Authors: Jill Logan, Roanne Millman, and Rebecca Cobb
Date and Location: July, 2011; Gdnask, Poland
Summary: Disclosing good news to others (i.e., capitalization) and receiving enthusiastic partner responses predicts positive mood, life satisfaction, and relationship satisfaction and stability (Gable et al., 2006; Langston, 1994). Although the capitalization process is a valuable relationship maintenance mechanism, little is known about what predicts the tendency to perceive partners as responding positively to good news. Undergraduates (N = 137) in ongoing romantic relationships completed online questionnaires of attachment security, chronic stress, perceptions of partner responses to capitalization attempts, and relationship satisfaction. Consistent with previous research, regression analyses indicated that positive perceptions of partner responses were associated with greater relationship satisfaction. Further, attachment insecurity (i.e., high anxiety and/or high avoidance) and chronic stress predicted negative perceptions of the partner when sharing good news. An interaction between attachment anxiety and chronic stress indicated that individuals higher in attachment anxiety held less negative views of their partner when they reported lower levels of chronic stress. Findings highlight the benefits of celebrating positive experiences in close relationships and the role that stress and attachment security may play in individual perceptions of partner enthusiasm when celebrating successes.
Authors: Patrick Poyner-Del Vento and Rebecca Cobb
Date and Location: November 2010; San Fransisco, CA
Summary: Spousal support is positively associated with marital quality. However, the circumstances that require support may deplete cognitive or emotional resources and prevent spouses’ from providing effective support (e.g., Neff & Karney, 2004). We predicted that chronic stress, particularly when both spouses experienced high levels, would predict less adaptive support behaviors. Participants, 160 newlyweds, completed Chronic Stress Questionnaires (Hammen et al., 1987) three months before marriage (T1) and six months later (T2). At T2, spouses’ discussions of a non-marital worry were recorded and behavior (e.g., validation, advice) was coded using the Social Support Interaction Coding System (Bradbury & Pasch, 1994). Regression analyses indicated that husbands provided more positive support when they experienced higher stress in the six months preceding T1. This was during wedding preparation, and husbands who were more involved in planning may have had more difficulty managing outside commitments (e.g., work, in-laws) leading to greater stress. However, this greater stress may reflect greater commitment to the partner, which led these husbands to be more supportive during the discussion. Wives’ chronic stress did not predict support behavior, and chronic stress did not predict negative support behaviors. There was an interaction: husbands (not wives) provided less positive support when both spouses experienced higher chronic stress in the year prior to support discussions (T1 + T2 Stress). This suggests that when chronic stress is high for both spouses over longer periods, husbands’ emotional or cognitive resources may be especially depleted, rendering them less able or motivated to support their wives.
Authors: Amy Yew and Rebecca Cobb
Date and Location: June 2010; Cancun, Mexico
Summary: How does our perception of interpersonal closeness influence our perception of support received by our partner and subsequently the experience of overall satisfaction in the relationship? Self-disclosure increases with the amount of time spent together early on in relationships. The level of closeness growing out of this process, inclusion of other in the self (IOS), is used to reflect this internal process of cognitive overlap where couples begin to shift from “me” to “we.” In this study, we attempted to investigate this link using a sample of 175 newlywed couples over the course of one year. We hypothesized that the degree of interpersonal closeness would be related to an increase in motivation to allocate social support resources to their partner, and thus be reflected in spouses’ greater satisfaction with support. Couples in the study completed online questionnaires 3 months prior to their wedding to assess IOS (Aron, 1998), social support (Goldsmith, 1997), and marital satisfaction (Norton, 1983) and measures of marital satisfaction one year later. Results revealed that wives’ perception of social support was related to her own and her partner’s IOS and satisfaction concurrently and over the course of a year. However, for husbands the link between IOS and satisfaction was supported but was achieved through another factor other than social support. Further research should aim to investigate other mechanism that may be influential this process particularly for husbands.
Authors: Jill Logan & Rebecca J. Cobb
Date and Location: July, 2006; Rethymnon, Crete
Summary: How couples support each other during times of stress has important implications for inter- and intrapersonal health. However, little research has examined the complementary process of capitalization (i.e., seeking out others to share positive events) and social support. Undergraduates (N = 197) in ongoing romantic relationships completed online questionnaires of attachment security, perceptions of partner responses to support seeking and capitalization attempts, and relationship satisfaction. Positive perceptions of partner responses to support seeking and capitalization attempts independently predicted relationship satisfaction. Further, attachment security predicted positive perceptions of partner support and capitalization responses, and relationship satisfaction. These findings highlight the importance of considering multiple domains of behaviour in close relationships and the role that attachment security may play in perceptions of romantic partners.
Authors: Jill Logan and Rebecca Cobb
Date and Location: July, 2005; Indianapolis, IL
Summary: The present study examined how disclosureof daily positive and negative events was associated with attachment security and relationship satisfaction in a sample of 201 undergraduate students involved in ongoing romantic relationships of at least three months duration. After completing an initial measure of attachment security at Time 1, participants reported their relationship satisfaction and their rate of positive and negative event disclosure each day for 10 consecutive days. Greater positive event disclosure, but not negative event disclosure, predicted greater relationship satisfaction. Individuals higher in attachment avoidance were more likely to share positive events versus negative events, and individuals higher attachment anxiety were less likely to share both positive and negative events. Sharing the positive aspects of daily life with romantic partners may serve to enhance relationship health, but individuals’ attachment security may influence the likelihood of engaging in disclosure and thereby benefitting from this relationship enhancing experience.