A long-term study of couples has found that love and commitment towards partners decline in the year after a first child is born.
Agnieszka Sorokowska at the University of Wrocław led the research. Her team tracked nearly 300 childless couples for at least two years with regular surveys. Among the 71 couples who had a baby, participants reported lower scores for love and commitment within one year of the birth. Pregnancy itself produced no measurable change. The findings were presented last month at a meeting in Edinburgh. Sorokowska plans to follow the same couples until their children reach adulthood to see whether the drop persists. Psychologist Valentina Rauch-Anderegg noted that earlier studies show relationship satisfaction falls sharply in the first year and then recovers slowly. She suggested that sharing childcare and setting aside regular partner time can help limit the effect.
