Researchers from the Penn State University found that recovery from the initial reaction to conflict is different for men and women, depending on individual difficulties like anxiety, or relationship problems, such as chronic relationship conflict.
The study found that men's increased stress levels measured by the amount of the stress hormone cortisol during a conflict discussion depended on the level of hostility the couple expressed.
More hostility led to a larger stress reaction for men, but the stress levels of pregnant women during the discussion were not linked to the amount of hostility expressed.
The team also found that recovery from the conflict discussion - measured by assessing cortisol levels 20 minutes later - did not differ for men and women with low levels of anxiety.
However, men with a high level of anxiety recovered less, whereas women with high anxiety recovered more if the couple had expressed a high level of hostility during the discussion.
The same pattern was found for men and women who reported low versus high levels of chronic, unresolved relationship conflict.
"Hostility and negativity in a relationship has been shown to have a major impact on mental health and the future well being of the couple," said Mark Feinberg, research professor in the Prevention Research Center for the Promotion of Human Development at Penn State.
"It is especially important to understand how relationship conflict may affect stress during pregnancy, as maternal stress has been linked to health problems for both the mother and child," Feinberg said in a statement.
"And men who have difficulty dealing with stress could end up reacting angrily to future disagreements, which could affect the quality of the relationship, parent-child relations and children's adjustment," Feinberg added.
The researchers recruited 138 heterosexual couples expecting their first child (82 per cent were married) to participate in the study.
Researchers collected three saliva samples from each of the participants in order to measure the amount of cortisol contained within the saliva.
They found that greater hostility in a conflict discussion led to increased levels of cortisol, indicating greater physiological stress, for men. The same pattern was not found for women.
However, the researchers noted this may be due to the fact that women's cortisol levels are already high during pregnancy.
The research was published in the British Journal of Psychology.
