ABSTRACT
For the past 17 years, we have been studying families in the process of development. Beginning with couples during their first pregnancy, we have followed their families until their first children finished Kindergarten (Cowan & Cowan, 1990; Cowan, Cowan, Heming, Garrett, Coysh, Curtis-Bowles, & Bowles, 1985; Cowan, Cowan, Schulz, & Heming, in press), investigating the family factors associated with the couple’s adaptation to parenthood and the first child’s adaptation to school. Although we did not initially plan to concentrate on gender issues, our longitudinal findings make it clear that we cannot describe parents without knowing whether we are talking about mothers or fathers, nor can we discuss children without specifying whether we are talking about boys or girls. We have come to believe that it is not possible to understand family processes without paying attention to the particularities of husband-wife, father-son, father-daughter, mother-son, and mother-daughter relationships—at least in the early phases of family development.
