Overview
- The peer-reviewed study, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, analyzed three daily-life datasets from Canada and Germany.
- Participants aged 56 to 89 completed brief emotion surveys 5 to 7 times per day for one week and provided saliva after each survey, yielding 23,931 measurements.
- Cortisol levels were lower when both partners reported feeling positive together than when positive feelings occurred individually, with reductions persisting later in the day.
- The association remained after adjusting for age, sex, medications, and diurnal cortisol patterns and appeared regardless of overall relationship satisfaction.
- Authors frame the results within positivity resonance theory and call for tests beyond romantic pairs, including friends, family members, and coworkers.