Emotion Differentiation During the Transition to Parenthood – Concurrent and Prospective Positive Effects

Emotion differentiation, the extent to which same-valenced emotions are experienced in a distinct manner, has been found to be associated with various positive outcomes. However, little is known about its role in relational contexts. The present work examines couples in the transition to parenthood (TTP), a particularly emotionally demanding period, and explores the associations between emotion differentiation and both concurrent (3 months postpartum) and prospective (6 months postpartum) relationship quality. Both negative emotion differentiation (NED) and positive emotional differentiation (PED) were extracted from daily diaries completed over 21 days by both partners in 88 couples. They were then examined as predictors of relationship quality (relationship satisfaction and perceived partner responsiveness) using actor-partner interdependence models. NED was found to be concurrently associated with elevated relationship quality for one's self and for one's partner, but only when the partner's NED was low. Prospectively, partner NED was associated with greater perceived partner responsiveness and with relationship satisfaction when the actor’s NED was low. PED was found to be concurrently associated with relationship satisfaction for one’s self and one’s partner; a similar association was found for one’s own perceived partner responsiveness. Prospectively, partner PED was associated with greater relationship satisfaction. The findings suggest that NED functions as a compensatory or shared dyadic resource, and that PED, whose effects in previous studies have been mixed, may also be constructive. This suggests that individuals undergoing emotionally demanding periods (such as the TTP) may benefit from developing more nuanced emotional experiences.