Capitalization responses to daily parenting events: Associations with couples' postpartum sexual and relational well-being.

Abstract

The postpartum period can be challenging for relationships, yet it is also rife with opportunities for connection. One way of promoting connection within couples is through capitalization (disclosing a positive event to a partner). The effects of capitalization are shaped by partners' responses to the disclosure, with active and constructive responses being linked with better relationship outcomes relative to passive or destructive responses. Across 21 days of daily diaries completed between 3 and 4 months postpartum, we examined how new parents' (N = 240 couples) responses to capitalization of positive parenting events were associated with their own and their partners' daily sexual and relational well-being. On days when birthing parents and their partners perceived greater active-constructive responses than usual, they reported higher sexual desire and relationship satisfaction, and partners reported lower conflict and perceived their partners as being more responsive; when partners perceived greater active-constructive responses, birthing parents reported greater relationship satisfaction and perceived their partners as being more responsive. On days when birthing parents perceived more passive-constructive responses, partners perceived them as being less responsive, whereas when partners perceived more passive-constructive responses from birthing parents, they reported lower relationship satisfaction and perceived birthing parents as being less responsive, and both they and birthing parents reported greater sexual distress. These findings highlight the importance of emotionally engaged partner responsiveness in shaping relational and sexual well-being in postpartum couples. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).