like to point out here
• 42:52is that this gratitude letter
• 42:54activity did not ask people
• 42:55to
• 42:56think about their child,
• 42:58focus on their child,
• 43:01think about how grateful they
• 43:02are for their child. It
• 43:03had nothing to do with
• 43:04their child at all.
• 43:07And
• 43:08still we see that the
• 43:09improvements in positive emotions are
• 43:11translating
• 43:12into benefits,
• 43:14with their interactions with their
• 43:16children.
• 43:19And so I think that
• 43:20this is really interesting,
• 43:22given that we can find
• 43:23these simple ways to support
• 43:25parents' well-being, and then that
• 43:26might translate into benefits for
• 43:28the whole family.
• 43:31I'm also interested in understanding,
• 43:34a variety of other questions.
• 43:36So
• 43:37these gratitude activities that I've
• 43:39been doing
• 43:40are relatively simple one time
• 43:42point, and I think it
• 43:43would be valuable to
• 43:46better understand whether they can
• 43:47sustainably
• 43:48lead to increases in well-being,
• 43:50perhaps with longer term interventions
• 43:53as opposed to a single
• 43:55time point.
• 43:56We're also,
• 43:57currently conducting studies including dyadic
• 44:00assessments of parent and children's
• 44:01well-being and relationship qualities so
• 44:03we can get both the
• 44:04parent and the child's perspective.
• 44:07Because it's certainly possible that
• 44:09maybe the parent feels better
• 44:10about their relationship with the
• 44:11child, but maybe the child
• 44:12doesn't.
• 44:13And it would be important
• 44:14to show,
• 44:16those benefits on both sides
• 44:17of that relationship.
• 44:20I am also really interested
• 44:21in understanding how these processes
• 44:23emerge during the transition to
• 44:25parenthood.
• 44:26The transition to parenthood has
• 44:27been identified as an inflection
• 44:29point for adult development, introducing
• 44:32risk for mental illness, but
• 44:33also opportunities
• 44:35for growth. And given
• 44:37the substantial changes that occur
• 44:39during this period of time,
• 44:41it's valuable to understand
• 44:44how these patterns play out
• 44:45during,
• 44:47this transition period.
• 44:49And,
• 44:50this might give us some
• 44:51insights into new behaviors and
• 44:54patterns that are emerging,
• 44:56that could either undermine or
• 44:58support parents' well-being.
• 45:01To that end, I'm currently
• 45:03collaborating with doctor Helena Rutherford
• 45:05here at the child study
• 45:06center,
• 45:08to
• 45:09understand how feelings of loneliness
• 45:11and social connection
• 45:13change from pregnancy through the
• 45:14early postpartum period and how
• 45:16those changes are related
• 45:18to parent and child health
• 45:20and well-being.
• 45:21We specifically
• 45:22hypothesized
• 45:23that social connectedness
• 45:25during the transition to parenthood
• 45:27will predict postpartum mental health
• 45:28and well-being
• 45:29with downstream consequences
• 45:31for child development.
• 45:33We are testing these
• 45:35these hypotheses in a longitudinal
• 45:38triadic
• 45:38study, including birthing parents, their
• 45:41partners,
• 45:42and children,
• 45:43as well as self report,
• 45:44health outcomes, and behavioral observations
• 45:48of parenting behavior and infant
• 45:49development.
• 45:51Sometimes it feels like we
• 45:52have the whole kitchen sink
• 45:54in this study.
• 45:56And so our hope with
• 45:57this work is that by
• 45:58evaluating social connection, mental health,
• 46:01and well-being,
• 46:02and how these unfold during
• 46:04the transition to parenthood,
• 46:05we can identify new routes
• 46:07of intervention,
• 46:08to improve caregiver well-being,
• 46:11minimize development of postpartum mood
• 46:13disorders, which will ultimately benefit
• 46:15the entire family for years
• 46:17to come.
• 46:19So in conclusion, I think
• 46:21that what my research demonstrates
• 46:23is that although parenting can
• 46:25be stressful, it can also
• 46:27be joyful
• 46:28and many parents are in
• 46:29fact,
• 46:30relatively
• 46:31happy
• 46:32amidst the stress.
• 46:35My work also
• 46:37focuses on understanding the psychological
• 46:39factors that predict and promote
• 46:41parents' well-being
• 46:43with an eye towards
• 46:45understanding how supporting parents' well-being
• 46:47can benefit,
• 46:50the entire family.
• 46:52And with that, I would
• 46:53be happy to take any
• 46:55questions
• 46:56that you have.
• 47:05Question over here.
• 47:10Doctor Cardona.
• 47:12Thank you so much for
• 47:14demonstrating so elegantly
• 47:16how you can combine both
• 47:17qualitative and quantitative
• 47:20methodologies
• 47:21to get at some very,
• 47:22very rich,
• 47:23data. So thank you for
• 47:25demonstrating that so very clearly.
• 47:28My question is about other
• 47:29moderators,
• 47:31that I wasn't sure you
• 47:33describe, which is,
• 47:35factors of poverty
• 47:37and also,
• 47:39cultural
• 47:40and racial identity.
• 47:42We know that our,
• 47:44brown and black families and
• 47:45those that suffer in poverty
• 47:48have a lot of adversities
• 47:49and whether you've looked at
• 47:51those as
• 47:52moderating factors in parent well-being
• 47:55and parent happiness and parenting.
• 47:58Yeah. I think that's a
• 47:59great question.
• 48:01So first I would say
• 48:02that financial strain is one
• 48:04of the key mechanisms
• 48:06in my model. And so
• 48:07I do think that,
• 48:09those experiences
• 48:11are,
• 48:12incredibly
• 48:13important,
• 48:15to, you know, understand
• 48:17and
• 48:18provide resources and
• 48:20support.
• 48:21I don't have any
• 48:23direct data,
• 48:25myself on those questions,
• 48:28but I think it's, you
• 48:29know you know,
• 48:32the, you know, maternal health
• 48:34care,
• 48:37experiences
• 48:37of brown and black women
• 48:39in particular,
• 48:40is a huge problem
• 48:42in this, this country. And
• 48:44I'm hoping that we might
• 48:46have some
• 48:47in our current ongoing study.
• 48:49I'm hoping that our sample,
• 48:50we will be diverse enough
• 48:51to allow us to
• 48:53evaluate some of those questions
• 48:55more thoroughly because there is
• 48:56absolutely a need.
• 48:58Okay. So we do have
• 48:59another question in the, from
• 49:00the Zoom room.
• 49:02Linda Drozdowicz, do you want
• 49:03to unmute and ask your
• 49:04question?
• 49:10If you can find the
• 49:11unmute button.
• 49:12She's she's there. She's just
• 49:14trying to unmute.
• 49:15There we go. Hey there.
• 49:16Thank you. Sorry. I wasn't
• 49:17letting you unmute. Thank you
• 49:18so much for this talk.
• 49:19This is such an important
• 49:20topic.
• 49:21Just just one second, Linda.
• 49:23Yep.
• 49:24We're just turning up. Again?
• 49:27Check. Check. One, two, three.
• 49:29Keep going.
• 49:30We're good? Good. Yes. Alright.
• 49:32Thank you so much for
• 49:33this talk. This is such
• 49:34an important topic.
• 49:36I I say this as
• 49:38a mother who loves being
• 49:39a mother, but motherhood can
• 49:40be a really raw deal.
• 49:42And I would be
• 49:44just, it can it tends
• 49:45to be and I would
• 49:47be very interested
• 49:49to see follow-up questions, or
• 49:51in the next iteration of
• 49:52the study,
• 49:53less about what mothers and
• 49:55fathers were doing while taking
• 49:57care of their children, but
• 49:58more about what they were
• 50:00thinking,
• 50:00because there's a lot of
• 50:02attention that's being paid increasingly
• 50:04to the mental load, which
• 50:05tends to disproportionately
• 50:06fall on mothers.
• 50:08Not of what you do
• 50:08in the home. But of
• 50:09who is in charge of
• 50:10thinking about, you know, what
• 50:12are we getting for dinner?
• 50:13Who's making it when we'll
• 50:13be on the table, you
• 50:15know, the kids ready for
• 50:15school, etcetera.
• 50:17And, you know, in in
• 50:18my personal experience with every
• 50:20mom, I know whenever you're
• 50:21spending time with your kids,
• 50:22you are also thinking about
• 50:23all those things simultaneously.
• 50:24And I would wonder if
• 50:26that would
• 50:27be a factor contributing to
• 50:29who is happier and less
• 50:30happy, you know, in the
• 50:31study. So,
• 50:32there's an exercise called the
• 50:34fair play game that I
• 50:35mentioned in my comment, which
• 50:36literally has on cards almost
• 50:37every organizational,
• 50:39you know, household task and
• 50:40and thought process that exists.
• 50:42And you can have couples
• 50:43divide them up and see
• 50:44who's in charge of thinking
• 50:45about what. So I just
• 50:46thought that would be really
• 50:47interesting because at least in
• 50:48my experience and from what
• 50:49I've read, that's a major
• 50:51factor in the experience of,
• 50:52you know, mothers versus fathers.
• 50:54Yes. Thank you so much
• 50:55for that comment. And the
• 50:56mental load of motherhood is
• 50:58definitely one of the reasons
• 51:00that I think we see
• 51:02this,
• 51:03gender divide in parents' well-being.
• 51:05And I'm also familiar with
• 51:06the fair play game and
• 51:07love it. Great recommendation.
• 51:13You can see for anyone
• 51:14who wants to obtain CEUs,
• 51:15Tara is putting a note
• 51:16in the chat just to
• 51:18sign out from this activity,
• 51:19and we put the sign
• 51:20out codes at the back
• 51:21of the room here in
• 51:22the cone for anyone who's
• 51:23interested.
• 51:25Hello.
• 51:27I had two questions. So
• 51:28the first one was, can
• 51:29you speak a little bit
• 51:30more of to the demographics
• 51:33of the parents that were
• 51:34involved in this study? And
• 51:36then the second one was,
• 51:37with the emergence of literature
• 51:39on hyper intent hyperattentive
• 51:42parenting and intensive parenting, have
• 51:44you taken that into consideration
• 51:46in this literature, and how
• 51:47is that kind of playing
• 51:48out in what you're seeing?
• 51:50Yeah. Absolutely. So,
• 51:53the demographics of the studies
• 51:55vary,
• 51:56depending, you know, on each
• 51:58specific study.
• 51:59And this is often why
• 52:01you'll see, like, I use
• 52:02the world value survey,
• 52:05the national survey of families
• 52:06and households,
• 52:08which draw from representative samples
• 52:10of the United States. And
• 52:12so,
• 52:13my hope is that we're
• 52:14capturing
• 52:15at least some representation,
• 52:16but this does
• 52:18still tend to lean towards
• 52:19more overrepresentation
• 52:21of white families.
• 52:23And so I think that
• 52:24there does need to be
• 52:25much more work done to,
• 52:27broaden the diversity and representation
• 52:30of our samples so that
• 52:31we can speak to more,
• 52:34you know, populations
• 52:35within our country.
• 52:37The other studies,
• 52:39also do tend to be,
• 52:41usually between sixty and seventy
• 52:43percent white,
• 52:46families. And so we are
• 52:47seeing kind of an overrepresentation
• 52:49of that,
• 52:50perspective.
• 52:51And then your second question
• 52:53about intensive parenting,
• 52:55I think that that is,
• 52:57a really great question. And
• 52:59I think that,
• 53:00there's,
• 53:01not my own studies, but
• 53:02work by others show that
• 53:04compares
• 53:05the amount of time parents
• 53:06spent with their children in
• 53:07the nineteen eighties compared to
• 53:09the amount of time parents
• 53:10spend with their children now.
• 53:12And it has increased,
• 53:14significantly,
• 53:17Upwards of, I think at
• 53:18least I don't have the
• 53:19exact numbers in front of
• 53:21me, but like at least
• 53:22ten hours a week, more
• 53:24time with kids. And I
• 53:25think that that's characteristic
• 53:27of that intensive
• 53:29parenting. Another thing that brings
• 53:31to mind when I hear
• 53:32intensive parenting
• 53:34is to consider parents' attachment
• 53:37orientations,
• 53:38because intensive parenting
• 53:40is common among parents with
• 53:43more anxious,
• 53:44patterns of attachment.
• 53:46And I do have data
• 53:48showing that,
• 53:50parents with,
• 53:52more anxious attachment styles
• 53:54are reporting
• 53:56fewer positive emotions and more
• 53:58negative emotions across the entire
• 54:00day. So not necessarily specific
• 54:01to when they're spending time
• 54:02with their kids,
• 54:03but,
• 54:05all the time they're feeling.
• 54:06And I think that that's
• 54:07demonstrative of that mental load
• 54:09and the worry that goes
• 54:10into
• 54:11caring for children, even when,
• 54:13when they're not with them.
• 54:15Great. And I think we
• 54:17have another question from the
• 54:18Zoom room. Catherine, do you
• 54:19want to unmute to ask
• 54:20your question?
• 54:21Catherine Bob?
• 54:31Oh, there I am.
• 54:32It was saying I couldn't
• 54:33unmute. So thank you for
• 54:34this presentation. I appreciate it.
• 54:37What I'm curious about is
• 54:39as much as you're saying
• 54:42a lot about parents and
• 54:44and, you know,
• 54:45what what their perspectives are
• 54:47and how they fall in
• 54:48in this
• 54:49research, you're saying quite a
• 54:51bit about people who are
• 54:53not parenting, and I can't
• 54:55remember the exact terminology that
• 54:56you use in terms of
• 54:59their
• 55:00identifier. But could you say
• 55:01a little bit more about
• 55:02the folks who are not
• 55:03parents
• 55:04and their sort of demographics?
• 55:07Did you did you gather
• 55:09any information about their connection
• 55:11to children, their connection in,
• 55:14you know, being in a
• 55:15partnership or, you know, like
• 55:17and any additional details about
• 55:19those folks who participated would
• 55:20be really insightful for me.
• 55:23Yeah. That's a great question.
• 55:25And I don't have as
• 55:27much, like, really, like, rich
• 55:29data about,
• 55:30the non parents in these
• 55:32studies.
• 55:33But I, I have thought
• 55:35about this a lot,
• 55:36because, and this part of
• 55:38the reason why I have
• 55:39actually moved away from these
• 55:41comparisons to non parents, because
• 55:44there's, you know,
• 55:45so many reasons why people
• 55:47might not have children.
• 55:49They might vary in their,
• 55:50you know, maybe they are.
• 55:53Have like lots of nieces
• 55:54and nephews
• 55:55or, you know, other, you
• 55:57know, children that they're in
• 55:59contact with, or you know,
• 56:00a variety of things. They
• 56:01might also have children in
• 56:02the future if they are
• 56:03relatively young.
• 56:06And what I can say,
• 56:08is that other studies that
• 56:10have, you know, broken apart
• 56:12the, the data based on,
• 56:15comparing, you know, people with
• 56:17children to
• 56:19people who don't have children
• 56:20but want to have children,
• 56:23or people who don't have
• 56:24children but don't want to
• 56:25have children,
• 56:27it matters.
• 56:29And,
• 56:30what we see is that
• 56:31the the, you know, comparisons
• 56:34of parents to people,
• 56:36who don't have children but
• 56:38want to have children,
• 56:39that well-being difference is much
• 56:41larger,
• 56:42not surprising.
• 56:43Whereas the difference between
• 56:45people who don't have children,
• 56:48and
• 56:49have no
• 56:50intention
• 56:51or desire to have children,
• 56:53the difference is much smaller.
• 57:03Doctor Reyes.
• 57:06Hi. So thank you so
• 57:07much for sharing your research.
• 57:08Mhmm. And I think just
• 57:09building off of what has
• 57:10been said,
• 57:12so far because I was,
• 57:13like, looking at the coefficients,
• 57:16and I was wondering if,
• 57:17like, how big are the
• 57:18effect sizes really? Because they
• 57:20seem like, you know, like
• 57:21seven point five versus seven
• 57:22point three, for instance. Like,
• 57:23is that really,
• 57:25you know, meaningful? So I'm
• 57:26just worried about the implications.
• 57:28And, you know, the
• 57:30given our political climate, I'm
• 57:31hearing, like, childless cat ladies
• 57:33and, you know, things like
• 57:34that.
• 57:35So yeah. So that's one
• 57:37thing that I that first
• 57:39got my attention when I
• 57:40was looking at your slides.
• 57:42And then the second is,
• 57:45I was fascinated
• 57:46by this, the parenting
• 57:48paradox because we seem to
• 57:50be
• 57:51dichotomizing,
• 57:52like, feeling sad versus feeling
• 57:54happy when you can have
• 57:56both.
• 57:56For instance, and then I
• 57:57think, like, building again off
• 57:59of what others have said,
• 58:00like, if you're coming from
• 58:02systemically
• 58:03disinvested communities
• 58:05where stress and, you know,
• 58:06all you know, you're suffering
• 58:08from
• 58:09all these other,
• 58:11stuff happening in your neighborhood
• 58:13and things like that. Like,
• 58:15I just I just worry
• 58:16about, like, this
• 58:18dichotomy
• 58:19of moving towards everything is
• 58:21positive and happy
• 58:23versus really thinking about, like,
• 58:25how are we able to
• 58:26find harmony
• 58:27and really accept
• 58:29the fact that, you know,
• 58:30you can't really remove stress
• 58:32from these communities, for instance.
• 58:34Yeah. Thank you for raising
• 58:36that. I wanna address the
• 58:37second point first, and then
• 58:38I'll come back to the
• 58:39first,
• 58:41which is that, like, I
• 58:43completely agree,
• 58:45with what you said. And
• 58:46it's often, like, something that
• 58:47I worry about a lot
• 58:48with studying positive emotions and
• 58:51happiness and well-being
• 58:53is,
• 58:54that I don't want it
• 58:55to be misconstrued that I'm
• 58:57just trying to walk around
• 58:58saying that people just need
• 58:59to be happy. Like they
• 59:01just need to be happy
• 59:02and that's all that matters.
• 59:04Because
• 59:05there is a lot of,
• 59:06you know, hurt and sadness
• 59:08in the world. And I
• 59:09actually think that part of
• 59:10being
• 59:11well
• 59:12is being able to
• 59:14acknowledge that,
• 59:16and experience
• 59:18those emotions
• 59:20without ruminating on them or
• 59:22getting, you know, letting them
• 59:23to kind of carry you
• 59:25away. And so I think
• 59:26that there is maybe a
• 59:27sweet spot of allowing ourselves
• 59:29to experience those negative emotions
• 59:31on alongside,
• 59:33the positive emotions.
• 59:35And,
• 59:37that's why, like, in the
• 59:38definition, I could probably give,
• 59:39like, a whole hour long
• 59:40talk just on this, but
• 59:41I'll try to keep it
• 59:42brief.
• 59:43What we're seeing in the
• 59:44the
• 59:45field of positive psychology
• 59:47is kind of, an a
• 59:49transition
• 59:50away from, like,
• 59:53positive is good. Negative is
• 59:54bad. We must avoid all
• 59:55negative emotions and only have
• 59:57positive emotions because that is
• 59:59too overly simplistic.
• 01:00:01But instead what we see
• 01:00:02is more of this idea
• 01:00:04of frequency.
• 01:00:05Right. And so we'll say
• 01:00:06like, you'll notice that I
• 01:00:08talked about the frequency of
• 01:00:09positive and negative emotions. I
• 01:00:10didn't say never experiencing,
• 01:00:13negative emotions,
• 01:00:15ever like, right. But instead
• 01:00:17it's about the balance of
• 01:00:19the two and the ability
• 01:00:21to cope with those negative
• 01:00:22experiences.
• 01:00:24And I like this idea
• 01:00:24of harmony that you raised.
• 01:00:26I think that's a really
• 01:00:26nice way of putting it.
• 01:00:28And then to come back
• 01:00:29to your first question, which
• 01:00:30is about effect sizes, I
• 01:00:31think that's a great point.
• 01:00:32So one, you'll see that
• 01:00:33the effect sizes for,
• 01:00:36the comparison of parents and
• 01:00:37non parents is minuscule.
• 01:00:40And that's again, another reason
• 01:00:41why I've moved away from
• 01:00:43some of those comparisons because
• 01:00:44I think it can get,
• 01:00:46the implications of that get
• 01:00:48distorted.
• 01:00:50And so instead, I I
• 01:00:52use that as a way
• 01:00:53of saying, like, parents
• 01:00:55are in fact not miserable.
• 01:00:57They're, like, you know, comparable
• 01:00:59to people without children because
• 01:01:00for a long time, the
• 01:01:01narrative was, like, parents are
• 01:01:03all miserable and they hate
• 01:01:04their children because having children
• 01:01:05is the worst,
• 01:01:06which is also an over
• 01:01:08exaggeration, like, where it's like
• 01:01:09a pendulum. Right?
• 01:01:11In terms
• 01:01:12of the effect sizes
• 01:01:13for the gratitude interventions and
• 01:01:16things like that,
• 01:01:17those effect sizes
• 01:01:19are,
• 01:01:20I would, you know, small
• 01:01:21to moderate, which is consistent
• 01:01:24with the literature on well-being
• 01:01:26more generally. And I think
• 01:01:27it's important to keep it
• 01:01:28in context
• 01:01:29and remember that this is
• 01:01:31a five to ten minute
• 01:01:33exercise.
• 01:01:34And we're seeing, you know,
• 01:01:36some, you know, small, moderate
• 01:01:38boosts and positive emotions.
• 01:01:40I would
• 01:01:41be
• 01:01:42very skeptical
• 01:01:44if I had an intervention
• 01:01:46of this type that was,
• 01:01:48you know, had this like
• 01:01:49massive,
• 01:01:50effect size given that we
• 01:01:52know there are lots of
• 01:01:53competing factors
• 01:01:55that influence
• 01:01:56well-being,
• 01:01:58at any given moment. And
• 01:02:00I see it these activities
• 01:02:02as, like, a little nudge.
• 01:02:03Right? Just like a little
• 01:02:05nudge throughout the day that
• 01:02:06people could engage in. And
• 01:02:08it's instead that experience of
• 01:02:09positive emotions
• 01:02:11that could
• 01:02:12shape,
• 01:02:13and change their experiences over
• 01:02:15the course of time. Because,
• 01:02:16you know, posit you know,
• 01:02:18there's lots of theory and
• 01:02:19evidence of
• 01:02:21the ways that positive emotion
• 01:02:23emotions can help people,
• 01:02:25broaden their mindsets and build
• 01:02:27resources and skills. And that's
• 01:02:29kind of the benefit that's
• 01:02:30gonna accrue
• 01:02:31over time, not necessarily the
• 01:02:32direct benefit of any one
• 01:02:34specific activity.
• 01:02:37All right. Great. Thank you.
• 01:02:38Sadly, we have to call
• 01:02:39it a day there, but
• 01:02:40just, I want to have
• 01:02:41everybody thank Doctor. Nelson Coffee
• 01:02:43once more. Really appreciate you
• 01:02:45being here.
• 01:02:47Thank you all so much
• 01:02:48for having me.