Do romantic relationships promote happiness? Relationships’ characteristics as predictors of subjective well-being

Amanda Londero-Santos,Jean Carlos Natividade,Terezinha Féres-Carneiro

doi:10.5964/ijpr.4195

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the predictive power of aspects of the romantic relationship on subjective well-being, beyond what is explained by sociodemographic and personality variables. Participants were 490 heterosexual adults (68.8% women), all involved in a monogamous romantic relationship. Romantic relationship variables were substantial predictors of the three components of subjective well-being, explaining 21% of the variance in life satisfaction, 19% of the variance in positive affect, and 15% of the variance in negative affect, in addition to sociodemographic variables and personality factors. Still, relationship satisfaction was one of the main predictors of subjective well-being. The results highlight the importance of romantic relationships over subjective well-being, suggesting that cultivating satisfying romantic relationships contributes to a happier life.

Highlights

This study aimed to investigate the predictive power of aspects of the romantic relationship on subjective well-being, beyond what is explained by sociodemographic and personality variables
Thereby, we investigated the predictive power of variables concerning the romantic relationship on subjective well-being, after controlling for the influence of sociodemographic and personality variables
This study aimed to investigate the predictive power of variables concerning romantic relationship, such as length of the relationship, relationship status, and satisfaction with the romantic relationship, on subjective well-being, beyond what is explained by sociodemographic and personality variables

Summary

Introduction

This study aimed to investigate the predictive power of aspects of the romantic relationship on subjective well-being, beyond what is explained by sociodemographic and personality variables. Romantic relationship variables were substantial predictors of the three components of subjective well-being, explaining 21% of the variance in life satisfaction, 19% of the variance in positive affect, and 15% of the variance in negative affect, in addition to sociodemographic variables and personality factors. Numerous studies has been conducted in all parts of the world to investigate possible predictors of SWB (for a review see Diener, Oishi, & Tay, 2018a; Diener, Suh, Lucas, & Smith, 1999) They suggest multiple factors (genetic and environmental) as responsible for explaining the variance of SWB components. Important predictors found are sociodemographic variables (e.g., gender, age, financial status, religion, having children), personality factors (e.g., neuroticism, extroversion), and romantic relationship-related variables (for a review, see Diener et al, 1999; Diener et al, 2018a). The most regularly found relationship throughout adulthood is a decreasing linear relationship (e.g., González Gutiérrez, Jiménez, Hernández, & Puente, 2005; Steptoe, Deaton, & Stone, 2015)

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