How to relate two records elegantly?

At some point in my application I'm creating a post and relating it to the session user:

public function adicionar(CadEditPost $request)
{        
    $request->merge(['user_id' => Auth::user()->id]);

    if(Post::create($request->all()))
    {
        return redirect('/painel/posts')
                ->with(['status' => 'success', 'mensagem' => 'Post adicionado com sucesso!']);
    }

    return redirect('/painel/posts')
            ->with(['status' => 'error', 'mensagem' => 'Ocorreu um erro ao tentar adicionar o post!']);
}

There is a more "elegant" or appropriate way to generate this relationship instead of using:

$request->merge(['user_id' => Auth::user()->id]);

Note: In the post user_id table is a foreign table that points to the users / p>

Is this form would be better:

Auth::user()->posts()->create($request->all());

Model User:

<?php

namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Notifications\Notifiable;
use App\Notifications\NotificarTrocaSenha;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Auth\User as Authenticatable;

class User extends Authenticatable
{
    use Notifiable;

    /**
     * Código dos status existentes
     */
    const STATUS = [
        0 => 'Inativo',
        1 => 'Ativo',
        2 => 'Bloqueado',
        3 => 'Excluido'
    ];

    /**
     * The attributes that are mass assignable.
     *
     * @var array
     */
    protected $fillable = [
        'name', 'email', 'password', 'sexo'
    ];

    /**
     * The attributes that should be hidden for arrays.
     *
     * @var array
     */
    protected $hidden = [
        'password', 'remember_token',
    ];

    /**
     * Retorna os posts relacionados ao usuário
     * 
     * @return \Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Relations\HasMany 
     */
    public function posts()
    {
        return $this->hasMany('App\Models\Post');
    }

    /**
     * Send the password reset notification.
     *
     * @param  string  $token
     * @return void
     */
    public function sendPasswordResetNotification($token)
    {
        $this->notify(new NotificarTrocaSenha($token));
    }

    /**
     * Traduz a sigla sexo para Feminino ou Masculino
     * 
     * @return string
     */
    public function getSexoMutatorAttribute()
    {
        return ($this->sexo == 'f') ? 'Feminino' : 'Masculino';
    }

    /**
     * Traduz a sigla status para algo compreensivo
     * 
     * @return string
     */
    public function getStatusMutatorAttribute()
    {
        $status = self::STATUS;
        return $status[$this->status];
    }
}

Model Post:

<?php

namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class Post extends Model
{
    /**
     * Código dos status existentes
     */
    const STATUS = [
        0 => 'Rascunho',
        1 => 'Publicado',
        2 => 'Excluído'
    ];

    /**
     * Lista de campos que podem ser submetidos em massa (form)
     *
     * @var array
     */
    protected $fillable = [
        'titulo', 'conteudo', 'status', 'capa'
    ];

    /**
     * Retorna o relacionamento de post com a tabela user
     * 
     * @return \Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Relations\BelongsTo
     */
    public function user()
    {
        return $this->belongsTo('App\Models\User');
    }

    /**
     * Traduz a sigla status para algo compreensivo
     * 
     * @return string
     */
    public function getStatusMutatorAttribute()
    {
        $status = self::STATUS;
        return $status[$this->status];
    }
}