New parent couples report heightened relationship conflicts and challenges; how romantic partners regulate their emotions in response can have key implications for their sexual relationship. One way people might respond to these emotional challenges is through relationship catastrophizing, which refers to magnifying negative cognitions, ruminating on relationship problems, and adopting a helpless orientation toward coping with these problems. Relationship catastrophizing may orient new parents’ attention toward challenges in their relationship, such as sexual difficulties, with negative implications for sexual well-being. The current study examined how relationship catastrophizing relates to one’s own and a partner’s sexual well-being. Birthing parents and their partners completed a novel measure of relationship catastrophizing and measures of sexual well-being at 3 and 9 months postpartum ( n = 184 couples) and brief versions of these measures for 21 days between 3 and 4 months postpartum ( n = 229 couples). On days when birthing parents employed greater relationship catastrophizing, they also reported greater sexual distress and both partners reported lower sexual satisfaction and desire. Partners’ daily relationship catastrophizing was associated with their own lower sexual satisfaction and desire, and both partners’ greater sexual distress. Longitudinal analyses, however, provided minimal evidence that the costs of relationship catastrophizing persist over time when accounting for other stressors (e.g., depressive symptoms, stress, fatigue) characteristic of the postpartum period. Findings support the potential for relationship catastrophizing as a novel target for psychoeducation and interventions aimed at promoting the day-to-day sexual well-being of new parents.

中文翻译：

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产后关系灾难化与性健康之间的日常和纵向关联

新父母夫妇报告说，关系冲突和挑战加剧；浪漫伴侣如何调节自己的情绪来应对，可能会对他们的性关系产生关键影响。人们应对这些情绪挑战的一种方式是通过关系灾难化，这是指放大负面认知，反思关系问题，并采取无助的态度来应对这些问题。关系灾难化可能会将新父母的注意力转向他们关系中的挑战，例如性困难，这会对性健康产生负面影响。目前的研究探讨了关系灾难化与自己和伴侣的性健康之间的关系。亲生父母及其伴侣在产后 3 个月和 9 个月（n = 184 对夫妇）完成了一种新的关系灾难性测量和性健康测量，以及产后 3 到 4 个月之间 21 天的这些测量的简要版本（n = 229）情侣）。当亲生父母的关系变得更加灾难性时，他们也会报告更大的性困扰，并且双方都报告较低的性满意度和性欲。伴侣日常关系的灾难化与他们自身较低的性满意度和性欲以及伴侣双方更大的性痛苦有关。然而，纵向分析提供的证据很少，表明当考虑到产后期的其他压力源（例如抑郁症状、压力、疲劳）特征时，关系灾难性的成本会随着时间的推移而持续存在。研究结果支持，关系灾难化可能成为旨在促进新父母日常性福祉的心理教育和干预措施的新目标。