Diversifying research on the transition to parenthood: recruitment of a sample of ethnic minority, low-income prenatal couples

Abstract

The transition to parenthood (TTP) is a major life event in which romantic partners undergo significant changes in their relationship. For this reason, understanding the ways that couples change and adapt when welcoming a child into their home has been of long-standing interest to couple and family psychologists. The major body of research on TTP has successfully built a strong understanding of relationship development during this important period, but these insights have been overwhelmingly focused on the experience of affluent married couples, with little focus on changes in the relationships of unmarried couples or those from economically and racially minoritized backgrounds. To increase our knowledge about TTP among couples who have historically been excluded from couple and family psychology research, the current research describes a study designed to yield a sample of one particular group of couples who have been underrepresented in TTP literature, namely, low-income, unmarried, Spanish-speaking couples living in the United States. We present a narrative description of our processes as well as descriptive statistics for (a) recruitment strategies, (b) scheduling and administering data collection sessions, and (c) characteristics of couples who ultimately participated in the study. Results of this study will help inform other researchers who wish to expand our understanding of the TTP period by moving beyond samples of married, affluent, White, English-speaking couples.