SexLab, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Center for Psychology at the University of Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen, 4200-135, Porto, Portugal.
Departments of Psychology and Neuroscience and Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
Arch Sex Behav. 2023 May;52(4):1493-1511. doi: 10.1007/s10508-022-02480-8. Epub 2022 Dec 2.
The prevailing narrative about sexual declines during the transition to parenthood is largely based on studies assessing the average couple, but there is increasing evidence of variability in the sexual well-being of new parents. We sought to establish distinct subgroups of couples based on sexual function and sexual distress trajectories and examine biopsychosocial risk and protective factors of these trajectories. A prospective cohort of 257 first-time parent couples reported on sexual function and sexual distress from 20-week pregnancy (baseline) to 6 months postpartum across four time-points. Biopsychosocial factors were assessed at baseline and 3 months postpartum. Dyadic latent class growth analysis identified two distinct sexual function classes (high, 85%; discrepant, 15%) and three sexual distress classes (low, 77%; moderate, 12%; discrepant, 11%). We identified biomedical (vaginal delivery, perineal tear, breastfeeding) and psychosocial (fatigue, stress, anxiety, depression, attitudes toward sex during pregnancy, relationship quality, perceived partner support) factors that can be assessed at critical time-points (i.e., 20-week pregnancy and 3 months postpartum) to identify high-risk couples. Current results indicate that the course of change in sexual well-being for new parents is heterogeneous, with most new parents retaining high function and low distress and only a minority showing trajectories in which mothers, but not fathers, experience clinically significant and persistent levels of low sexual function and high sexual distress. These results may facilitate more nuanced approaches to the assessment and intervention of new parents' sexual well-being.
关于为人父母过渡期性衰退的主流说法在很大程度上基于评估普通夫妇的研究，但越来越多的证据表明新父母的性幸福感存在差异。我们试图根据性功能和性困扰轨迹将夫妻分为不同的亚组，并研究这些轨迹的生物心理社会风险和保护因素。一个由 257 对首次为人父母的夫妇组成的前瞻性队列，在四个时间点（从 20 周妊娠（基线）到产后 6 个月）报告性功能和性困扰。在基线和产后 3 个月评估生物心理社会因素。对偶潜在类别增长分析确定了两个不同的性功能类别（高，85%；差异，15%）和三个性困扰类别（低，77%；中度，12%；差异，11%）。我们确定了可以在关键时间点（即 20 周妊娠和产后 3 个月）评估的生物医学（阴道分娩、会阴撕裂、母乳喂养）和心理社会（疲劳、压力、焦虑、抑郁、怀孕期间对性的态度、关系质量、感知伴侣支持）因素，以识别高风险夫妇。目前的结果表明，新父母性健康状况的变化过程是异质的，大多数新父母保持高功能和低困扰，只有少数父母（而不是父亲）表现出母亲经历临床显著和持续的低性功能和高性困扰的轨迹。这些结果可能有助于更细致地评估和干预新父母的性健康。
