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Other sources of normative stress are the developmental transitions of the young, the social meanings associated with these changes, and the resulting need for modifications within parent–child relationships. Developmental transitions have the potential for stressors to accumulate and can result in disruptive change, psychological distress, or, in contrast, a growing sense of parental competence. One of these pivotal times of change and possible stress occurs during the transition to parenthood. Newborns require almost constant care through feeding, cleaning, changing, and dealing with an infant’s sleep patterns. Relentless parental responsibilities during this period include monitoring their infant’s health, applying preventative measures, and arranging treatment for problematic health issues (Medina et al., 2009). Parents who cope effectively are those who sooth newborns when they cry and provide other forms of sensitive responsiveness that foster the establishment of secure parent–child attachment. Sensitive responsiveness involves managing stress so that parenting is attentive, empathic, and reads the infant’s cues accurately. Sensitive parents also avoid high intrusiveness and are emotionally responsive to infants (Solomon & George, 2008).

The birth of an infant often abruptly disrupts the routine patterns of parents in ways requiring concentrated attention to the needs of the newborn (Epifanio et al., 2015). Parents experience sleep disturbances because newborns often wake up every few hours for feeding. Because new mothers often leave the workplace, families with newborns can experience decreases in income, which may increase the stress of fathers as they take second jobs or work more hours to supplement family finances (Medina et al., 2009). The decreased time and energy experienced by marital partners often results in decreased marital satisfaction, less mutual expressions of love, and greater conflict between spouses (Lawrence et al., 2008). How parents manage these potential sources of stress may depend on how well they maintain marital relationships and successful co-parenting (or establish a parental alliance). High-quality marital relationships are predictive of effective co-parenting where parents work together to support each other’s parenting with competence (Bouchard, 2014). Competent parenting involves providing support, resolving child-rearing disagreements, dividing family duties fairly, and managing interaction patterns. Co-parenting involves providing mutual social support and helps reduce stress while increasing parents’ abilities to respond to infants with sensitivity (Schoppe-Sullivan & Mangelsdorf, 2013). Co-parenting also involves being responsive to infants, maintaining couple satisfaction, and diminishing parental stress (McHale & Lindahl, 2011).

Another example of a developmental transition occurs during the adolescent years, when greater stress may be experienced by parents when their role is expected to change toward granting autonomy to the young (Collins & Steinberg, 2006; Kagitcibasi, 2013; Liga et al., 2015). Consistent with normative expectations, parents in the United States often grant autonomy through a gradual process of relationship renegotiation that allows adolescents greater self-determination (Bush & Peterson 2008; Collins & Steinberg, 2006; Kagitcibasi, 2013; Peterson & Bush, 2015). This process of “letting go” in western cultures is not a sudden transfer of authority to the young. Instead, competent parents and developing teenagers engage in renegotiation processes that are necessary, mutual, and accelerate during adolescence (Collins & Steinberg, 2006; Kagitcibasi, 2013; Peterson & Bush, 2013). This letting-go process presents potential stressors, especially when parents resist granting autonomy to the young and resist the need to redefine gradually their roles as authority figures. This effort to delay youthful autonomy may erupt into heightened conflict and stress between adolescents and parents (Bush & Peterson, 2008; Collins & Steinberg, 2006; Peterson & Bush, 2015). Consequently, this desire of adolescents for greater autonomy may result in feelings of distress and separation anxiety by parents who resist this loss of control (Collins & Steinberg, 2006; Liga et al, 2015). Moderate levels of parent–adolescent conflict and distress may be normative energizers for growing autonomy. In contrast, parent–adolescent conflict that escalates to very high levels may lead to greater emotional distance, severe conflict, and greater stress for parents when the autonomy-granting process malfunctions (Collins & Steinberg, 2006; Peterson & Bush, 2015). Many families also experience multiple developmental transitions simultaneously, such as when Tiffany gave birth to Pamela, she was also going through the complexities of Matt’s transition into adolescence.