TRANSITION TO PARENTHOOD - EXPERIENCED CHANGES

This study considers the experienced changes of parents during the transition to parenthood. Of special interest are the different kinds of meanings that the changes have for the single couple, which causes the parents attribute to the changes and what kind of coping-strategy the couples use, if changes are considered as restrictions. Interview data were collected from a sample of 13 couples. It appears that the objective changes lead to different meanings. The experienced changes were divided into restrictions and non-restrictions. The analyses showed that the efficiency of the applied coping-strategies was primarily responsible for the different meanings.