Onset of parenting and stressful events

The purpose of this study was to develop a list of stressful events associated with onset of parenting, and to rank the events and establish weights in a way that reflects the degree of disruption that would be caused should that event occur. Whether the rankings and weightings differ as a function of parent sex and maternal work status was also considered. The procedures for developing the list and the rankings and weightings are presented. Results indicate high internal consistency in weightings (.81 to .92) and significant differences in ranking between the four groups of parents (nonworking mothers, working mothers, fathers with nonworking wives, fathers with working wives) on two of the 21 events. Implications for parent education programs and research are discussed.