Life Transitions as Normative Life Events

The link between life transitions and relationship quality has been pointed out in many research studies. The data for this thesis allows testing for some important life transitions, which will be presented in this section in greater detail: the transition to parenthood, the transition to empty nest and the transition to retirement. Those transitions go together with major role changes for the partners and adaptation processes have to take place in order to ensure the functioning of the couple. Life transitions should be examined taking into account the life course perspective.

Individuals and couples can be more or less affected by certain life events over the life course.

Resources which help to adapt to a new life stage differ over the life course (Umberson, Pudrovska, & Reczek, 2010).

The transition to parenthood is often stated to be one of the most challenging life transitions for couples and is linked to a decline in relationship quality (Claxton & Perry-Jenkins, 2008; Keizer

& Schenk, 2012; Le Goff et al., 2009). This decline is often stronger for women than for men, because there are almost no supplementary tasks for men after the birth of a child (ibid). The birth of a child is linked to an increase in the domestic work load and an increase in stressors due to new demands on the parents. Moreover, the transition to parenthood leads to time constraints for parents, resulting in increasing strain as well as conflicts concerning work and family life (ibid). These factors can have consequences for the relationship quality of couples.

Childless couples are often found to be much happier than couples with children (Hansen, 2011). In any event, studies also found that the decline in relationship quality after the birth of a child is followed by an increase after several years (ibid). Men and women in a couple are interdependent and their lives are linked to each other. Therefore the transition to parenthood should be evaluated at the dyadic level, taking into account that partners of a couple share a

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common set of characteristics (Keizer & Schenk, 2012; Umberson et al., 2010). Studies focusing on only one parent of the couple fail to capture the internal dynamics of relationships.

Much less attention in the research literature is paid to other life transitions such as the transition to retirement or the transition to empty nest. The transition to empty nest is often examined in relation with the family life cycle and is usually linked to a recovery of relationship quality (see previous chapter), and only few researchers have conducted studies focused on this life transition. Departure from the parental home is considered a normative life event;

nevertheless, it has an impact on the relationship of the parents. The size of the household is decreasing and interaction and activities of the partners have to be modified (Bouchard, 2014).

In the research literature there are different theories explaining outcomes of this life transition.

The role loss perspective looks at a decrease in well-being, especially for mothers, due to the loss of role accomplishment and the lack of alternative of roles for both partners in order to build an identity as a couple after children have left home (ibid). Feelings of loneliness and dissatisfaction can result from this transition (Klein & Rapp, 2010). Role strain theory states that the transition to the empty nest stage is linked to an increase in well-being for both partners.

After this transition, partners are no longer exposed to stressors linked to child rearing, time constraints or work-family conflicts (Bouchard, 2014). Parenthood is often considered stressful and therefore the empty nest stage is assumed to bring an increase in well-being for the parents (White & Edwards, 1990). Another approach says that the empty nest stage goes together with the loss of the stabilisation factor of children for the relationship, which leads to a decrease of relationship stability of parents. In line with this approach, possible catch-up effects can be expected, meaning that partners separate after children have left home when the relationship quality was already low. Partners who assumed their role as a parent as conflicting and stressful may well experience an increase in relationship stability after the children leave home (Klein &

Rapp, 2010). Evidence for the role strain theory was stressed by White and Edwards, who in a three-wave study found increasing relationship quality after the transition to empty nest for couples (White & Edwards, 1990).

The third important life transition that is considered in this thesis is that to retirement. In the research literature, especially in gerontology, there is a substantial debate about the impact of this life transition on individuals. However, the research studies often focus on the psychological well-being of men and women after the life transition, but the dyadic perspective as well as consequences for the relationship are disregarded. The entry into retirement goes

3.1.2 Life Transitions as Normative Life Events 87

together with a restructuring of daily life thus also of conjugal life. Therefore, it is important to consider this life transition in line with relationship quality. The transition to retirement can be understood as a process rather than a single event at one moment in time (Moen, Kim, &

Hofmeister, 2001). Gender role conformity theory (ibid) serves as one approach to explain changes in relationship quality after the transition to retirement. Leaving the labour market changes the role repertoire of men and women, and partners have expectations about how these new roles should be constructed. These expectations also depend on normative and social expectations about gender roles. The role strain theory, which was already an explanatory approach for the other life transitions, can be applied for the transition to retirement as well.

Referring to retirement, the role strain theory assumes that leaving the labour market goes together with lower role strain created in the work place. Therefore, an increase in relationship quality is expected after the transition to retirement. This increase was especially observed when both partners experienced the transition to retirement. Couples with a woman working while the man is retired showed higher conflict frequencies (Davey & Szinovacz, 2004; Moen et al., 2001). Due to differences in gender roles, the gendered life paths approach assumes that the transition to retirement has different meanings and consequences for the relationship quality of men and women (ibid).

The research literature stresses that critical life events should be analysed in regard to their normative character. Critical life events are often thought to impact on the relationship quality.

Those impacts differ among the life events. Therefore, it is necessary to examine life events separately. This allows investigating the impacts of each life event and helps to understand how life events occurring in different life domains impact on the relationship of men and women, as they can have different effects. Researchers also states that critical life events have the potential to impact negatively on the relationship quality, but that mediating factors should be taken into account. It is stressed that partner interaction, communication and support are important intervening factors. In this thesis, the style of conjugal interaction is considered as the mediating factor between critical life events and relationship quality.

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3.2 Frequency and Conception of Non-normative Life