Paternal Perceptions of Maternal Essentialism and Parenting Self-efficacy During the Transition to Parenthood: An Exploratory Study

The transition to parenthood is an exciting, yet stressful, time during which trajectories of infant outcomes, parent health, and coparenting dynamics are established. New parents often receive messaging about what "successful" parenting entails. Expectant parents may adopt rigid beliefs about parenting roles, including views that mothers are more important and "know best." New fathers who view their parenting role as less essential may be at risk for low levels of parenting self-efficacy. This brief report examines changes in self-reports of maternal essentialism beliefs and parenting self-efficacy in first-time fathers. A community sample of first-time fathers, N = 66, completed self-report online questionnaires at the 3rd trimester and 3 months postpartum. Dependent samples t-tests were conducted to evaluate changes in maternal essentialism beliefs and parenting self-efficacy across the transition to parenthood. Bivariate correlations and multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to evaluate relations between maternal essentialism and parenting self-efficacy within and across time-points. Fathers' essentialist beliefs and parenting self-efficacy increased across the transition to parenthood. We found negative, cross-sectional associations between fathers' maternal essentialist beliefs and parenting self-efficacy at both time points. These results underscore the importance of assessing fathers' beliefs about parenting and parent roles as they transition to fatherhood. This study assesses beliefs surrounding maternal essentialism and parenting self-efficacy in a sample of first-time fathers.First-time fathers may experience low levels of self-efficacy in the transition to parenthood.Maternal essentialism, or belief that mothers are more important, tends to increase across the transition to parenthood.Maternal essentialism is related to lower parenting self-efficacy in fathers at 3-months postpartum.