INTERVENTIONS TO EASE THE TRANSITION TO PARENTHOOD - WHY THEY ARE NEEDED AND WHAT THEY CAN DO

Despite longitudinal data showing that couples in low-risk circumstances experience individual and marital distress after having a baby, no services exist to ease this transition. By contrast, interventions have been offered to high-risk mothers, but few are based on before-to-after parenthood studies that would identify the risk and protective factors to target in interventions. We describe intervention studies in both populations and attempt to integrate ideas from these two nonoverlapping literatures.