Cortisol linkage, stress, and perceived partner responsiveness across the transition to parenthood
PSPE
- Richter, Marianne ORCID Department of Psychology, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
- Kouri, Georgia ORCID Cognitive and Affective Regulation Laboratory, Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
- Meuwly, Nathalie ORCID Department of Psychology, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
- Messerli-Bürgy, Nadine ORCID Family and Development Research Centre, Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
- Schoebi, Dominik ORCID Department of Psychology, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
- 2025
Submitted to:
- Journal of Family Psychology. - American Psychological Association (APA). - 2025, vol. 40, no. 2, p. 208-218
Cortisol linkage
Romantic relationships
Psychological stress
Perceived partner responsiveness
Transition to parenthood
English
Within a relationship, stress might be shared and co-regulated between the partners at the physiological level, through cortisol linkage. Cortisol is sensitive to social inputs, and cortisol linkage may reflect stress-related dynamics in a couple or positive relational processes, such as marital distress or shared moments. For many couples, the transition to parenthood is accompanied by acute or chronic stressors that can impact the relationship. Concurrently, having a supportive and responsive partner becomes an important resource to adapt to the manifold changes. These relational processes may also play a role with respect to cortisol linkage. The current article reports a study that examined changes of cortisol linkage across the transition to parenthood, and whether high levels of psychological stress and perceived partner responsiveness were associated with stronger cortisol linkage. We used data from a longitudinal study of 120 couples (N = 240) who transitioned to parenthood. Participants collected saliva samples and completed an ecological momentary assessment over three consecutive days, during pregnancy, at six months and at 18 months postpartum. Cortisol linkage among partners was significant and positive, increased in strength from pregnancy to six months postpartum, and remained stable from six months to 18 months postpartum. Within-couples, higher levels of psychological stress were associated with a stronger linkage between partners, while higher perceived partner responsiveness was associated with a weaker cortisol linkage. These findings provide further evidence of cortisol linkage during the transition to parenthood, and its associations with positive and negative relational processes.
- Faculty
- Faculté des lettres et des sciences humaines
- Department
- Département de Psychologie
- Language
-
- English
- Other electronic version
- License
-
Rights reserved
- Open access status
- green
- Identifiers
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- DOI 10.1037/fam0001419
- ISSN 0893-3200
- Persistent URL
- https://folia.unifr.ch/unifr/documents/336388
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