2004 Volume 18 Issue 1 Pages 29-42
The theory of family development shows that there is a developmental task for married couples to obtain parental roles, and that an adjustment occurs in the marital relationships as married couples make the transition to parenthood. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the reconstruction of marital relationships as married couples conceive themselves taking on the role of parents in today's Japan. 243 men and 264 women from late adolescence to early adulthood answered a questionnaire and the pair-data of married couples were analyzed from the point of view of each stage of family develo pment.
The major findings are as follows:
1) Through child rearing, both husbands and wives come to recognize the mothers' parental role in regard to the concept of infant care.
2) The differences between the husband's and wife's concept of their parental roles. regarding infant care increases through out child rearing.
3) It is not obvious that congruence of parental role concepts between married couples is achieved only inside the family system, as they are influenced from outside of the family by friends, mass-communication, and so on.
These results suggest that it is very hard to adjust the marital relationship during thet ransition to parenthood in today's Japanes pecially since Japan is rapidly becoming a gender-equal society.
