Respondent sleep quality predicts lower marital strain for all couple types except for men married to women, and spousal sleep quality is associated with reduced strain only for women in different-sex marriages.
Key Findings
Results
Respondent sleep quality predicts lower daily marital strain for all couple types except men married to women.
Study used dyadic diary data from 378 mid- to later-life couples in the United States (N = 756)
Couple types examined included same-sex (both men married to men and women married to women) and different-sex marriages
Men married to women were the notable exception to the general pattern where own sleep quality reduced marital strain
The dyadic diary design allowed for daily-level associations between sleep quality and marital strain to be examined
Results
Partner (spousal) sleep quality is associated with reduced marital strain only for women in different-sex marriages.
The partner sleep quality effect was not observed for men in different-sex marriages or for individuals in same-sex marriages
Women married to men appear uniquely affected by both their own and their partner's sleep quality
This finding highlights a gendered asymmetry in how spousal sleep influences relationship dynamics
The result is interpreted through a dyadic and gender-relational perspective
Results
Women in different-sex marriages are uniquely affected by both their own sleep quality and their partner's sleep quality in relation to marital strain.
This dual sensitivity — to both own and partner sleep — was not found in other couple types
The authors highlight this as evidence for the importance of dyadic perspectives in sleep and relationship research
The pattern suggests that women in different-sex marriages may be more relationally attuned or bear greater emotional labor in the marriage
Sample focused on mid- to later-life couples, which may reflect relationship dynamics particular to that life stage
Methods
The study employed a dyadic diary design with 378 couples (N = 756 individuals) drawn from mid- to later-life married adults in the United States.
The dyadic structure allowed simultaneous examination of both respondents' and partners' sleep quality
The sample included same-sex couples (men married to men and women married to women) and different-sex couples
The mid- to later-life age range was a defining characteristic of the sample
Daily diary methodology captures within-person variation in sleep and relationship quality over time
Background
Growing research on sleep health has left a gap regarding how daily sleep within couples shapes marital dynamics, particularly across same- and different-sex relationships.
Sleep is identified as a critical health behavior that often varies by gender
Most partnered adults sleep with a significant other, making the couple context relevant to sleep health
Prior to this study, little was known about dyadic sleep dynamics in same-sex versus different-sex marriages
The authors frame this as motivation for applying gender-relational and dyadic perspectives
What This Means
This research suggests that how well you sleep each night is connected to how much tension or strain you feel in your marriage the next day — but this connection looks different depending on your gender and whether you are in a same-sex or different-sex marriage. Using daily diary data collected from 378 married couples in the United States, the researchers found that sleeping better generally predicted less marital strain, with one notable exception: men who were married to women did not show this pattern. For everyone else — women married to men, men married to men, and women married to women — sleeping better on a given day was linked to experiencing less marital tension.
The study also looked at whether a partner's sleep quality affected the other person's sense of marital strain. Here, the findings were even more specific: only women married to men showed a connection between their husband's sleep quality and their own marital strain. In other words, when a husband slept poorly, his wife tended to report more relationship tension — but the reverse was not true, and this partner-sleep effect did not appear in same-sex marriages at all. This means women in different-sex marriages were doubly sensitive to sleep: both their own sleep and their husband's sleep were tied to how strained the marriage felt on any given day.
This research suggests that sleep is not just an individual health matter but a relational one, and that gender plays an important role in shaping how sleep and relationship quality are connected. The findings point to possible inequalities in how emotional and relational labor is distributed in different-sex marriages, where wives may be more attuned or responsive to a partner's sleep than husbands are. Understanding these dynamics could be relevant for couples dealing with sleep problems and their effects on relationship well-being.
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Asya Saydam, Jaime Hsu. (2026). Sleep Tight, Don't Fight? Daily Sleep Quality and Marital Strain in Same- and Different-Sex Marriages in the United States.. Journal of Health and Social Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1177/00221465261438048