Analyzing of The Mother And Father's Parenthood Behaviours at The Early Postpartum Period

June 17, 2025 updated by: Guzin Unlu Suvari, Acibadem University
There are many physiological and psychological changes in the postpartum period. One of the changes that occur in the family is the process of becoming a parent. Parenthood is a process that begins with the spouses deciding to get pregnant and continues throughout life. The foundations of an individual's future perspective on themselves and the world are largely determined by the parental interactions they experience in the first year of life and their quality. Parenting behaviors exhibited in the early postpartum period show the extent of communication parents have with their babies in later periods. It is also important because it can have short- and long-term effects on the baby. Parenting behaviors are behaviors in which the mother and father show interest in their baby, such as looking at the newborn baby in the postpartum period, asking questions about the baby, smiling at the newborn baby or making noise. Research shows that these behaviors are affected by socioeconomic reasons, the psychological state of the mother and father, their age, whether the pregnancy was planned, and the general health of the newborn. Parenting behaviors should be observed in the prenatal and postnatal period and supported with education when necessary. Parents need to adapt to their changing roles, develop new relationships, and organize their existing relationships according to their new roles. During the transition to parenthood, in addition to the current home and workplace demands, baby care demands are potential stress factors that can disrupt the organization and process of family life and threaten family and marital functioning. During the parental transition, couples with a greater sense of family cohesion willingly take on the challenges of new parenthood, are committed to seeking meaning in the parenting role, and overcome any challenges encountered during the transition, leading to a more satisfying family and marital relationship. Additionally, spousal support and involvement in infant care have been found to be associated with higher satisfaction in marital relationships and family functioning. Research suggests that spousal involvement and support for each other are particularly important for family and marital functioning during the transition to parenthood. Although significant research has been conducted on family and marital functioning during the transition to the parenting role, research on the effects of family cohesion, social support, and stress during the perinatal period on family and marital functioning is limited. This study aimed to examine the parenting behaviors and marital adjustment of mothers and fathers during the postpartum period.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

200

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Turkey
    • Ataşehir
      • Istanbul, Ataşehir, Turkey
        • Acıbadem University

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

The research population consisted of married couples who had recently given birth.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Willingness to participate in the study
  • Having a full-term birth (38-42 weeks of gestation)
  • No high-risk pregnancy
  • Having a healthy newborn
  • The couple being married

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Illiteracy
  • High-risk pregnancy
  • Multiple pregnancy
  • Prematurity
  • Newborn weighing less than 2500g or more than 4000g

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Married Couples with Newborns
No intervention was applied to the group. The surveys planned to be examined in the postpartum period have been completed.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Sociodemographic and Obstetric Data Collection Form for Mothers
Time Frame: Baseline (completed at the first meeting with the mother, either before birth in planned births or on Day 1 after birth in unplanned births).
This form, prepared by the researcher through a literature review, consists of 18 questions and is designed to obtain sociodemographic and obstetric information from the mothers participating in the study.
Baseline (completed at the first meeting with the mother, either before birth in planned births or on Day 1 after birth in unplanned births).
Sociodemographic and Obstetric Data Collection Form for Fathers
Time Frame: Baseline (completed at the first meeting with the father, either before birth in planned births or on Day 1 after birth in unplanned births).
This form, prepared by the researcher through a literature review, consists of 9 questions and is designed to obtain sociodemographic information from the fathers participating in the study.
Baseline (completed at the first meeting with the father, either before birth in planned births or on Day 1 after birth in unplanned births).
Marital Adjustment Scale
Time Frame: Baseline (completed at the first meeting with the participant, either before birth in planned births or on Day 1 after birth in unplanned births).
The Marital Adjustment Scale consists of 15 items and is used to assess marital adjustment. The scale yields a total score ranging from 1 to 60, with scores of 43 and above indicating marital adjustment and scores below 43 indicating marital maladjustment.
Baseline (completed at the first meeting with the participant, either before birth in planned births or on Day 1 after birth in unplanned births).
Postpartum Parenting Behavior Scale
Time Frame: Day 1 (assessed during the first 10 minutes of the parent and newborn's first encounter).
The Postpartum Parenting Behavior Scale is used to assess parenting behaviors during the first encounter between parents and their newborn. The scale measures behaviors like close contact, affectionate touch, and positive comments through a 10-minute observation, with each item scored as present or absent. The total score ranges from 0 to 6, with higher scores indicating more positive parenting behaviors.
Day 1 (assessed during the first 10 minutes of the parent and newborn's first encounter).

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Acibadem University

Collaborators

Bezmialem Vakif University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Selinay Aktaş Demir, Ph. D. (C), Istinye University
  • Principal Investigator: Anayit Margirit Coşkun, Prof. Dr., İstanbul atlas university
  • Principal Investigator: Dilek Sinem Uludağ, B.Sc. (Midwife), Esenler Maternity and Children's Hospital

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

February 1, 2019

Primary Completion (Actual)

September 2, 2020

Study Completion (Actual)

September 2, 2020

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 27, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 27, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

August 28, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 20, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 17, 2025

Last Verified

June 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 54022451-050.05.04-2019-1810

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

The dataset will be shared online via Mendeley Data when requested from the responsible researcher by email.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on Parenting

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Spain

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe