Stress may kill sex in first-time parents: Study

“We know that sexual satisfaction is an important element in relationships, but as far as we know, it hasn’t been studied at this transition before. We wanted to know how parenting stress affects sexual satisfaction,” said Chelom E Leavitt from Penn State.

“Interestingly, we found that men’s parenting stress had no impact on either men or women’s sexual satisfaction,” Leavitt added in the paper published in the journal Sex Roles.

The team analysed 169 expectant heterosexual couples and asked them about the parenting stress that they were experiencing from six months after the baby was born. When new moms feel fatigued by the added responsibilities of parenting, they may feel less sexual. But the amount of parenting stress women felt affected the sexual satisfaction of both partners.

“The sexual relationship is interdependent, so when a mom feels greater stress due to parenting, not only is her sexual satisfaction diminished, the dad’s sexual satisfaction is also affected,” Leavitt explained.

This research may assist parents, therapists and others to help new mothers and fathers better understand the strains of transition to parenthood.