Vocational interests and relationship satisfaction: An actor-partner interdependence model

Abstract

This study examined the intrapersonal and interpersonal effects of vocational interests (VI) on two indicators of romantic relationship satisfaction (RS), specifically women and men's perceived relationship quality and their satisfaction with partner attributes. We hypothesized investigative, artistic, social, and enterprising interests would predict higher own or partner's RS. Additionally, we explored the role of interest profile attributes: differentiation and elevation. The study employs actor-partner interdependence modeling on data of 215 heterosexual romantic couples. Results from both RS measures converged on several findings: realistic and enterprising interests in women, and investigative interests in men positively predicted own RS. Women were more satisfied if their partner had higher investigative interests, artistic interests, higher interest elevation and a lower differentiation of interest profile. Although the effects were relatively small, the present results contribute to the literature by showing that VI, which has been previously investigated principally for the prediction of career outcomes, are also relevant for romantic relationship outcomes.