The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of mother's unfulfilled childcare and household labour expectations on their marital quality across the transition to parenthood. While including the nature of the childbirth experience. Findings from the 61 first-time mothers who volunteered for this study have shown three patterns of marital change across the transition to parenthood. Mothers have shown negative change in marital quality, no change in marital quality and positive change in

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... marital quality. Unfulfilled childcare and household labour expectations both have a negative effect on the change in mothers' marital quality but neither of these factors affects this change as greatly as mothers' reports of stress during their childbirth experience. The more stressful a mother perceived her childbirth experience the more likely she was to have shown negative change in her marital quality.