Featured on Oprah and excerpted in Glamour magazine, this exploration of the positive and negative effects the birth of a child has on a marriage is based on the largest, most comprehensive study of couples entering parenthood ever conducted.

For seven years in the 1980s, Belsky, professor of human development at Penn State University, studied the impact of new parenthood on 250 couples from about three months before birth to the child's third birthday. Aided by freelance writer Kelly, Belsky weaves extended case studies of three couples into his description of the changes brought about by the arrival of a baby; he examines the parents' relationship in six particular arenas: self, gender ideology, emotionality, conflict management, communication and expectations. Also studied is the effect of new parenthood as experienced by those falling into three personality types: traditional, transitional and egalitarian. The authors find that the challenge of changing from couple to parents is made most smoothly by pairings of like types. Extensively researched and engagingly offered, the information in this book will be welcomed by family and marriage counselors and those whose future--or present--includes a first baby.