Subjective and biological indicators capture complementary dimensions of adaptation to caregiving: evidence from the transition to parenthood

Summary

Humans continuously adapt to sustained social demands, yet this process is typically assessed using subjective reports of wellbeing, implicitly assuming that self-perceptions summarize overall adaptation. Whether subjective evaluations adequately capture broader biological responses remains largely unknown. We propose and test the hypothesis that adaptation is domain-specific, such that subjective, physiological, and epigenetic indicators provide complementary rather than interchangeable information following the same life transition. We examine the transition to first-time parenthood as a natural setting in which to study adaptation to sustained caregiving using longitudinal data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study (N = 4,249), combining regression models with inverse probability weighted regression adjustment based on pre-parenthood characteristics. We compare patterns across life satisfaction, perceived health, physiological regulation, and the pace of epigenetic ageing. The transition to first-time parenthood is associated with higher life satisfaction but no change in health satisfaction, together with lower neuroendocrine and metabolic dysregulation and a slower pace of epigenetic ageing. Similar multidimensional profiles are not observed for financial hardship, psychological distress, or sleep deprivation, which instead show either broadly convergent deterioration across domains or associations that are predominantly subjective. Together, these findings suggest that human adaptation may be best understood as a multidimensional process and that subjective and biological indicators provide complementary rather than interchangeable perspectives on this process.