became evident during data collection. Their questionnaire asks participants to rate

partners' contributions to the completion of various household and child-related tasks

along a scale ranging from "she does it all" to "he does it all." Unfortunately, there is no

response choice provided for completion of the task by someone other than the mother or

father. This resulted in inconsistent responses by parents whose children were in daycare,

and by couples who did not complete some of the tasks listed in the survey items (e.g.,

yard work). For this study, the items most affected by these inconsistencies were

removed from the analysis. Lastly, the couple conflict type scale developed by Holman

and Jarvis (2003) presented three areas of concern. Each of the four couple conflict types

was assessed only through a single item. Secondly, it is unknown how well couples' self-

ratings of their conflict type relate to their actual patterns of conflict behavior.

Additionally, it is unknown if the couple conflict types that participants' highly rated

resemble their patterns of conflict behavior for all areas of disagreement, or if their

patterns of conflict interaction may differ depending on the conflict topic.

 Implications of the Findings

Implications for Future Research

 The findings of the present investigation suggest several directions for future

research. In particular, the results raise questions regarding marital disaffection and its

relationship to both individual well-being and conflict among new parents, the construct

of violated expectations (particularly for men), the importance of both partners' and

infants' age, and how couple conflict type functions in the relationships of first-time

parents.

 While most transition to parenthood research has found associations between

couples' role arrangements and either marital satisfaction or individual well-being, both