Overview
- The peer-reviewed findings, led by Tomiko Yoneda of UC Davis, appear in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
- Researchers analyzed data from 642 adults in 321 couples from Canada and Germany, collected before the pandemic beginning in 2019.
- Participants completed 5 to 7 momentary surveys per day for a week and provided saliva at each check-in, yielding nearly 24,000 cortisol measurements.
- Cortisol levels were lower when both partners reported positive emotions at the same time, with effects that continued later in the day.
- The association held after accounting for age, sex, medication use, and daily cortisol rhythms and did not depend on overall relationship satisfaction.