A high-powered replication study finds no effect of starting or stopping hormonal contraceptive use on relationship quality

Publication date: July 2018Source: Evolution and Human Behavior, Volume 39, Issue 4Author(s): Patrick Jern, Antti Kärnä, Janna Hujanen, Tatu Erlin, Annika Gunst, Helmi Rautaheimo, Emilia Öhman, S. Craig Roberts, Brendan P. ZietschAbstractA number of recent studies have implicated that incongruent use of hormonal contraceptives (HCs) negatively affects various aspects of women's romantic relationships. It has been suggested that women with incongruent HC use (a discrepancy in HC use status between when they first met their current partner and the time of study participation) report less sexual satisfaction and higher jealousy scores compared to women with congruent HC use. A similar effect has also been hypothesized for general relationship satisfaction, and recent findings suggest that the association between HC incongruency and women's general relationship satisfaction is moderated by third-party ratings of facial attractiveness of the women's male partners. Using a large convenience sample (N = 948) of Finnish women, we attempted to replicate previously reported findings but found no support for the HC congruency hypothesis, despite excellent statistical power (≥98.7%) to detect previously reported effect sizes. Instead, after dividing our sample into four groups based on HC congruency/incongruency, we found that the largest differences in jealousy, sexual satisfaction, and relationship satisfaction scores tended to be found between women who were consistent ...
Source: Evolution and Human Behavior - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research