A first baby arrives and the marriage changes, which almost nobody disputes. Earlier syntheses stopped counting at the end of the first year, so the shape of the curve after that was guesswork. This pooled 49 studies, 97 samples of parents against 9 samples of , and carried the line out to two years. Where does it level off?
The decline keeps going. Satisfaction drops by a medium amount between pregnancy and twelve months after the birth, then by a small further amount between twelve and twenty-four months, for mothers and fathers alike. Couples without a baby slipped a little too over a comparable stretch. And the partners move together: when one falls steeply, so does the other.
The drop in marital satisfaction after a first child is one of the sturdier findings in family psychology. What it lacked was a shape past the first birthday, because earlier syntheses stopped counting there.
This meta-analysis went further. Forty-nine studies met the criteria, giving 97 samples of parents and 9 samples of non-parents, and the authors tracked satisfaction from pregnancy to 12 months, and then from twelve to twenty-four months.
Between pregnancy and the first birthday the decline is medium sized. Between the first and second birthday it is small, but it is still a decline, for mothers and for fathers. Couples without a baby drifted down a little as well over a comparable stretch, which is exactly why those samples matter: part of what looks like a parenthood effect is what marriages do anyway.
The dyadic data added something couples will recognize. were clear, with one partner’s satisfaction falling more steeply when the other’s fell steeply. The authors also tested , the sample features that change how big the effect comes out. Two weaknesses are worth holding onto. A pooled average conceals the couples who got happier, and 9 childless samples is a thin comparison for a claim repeated this widely.
wat. Year two is not the recovery year. Satisfaction keeps easing downward, and each partner’s slope pulls on the other’s.
wat wat
Couples are routinely told the first year is the hard part. The pooled curve says the second year is still sloping down, and that one partner’s slide drags the other’s with it.
How do we know?
Bogdan, Turliuc and Candel pooled 49 studies covering 97 samples of parents and 9 samples of couples without children, then tested moderators and the links between partners.
What is still unknown
A pooled average hides the couples who improved, and the comparison rests on only nine childless samples, which is thin ground for the claim that parenthood adds something beyond ordinary drift.
Learn something?
Where to next
Phone, laptop and television at once. Does that really make you easier to distract?meta-analysis
Does seeing something again and again make you like it more?meta-analysis
Does holding someone’s hand change what fear looks like in the brain?relationships