Is Matching in Attitudes, Versus Holding More Positive Attitudes, Toward Sex in Pregnancy Predictive of New Parents’ Sexual Desire During Pregnancy and Postpartum?

People hold various attitudes toward sex in pregnancy and holding more positive attitudes toward sex in pregnancy is linked with feeling more sexually and relationally satisfied and less sexually distressed. To address current gaps in the literature, the present study employed longitudinal methods to examine how both couple members' attitudes toward sex in pregnancy, as well as whether similarity between partner attitudes toward sex in pregnancy within couples, predicts their own and their partner's sexual desire throughout pregnancy and 3-months postpartum. First-time parent couples completed surveys at 20-weeks, 32-weeks, and 3-months postpartum. When couples reported more positive attitudes toward sex early in pregnancy, they reported higher dyadic desire later in pregnancy but not in the postpartum period. No effects were observed for similarity in attitudes and desire. Findings support the importance of overall more positive attitudes, rather than similarity in attitudes, for couples' dyadic sexual desire in pregnancy. Targeting attitudes about sex through psychoeducation may be therapeutic for expectant couples.