The transition to parenthood can be a challenging time for new parent couples, as a baby comes with changes and stress that can negatively influence new parents' relational functioning in the form of reduced relationship satisfaction and disrupted partner social support. Yet, the transition to parenthood is also often experienced as a joyous time. In this research, we draw on the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions to suggest that new parents' positive emotions are not merely an enjoyable distraction, but are instead central to their relational adjustment. Specifically, we hypothesized that new parents who experienced greater positive emotions would report enhanced relationship satisfaction and partner social support across time. To test these ideas, we drew on two dyadic and longitudinal studies of new parents. In Study 1, 104 couples (208 individuals) completed surveys across the course of 1 year, and in Study 2, 192 couples (384 individuals) completed surveys and a laboratory-based social support interaction over the course of 2 years. At each wave of data collection, participants completed assessments of positive emotions, relationship satisfaction, and partner social support. We examined how actor and partner positive emotions longitudinally predicted relational adjustment across time. Results demonstrated that, even when controlling for baseline levels of each outcome variable, greater actor reports of positive emotions prospectively predicted greater subsequent actor (a) relationship satisfaction, (b) perceptions of social support from the partner, and (c) enacted social support as rated by independent observers, a pattern that was especially prominent for fathers. These results suggest positive emotions may be a resource that fosters healthy relational adjustment during chronically stressful periods that threaten intimate relationships, including during the transition to parenthood. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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新的父母积极性：积极情绪在为人父母过渡期间促进关系调整的作用。

对于新父母来说，过渡到为人父母可能是一个充满挑战的时期，因为婴儿带来的变化和压力可能会对新父母的关系功能产生负面影响，表现为关系满意度降低和伴侣社会支持中断。然而，为人父母的过渡也常常是一段快乐的时光。在这项研究中，我们利用积极情绪的拓宽和构建理论表明，新父母的积极情绪不仅仅是一种令人愉快的消遣，而且是他们关系调整的核心。具体来说，我们假设经历了更积极情绪的新父母会报告随着时间的推移，关系满意度和伴侣社会支持有所提高。为了检验这些想法，我们对新父母进行了两项双向纵向研究。在研究 1 中，104 对夫妇（208 人）在 1 年的时间内完成了调查，在研究 2 中，192 对夫妇（384 人）在 2 年内完成了调查和基于实验室的社会支持互动。在每一波数据收集中，参与者完成了对积极情绪、关系满意度和伴侣社会支持的评估。我们研究了演员和伴侣的积极情绪如何纵向预测随时间的关系调整。结果表明，即使在控制每个结果变量的基线水平时，参与者对积极情绪的报告越多，就可以预测后续参与者的能力越高：(a) 关系满意度，(b) 对来自伴侣的社会支持的看法，以及 (c) 制定的社会支持根据独立观察员的评价，这种模式对于父亲来说尤其突出。这些结果表明，在威胁亲密关系的长期压力时期，包括在为人父母的过渡期间，积极情绪可能是促进健康关系调整的资源。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2022 APA，保留所有权利）。