A new look at equity and outcomes as determinants of satisfaction in close personal relationships

Abstract

This research reexamined the previously established relation between allocation of resources and satisfaction in close relationships. Using self-report data from two different samples, undergraduate students and married couples, we replicated and extended the procedure employed in past studies to assess the relative strength of equity, equality, and own outcomes as predictors of relationship satisfaction. As expected the two samples differed in the relative strength of the correlates of satisfaction. The married couples revealed different predictors of satisfaction depending upon which of two forms their relationship had taken. Those who reported being in an “identity” (communal) relationship were most satisfied when they provided high inputs to enhance their partner's outcomes, whereas those in an “exchange” relation were more responsive to the outcomes they received. The dating students, whether they reported being in an identity or exchange relation, were most satisfied when their own outcomes were maximized. The results also suggested methodological limitations in the earlier studies that had compared the relative association with satisfaction of an unreliable measure of equity with minimal variance and a highly reliable measure of outcomes with considerably greater variance. The previously established strong association between the person's satisfaction and their own outcomes in a close relationship was found to be dependent upon the nature of the sample and the relative reliability of the correlates employed in the regression analyses.