The association between discontinuing hormonal contraceptives and wives' marital satisfaction depends on husbands' facial attractiveness

Longitudinal changes in sexual desire and attraction among women who started using the Natural Cycles app

Many women experience sexual side effects, such as decreased libido, when taking hormonal contraceptives (HCs). However, little is known about the extent to which libido recovers after discontinuing HCs, nor about the timeframe in which recovery is expected to occur. Given that HCs suppress the activities of multiple endogenous hormones that regulate both the ovulatory cycle and women's sexual function, resumption of cycles should predict libido recovery. Here, using a combination of repeated and retrospective measures, we examined changes in sexual desire and partner attraction (among partnered women) across a three-month period in a sample of Natural Cycles users (Survey 1: n = 1596; Survey 2: n = 550) who recently discontinued HCs. We also tested whether changes in these outcomes coincided with resumption of the ovulatory cycle and whether they were associated with additional factors related to HC use (e.g., duration of HC use) or relationship characteristics (e.g., relationship length). Results revealed that both sexual desire and partner attraction, on average, increased across three months after beginning to use Natural Cycles. While the prediction that changes in sexual desire would co-occur with cycle resumption was supported, there was also evidence that libido continued to increase even after cycles resumed. Together, these results offer new insights into relationships between HC discontinuation and women's sexual psychology and lay the groundwork for future research exploring the mechanisms underlying these effects.

Duration and timing of depression and risk of family dissolution: A register-based cohort study of newly-formed Danish families

BACKGROUND

Depression is detrimental to partnership stability. However, it remains unclear if and how the duration and timing of depression affect the risk of family dissolution.

METHODS

We conducted a Danish register-based cohort study of newly-formed cohabiting and married couples in 2008 and 2009, who were followed from the second year after family formation. Depressive episodes were defined by individual-level prescription patterns of antidepressant drugs (ATC codes N06A) in either partner. Family dissolution was characterized by the discontinuation of a shared residential address. Using Longitudinal Targeted Minimum Loss-based Estimation, we estimated the risk of family dissolution after 5 years of follow-up under various lengths and timings of depressive episodes.

RESULTS

There were 102,335 families included. The covariate-adjusted risk of family dissolution in families without depressive episodes was 30.0 % (95 % CI 29.6-30.4 %) and 35.5 % (95 % CI 29.5-41.5 %) in families with at least one depressive episode during follow-up. The risk of family dissolution increased with the duration of depressive episodes to 42.2 % (95 % CI 40.8-43.6 %) for five coherent years of depression. Depression shortly after family formation carried higher risk of family dissolution; this risk was 42.3 % (95 % CI 38.4-46.3 %) for depression experienced in the first year of family formation versus 32.9 % (95 % CI 31.8-34.0 %) in the fifth year of family formation.

LIMITATIONS

Proxy measures of depression by antidepressant prescriptions fails to identify milder depression. Annual measures of family dissolution precluded more fine-grained analyses of time-intervals.

CONCLUSIONS

Depression is disruptive to family stability, particularly with longer duration and early onset after family formation.

Adaptive Calibration of Dyadic Sexual Desire Is Sex Differentiated and Disrupted by Hormonal Contraceptives

Adaptive calibration models suggest that features of people's childhood ecologies can shape their reproductive outcomes in adulthood. Given the importance of dyadic sexual desire (i.e., desire for sex with a partner) for relationships and reproduction, we examined the extent to which people's childhood ecologies-especially the unpredictability of those ecologies-adaptively calibrate such desire. Nevertheless, because female (versus male) sexual desire is presumed to be more sensitive to situational factors, and because hormonal contraceptives alter myriad aspects of female physiology that influence female sexual desire, we predicted that adaptive calibration of dyadic sexual desire would emerge more strongly for naturally cycling females (versus females who use hormonal contraceptives and versus males). In Study 1, a total of 630 participants (159 males, 203 naturally cycling females, and 268 females using hormonal contraceptives) completed questionnaires assessing the harshness and unpredictability of their childhood ecologies as well as their sexual desire. Consistent with predictions, childhood unpredictability (but not harshness) was positively associated with dyadic (but not solitary) sexual desire among naturally cycling females (but not among females using hormonal contraceptives nor among males). Study 2, which consisted of 736 females (307 naturally cycling females, 429 females using hormonal contraceptives), replicated this pattern of results for females. These findings add to a growing literature suggesting that the instability of people's early childhood ecologies can adaptively calibrate their adult reproductive motivations and behaviors, including their dyadic sexual desire. Not only is the current finding among the first to show that some adaptive calibration processes may be sex differentiated, it further highlights that hormonal contraceptives, which alter the evolved reproductive physiology of females, may disrupt adaptive calibration processes (though such disruption may not be inherently negative).

Physician Ownership for the Virtuous Practice of Medicine

The shift from physicians as owners or shareholders of practices to being employees of corporations is now a widespread trend with over 50% of physicians now considered employees. If continued, this trend will have profound effects on the medical profession and on physicians' personal lifestyles and sense of agency. However, ownership is not a morally neutral consideration but is important for safeguarding the traditions of virtue in the medical profession. Virtue develops within localized communities of practice and thrives in settings that embody principles such as solidarity, subsidiarity, and participation found in Catholic social teaching. Ownership increases physicians' investment in moral communities where they practice, affording physicians greater agency to benefit these communities according to their best judgment. This ownership can vary by type of organization and degree of shareholding. Because moral communities are the settings in which physicians form virtue, and ownership increases physicians' commitment and investment in communities, I make a principled argument that physicians who value developing virtue should consider having ownership of their practices when planning their careers. Ownership will be an important aspect of any medical ethics based on virtue rather than on principlism.

The Family Biorhythm: Contributions of the HPA and HPG Axes to Neuroendocrine Attunement

Objective

The vast majority of research on biobehavioral influences on development has focused on mothers and infants, whereas research on paternal biobehavioral influences remains sparse. This study aims to increase understanding of paternal influences on the biobehavioral dynamics of the family unit, using a multi-system approach.

Methods

Participants consisted of 32 predominantly high-risk families recruited during pregnancy who completed monthly questionnaires and in-home visits when infants were 4, 12, and 18 months of age. In-home visits included semi-structured interaction tasks and saliva samples for cortisol and progesterone assays.

Results

Mothers and infants, but not fathers and infants, showed adrenocortical attunement, with the strongest attunement at 18 months. Second, mothers' couple satisfaction did not significantly impact infants' cortisol levels or mother-infant cortisol attunement, but mothers' progesterone moderated the relationship between couple satisfaction and infant cortisol levels such that mothers with low couple satisfaction, but high progesterone, had infants with lower cortisol levels. Finally, mothers' and fathers' progesterone levels were attuned across the time points.

Conclusions

This is some of the first evidence of the establishment of the family biorhythm and suggests that fathers play an indirect role in facilitating mother-infant adrenocortical attunement.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40750-023-00215-0.

Oral contraceptive use during relationship formation and current relationship satisfaction: Testing the congruency hypothesis in couples attending pregnancy and fertility clinics

According to the congruency hypothesis, relationship satisfaction is predicted by the congruency (or non-congruency) between current use of oral contraceptives (OC) and their use during relationship formation. This is based on findings that OC may alter women's mate preferences, so that attraction to their partner may have changed in non-congruent women. Indeed, some studies find that women in a non-congruent state were less sexually satisfied with their partner, although they were more satisfied in non-sexual aspects of the relationship. However, some other studies have produced null results, calling the hypothesis into question. In this study, we tested the congruency hypothesis in two samples of pregnant women, and in two samples of couples attending a fertility clinic. In all four samples, couples completed questionnaires on relationship and sexual satisfaction and the women also reported their previous and current contraceptive use. In one sample of pregnant women, we found that women who used OC during relationship formation were more sexually satisfied with their partner compared to women who did not use OC at that time; this pattern has previously been interpreted as supporting the congruency hypothesis in view of certain similarities in hormonal profile between OC use and pregnancy. We did not find any significant effect of OC use during relationship formation on sexual and relationship satisfaction in the other sample of pregnant women, either sample attending the fertility clinic, or in the male partners of any of our samples. Our results thus provide mixed support for the congruency hypothesis. Finally, we discuss recommendations for future studies such as use of within-subject designs and more structured assessment of sexual satisfaction.

Beauty and the beast: Promotion concerns and the pursuit of physically attractive mates

OBJECTIVE

In the mating market, individuals differ in their aspirations to pursue opposite-sex mates who have a relatively higher (vs. similar) level of physical attractiveness. Few studies have explored how motivational concerns outside the mating domain can account for these individual differences in romantic aspiration. Based on regulatory focus theory, this research tested how broad concerns for promotion and prevention influence the aspiration and dating outcome.

METHOD

Four studies tested whether promotion concerns increase romantic aspiration and the chance to mate with a more physically attractive partner. The first three studies tested how promotion concerns, either measured (Studies 1a and 2) or manipulated (Study 1b), can influence romantic aspiration. Study 3 further tested how one's chronic promotion concerns are related to the physical attractiveness of the current partner (as rated by observers).

RESULTS

The first three studies supported the prediction that promotion concerns increase aspiration to pursue more physically attractive mates. The last study also found that, controlling for their own physical attractiveness, individuals with stronger promotion concerns tend to mate with physically attractive partners.

CONCLUSIONS

The results highlight the significant roles of broad motivational concerns in determining both aspiration and chance to date a more physically attractive partner.

Ovulation, Sex Hormones, and Women's Mating Psychology

The dual mating strategy hypothesis proposes that women's preferences for uncommitted sexual relationships with men displaying putative fitness cues increase during the high-fertility phase of the menstrual cycle. Results consistent with this hypothesis are widely cited as evidence that sexual selection has shaped human mating psychology. However, the methods used in most of these studies have recently been extensively criticized. Here we discuss (i) new empirical studies that address these methodological problems and largely report null results and (ii) an alternative model of hormonal regulation of women's mating psychology that can better accommodate these new data.

Does support need to be seen? Daily invisible support promotes next day relationship well-being

Direct and overt visible support promotes recipients' relationship satisfaction but can also exacerbate negative mood. In contrast, subtle and indirect invisible support can bypass costs to mood, but it is unclear whether it undermines or boosts relationship satisfaction. Because invisible support is not perceived by recipients, its relational impact may be delayed across time. Thus, the current research used three dyadic daily diary studies (total N = 322 married couples) to explore, for the first time, both the immediate (same day) and lagged (next day) effects of visible and invisible support on recipients' mood and relationship satisfaction. Consistent with prior research, visible support was associated with recipients reporting greater relationship satisfaction and greater anxiety the same day. In contrast, but also consistent with prior research, invisible support had no significant same-day effects, and thus avoided mood costs. Nevertheless, invisible support was associated with recipients reporting greater relationship satisfaction the next day. Study 3 provided evidence that such effects emerged because invisible support was also associated with greater satisfaction with partners' helpful behaviors (e.g., household chores) and relationship interactions (e.g., time spent together) on the next day. These studies demonstrate the importance of assessing different temporal effects associated with support acts (which may otherwise go undetected) and provide the first evidence that invisible support enhances relationship satisfaction but does so across days. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

The Emerging Integration of Close Relationships Research and Evolutionary Psychology

Romantic relationships are a central focus of scientific inquiry within two psychological literatures—those on close relationships and evolutionary psychology—yet attempts to bridge these topics have been surprisingly rare. Recently, several lines of research have begun drawing from the methodological and theoretical traditions of each literature to inform the other. For example, evolutionary perspectives have recently made important contributions to the study of romantic relationships by highlighting the positive effects of negative emotions (e.g., jealousy) and the potentially negative implications of hormonal contraception use. In addition, the emphasis in the close relationships literature on relationship development over time has begun to refine scholars’ understanding of the ubiquitous evolutionary psychological distinction between short-term and long-term relationships as well as the classic concept of mate value. These lines of work exemplify how the edges of two intersecting literatures can generate intellectual sparks that ignite both fields.

Forgive and Forget, or Forgive and Regret? Whether Forgiveness Leads to Less or More Offending Depends on Offender Agreeableness

How does forgiveness predict the likelihood of reoffending? One survey study, one experiment, one 4-year longitudinal study, and one 2-week diary study examined the implications of forgiveness for reoffending in relationships. In all four studies, agreeableness interacted with partner forgiveness to predict subsequent offending; partner forgiveness was negatively associated with subsequent offending among more agreeable people but positively associated with subsequent offending among less agreeable people. Furthermore, Study 4 demonstrated a unique mechanism of each simple effect; relatively agreeable people engaged in fewer transgressions against more forgiving partners because they felt obligated to refrain from transgressing against such partners whereas relatively disagreeable people engaged in more transgressions against more forgiving partners because they perceived those partners were less easily angered. These studies indicate that completely understanding the intrapersonal and interpersonal consequences of forgiveness requires recognizing the dyadic nature of forgiveness and attending to qualities of the offender.

Country roads, take me home… to my friends: How intelligence, population density, and friendship affect modern happiness

We propose the savanna theory of happiness, which suggests that it is not only the current consequences of a given situation but also its ancestral consequences that affect individuals' life satisfaction and explains why such influences of ancestral consequences might interact with intelligence. We choose two varied factors that characterize basic differences between ancestral and modern life - population density and frequency of socialization with friends - as empirical test cases. As predicted by the theory, population density is negatively, and frequency of socialization with friends is positively, associated with life satisfaction. More importantly, the main associations of life satisfaction with population density and socialization with friends significantly interact with intelligence, and, in the latter case, the main association is reversed among the extremely intelligent. More intelligent individuals experience lower life satisfaction with more frequent socialization with friends. This study highlights the utility of incorporating evolutionary perspectives in the study of subjective well-being.

Hormonal contraceptives suppress oxytocin-induced brain reward responses to the partner's face

The hypothalamic peptide oxytocin (OXT) has been identified as a key modulator of pair-bonding in men, but its effects in women are still elusive. Moreover, there is substantial evidence that hormonal contraception (HC) influences partner preferences and sexual satisfaction, which constitute core domains of OXT function. We thus hypothesized that OXT effects on partner-related behavioral and neural responses could be significantly altered in women using HC. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging study involving 40 pair-bonded women, 21 of whom were using HC, we investigated whether a 24-IU nasal dose of OXT would modulate brain reward responses evoked by the romantic partner's face relative to the faces of familiar and unfamiliar people. Treatment with OXT increased the perceived attractiveness of the partner relative to other men, which was paralleled by elevated responses in reward-associated regions, including the nucleus accumbens. These effects of OXT were absent in women using HC. Our results confirm and extend previous findings in men that OXT interacts with the brain reward system to reinforce partner value representations, indicating a common OXT-dependent mechanism underlying partner attraction in both sexes. This mechanism may be disturbed in women using HC, suggesting that gonadal steroids could alter partner-specific OXT effects.

Adding insult to injury: partner depression moderates the association between partner-regulation attempts and partners' motivation to resolve interpersonal problems

Intimates regularly confront their partners to motivate them to change undesirable behaviors. Nevertheless, contextual perspectives suggest that qualities of the partner may determine the implications of such attempts. Consistent with these ideas, a pilot study of romantic relationships, an observational study of newlyweds, and a diary study of married couples demonstrated that partner depression moderates the association between confrontational partner-regulation behaviors and partners' motivation, such that confrontational behaviors were associated with marginally greater motivation to resolve problems among partners who were experiencing relatively few depressive symptoms, but significantly less motivation among partners who were experiencing relatively more depressive symptoms. Furthermore, Study 2 provided evidence for the mechanism of these effects--relationship self-efficacy. Finally, these studies also demonstrated that benevolent behaviors were particularly motivating for partners who were experiencing more depressive symptoms. These findings highlight the important roles played by depression, relationship self-efficacy, and context in interpersonal communication.