ABSTRACT

Despite sexual activity being safe for the majority of expectant couples (i.e., the pregnant individual and their partner), negative attitudes toward having sex during pregnancy are common and are related to lower sexual well-being across this vulnerable life period. Using dyadic response surface analysis in a sample of 254 first-time expectant couples, we examined the degree to which expectant partners demonstrated similar versus dissimilar attitudes to sex during pregnancy and whether specific patterns of couples’ similarity in attitudes may uniquely contribute to their sexual satisfaction and sexual distress. Couples’ more positive attitudes (i.e., the more both partners perceived sexual activity as non-threatening to their pregnancy), rather than partners’ similarity in attitudes, were associated with lower sexual distress for both partners and higher sexual satisfaction for male partners. In couples where partners held more dissimilar attitudes, men demonstrated greater distress when their female partner’s attitudes were more positive than their own. To promote sexual well-being during pregnancy, interventions should assist couples to attain stronger positive attitudes to sex during pregnancy by targeting concerns about sex in both expectant partners.

摘要

尽管性活动对大多数准夫妇（即怀孕的个体及其伴侣）来说是安全的，但在怀孕期间对性行为的消极态度很常见，并且与整个脆弱生命期的性幸福感降低有关。我们对 254对首次怀孕夫妇的样本使用二元响应面分析，检查了预期伴侣表现出相似的程度怀孕期间对性的不同态度以及夫妻态度相似的特定模式是否可能独特地促进他们的性满足和性痛苦。夫妻更积极的态度（即，双方越多地认为性活动对他们的怀孕没有威胁），而不是伴侣态度的相似性，与双方的性困扰较低和男性伴侣的性满意度较高有关。在伴侣持有更多不同态度的夫妻中，当女性伴侣的态度比自己更积极时，男性表现出更大的痛苦。为了促进怀孕期间的性福祉，干预措施应通过针对双方对性的担忧，帮助夫妻对怀孕期间的性行为抱有更积极的态度。期待的合作伙伴。