New parents' emotional experiences and coping strategies vary by individual and contextual factors such that the efficacy of a coping strategy might depend on their context and the control a person has over each stressor. This is particularly true during the transition to parenthood, when there are numerous stressors parents have limited control over (e.g., sleepless nights, infant distress, and irregular feeding routines). The current study examines the associations between new parents' (n = 188; 53.23% fathers) perceived stress, mental well-being, coping strategies, and emotion regulation during the transition to parenthood through path analysis. Overall model fit was excellent and indicated that parents' perceived stress was negatively associated with mental well-being and active coping strategy usage, and positively associated with behavioral disengagement strategy usage and difficulties with emotion regulation. Interestingly, parents' mental well-being was positively associated with the use of both active coping and behavioral disengagement strategies (and had no direct association with emotion regulation). Finally, active coping was negatively associated, and behavioral disengagement was positively associated, with emotion regulation difficulties. Family therapists and other mental health practitioners could adjust assessment practices for new families, as the evidence presented calls for context-based assessments of adaptation and coping supports during the transition to parenthood.

新父母的情绪体验和应对策略因个人和环境因素而异，因此应对策略的有效性可能取决于他们的环境以及一个人对每个压力源的控制。在为人父母的过渡期间尤其如此，此时父母对许多压力源的控制有限（例如，不眠之夜、婴儿痛苦和不规律的喂养程序）。目前的研究检查了新父母之间的关联（n = 188; 53.23% 的父亲）通过路径分析在过渡到为人父母的过程中感知压力、心理健康、应对策略和情绪调节。整体模型拟合良好，表明父母感知压力与心理健康和积极应对策略的使用呈负相关，与行为脱离策略的使用和情绪调节困难呈正相关。有趣的是，父母的心理健康与积极应对和行为脱离策略的使用呈正相关（与情绪调节没有直接关联）。最后，积极应对与情绪调节困难呈负相关，行为脱离正相关。