A Dyadic Analysis of Emotion Regulation as a Moderator of Associations Between Marital Conflict and Marital Satisfaction Among First-married and Remarried Couples

Abstract

We examined emotion regulation strategies as moderators of marital conflict and marital satisfaction between first-married and remarried couples. Remarried couples with a stepchild ( n = 108) and first marriage couples ( n = 111) with a child completed online surveys. Perceptions of both spouses were analyzed using actor–partner interdependence modeling. Although remarried spouses reported more marital conflict and lower marital satisfaction than first marriage spouses, emotion regulation strategies did not moderate the association between marital conflict and marital satisfaction differently for first-married and remarried couples. Expressive suppression exacerbated the negative association between marital conflict and marital satisfaction for men, and cognitive reappraisal attenuated the negative association for women. There was one partner effect; husbands’ greater cognitive reappraisal buffered the negative association between husbands’ marital conflict and wives’ marital satisfaction. Marriage order was less important than gender in how emotion regulation moderated the associations among marital conflict and marital satisfaction.