title: Well-being and distress in mothers of two-year-old singletons and twins.
abstract: The present study investigated well-being and distress in 274 Israeli mothers of two-year-olds. Of these, 127 were mothers of singletons and 147 mothers of twins. The study examined the contribution to the explanation of well-being and distress of a range of variables relating to the mother, including sociodemographic characteristics, internal resources (attachment style, self-differentiation, and maternal self-efficacy), and external resources (marital quality and grandmothers' support). The findings showed that being a mother of a singleton or twins did not contribute to the explanation of variance in well-being or distress. Marital quality provided the strongest explained variance for both well-being and distress. Mother's health, attachment anxiety and self-differentiation also explained significant amounts of the variance. Several differences were found in the contribution of certain other variables, such as maternal grandmother's support, which contributed only to well-being. The results indicated the lesser role of sociodemographic variables, as opposed to the centrality of personality traits and marital quality, in the relationships with well-being and distress. Practical implications are discussed.
authors.affiliation: a The Louis and Gabi Weisfeld School of Social Work , Bar Ilan University , Ramat-Gan , Israel.
authors.forename: Adi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Noy
authors.forename: Orit
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Taubman-Ben-Ari
authors.forename: Jacob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kuint
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D008429:Maternal Welfare; D008875:Middle Aged; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D009769:Object Attachment; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012044:Regression Analysis; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012944:Social Support; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014427:Twins
keywords: distress; motherhood; social support; well-being