possible outcome would be more discrepant individual parent-child involvement,
 most likely with mothers expending greater effort in parenting than fathers. The
 present study provided some indication that this was indeed the case. (p. 473)

 In a longitudinal study of 50 married couples assessed both during pregnancy and 4

months postpartum, Hackel and Ruble (1992) noted a "declining salience" (p. 955) of the

relationship to the couple transitioning to parenthood, paired with less satisfaction and

more traditional gender roles than either partner had expected. These same findings were

reported by Cowan and Cowan (1988, 2000) in their Becoming a Family project, in

which they surveyed and interviewed 72 couples during the mothers' pregnancies and

when the infants were 6 and 18 months old. Both men and women in Cowan and

Cowan's research indicated their romantic relationship took a "back burner" to the

various other roles in which they now participated. Mothers and fathers reported

parenthood became their most salient role; however, mothers described parenthood as

taking up more than twice the amount of time and energy compared to fathers'

descriptions of parenthood (Cowan & Cowan, 2000). Men also have reported declines in

their sexual relationship (Condon et al., 2004).

 Though women describe declining marital satisfaction and relevance of their

romantic relationships, they also report increased dependency on their relationships with

their husbands. Fox (2001) described this phenomenon in her analysis of a qualitative

study of 40 couples who she interviewed during the mothers' pregnancies, and at 2

months and at 1 year postpartum. She noted women's increased dependence on their

husbands reflected greater economic dependence, as well as greater emotional

dependence. She found the transition to parenthood often isolated women from their

work and social support networks, and the women in the study also felt the support of