Interpartner Concordance on Relationship Quality and Sexually Transmitted Infections Among Young Pregnant and Parenting Couples

Are You and Your Partner on the Same Page?

A Study About How Interpartner Concordance Affects STI Transmission

Adolescents and young adults account for 25% of the US population yet comprise ~50% of the 20 million STIs reported annually. 200 AYA couples completed surveys on relationship quality, covering satisfaction, cohesion, consensus and affectional expression as well as STI diagnosis.

What we did:

We looked at relationship satisfaction of both members of a couple to see how different combinations (one partner satisfied and one not; both satisfied, both not satisfied with the relationship) influence an individual getting an STI

Findings suggest that when a person is satisfied with their relationship but their partner is not, they may be at increased risk for an STI. Read more

A Study About How Interpartner Concordance Affects STI Transmission

Background

This study examined agreement between partners on perceptions of relationship quality and how it affected later STI diagnosis in a sample of young, pregnant couples.

Methods

Two hundred ninety-six AYA couples completed structured surveys on relationship quality (satisfaction, cohesion, consensus, affectional expression) and STI diagnosis. An actor-partner interdependence model was used to assess actor effects (whether an individual’s perceived relationship quality influenced their getting STI), partner effects (whether a partner’s perceived relationship quality influenced the individual getting an STI), and interactive effects (whether an individual’s perceived relationship quality interacted with a partner’s perceived relationship quality and influenced in the individual getting an STI).

Results

No significant actor or partner effects were observed for positive STI screen. However, there was a significant interaction between actor and partner satisfaction (B = −0.47, exp(B) = 0.63 [95% confidence interval, 0.43–0.93], P = 0.020). When actor satisfaction was high, greater partner satisfaction was associated with lower odds of a positive STI screen at 12 months. A significant interaction between actor and partner affectional expression was also found (B = −4.40, exp(B) = 0.01 [95% confidence interval, 0.00–0.87], P = 0.043). When partner affectional expression was high, greater actor affectional expression was associated with lower odds of a positive STI screen at 12 months.

Conclusions

Findings suggest that concordant reports of relationship satisfaction and affectional expression are protective against future STI risk. Strengthening romantic relationships may be a promising strategy for preventing STIs in pregnant/parenting AYA couples.

A study of adolescent and young adult pregnant/parenting couples found that when both partners reported high relationship satisfaction and affectional expression, their odds of having a future sexually transmitted infection significantly decreased.