Conflict In Romantic Relationships Research Articles

Perceptions of Partners' Attributions for Depression in Relation to Perceptions of Support and Conflict in Romantic Relationships

People's attributions for their own psychological problems are linked to their interpersonal behaviors and attitudes. However, depressed individuals' inferences about their romantic partners' attributions for their depressive symptoms have yet to be studied in relation to their perceptions of relationship quality. This study examined perceived support from and conflict with partners in relation to perceptions of partners' attributions for depression in 165 individuals experiencing at least mild depressive symptoms. After controlling for relevant demographic characteristics, perceived internal/controllable psychological attributions were related to greater perceived conflict and lower perceived support, and perceived controllable biological attributions were related to greater perceived conflict. Perceived external/uncontrollable psychological and uncontrollable biological attributions were unrelated to perceived support and conflict. Findings suggest that perceived attributions may help explain the link between depression, support, and conflict in romantic relationships.

Caught in a bad romance: Perfectionism, conflict, and depression in romantic relationships.

According to the social disconnection model, perfectionistic concerns (i.e., harsh self-scrutiny, extreme concern over mistakes and others' evaluations, and excessive reactions to perceived failures) confer vulnerability to depressive symptoms indirectly through interpersonal problems. This study tested the social disconnection model in 226 heterosexual romantic dyads using a mixed longitudinal and experience sampling design. Perfectionistic concerns were measured using three partner-specific self-report questionnaires. Conflict was measured as a dyadic variable, incorporating reports from both partners. Depressive symptoms were measured using a self-report questionnaire. Perfectionistic concerns and depressive symptoms were measured at Day 1 and Day 28. Aggregated dyadic conflict was measured with daily online questionnaires from Days 2 to 15. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. There were four primary findings: (a) Dyadic conflict mediated the link between perfectionistic concerns and depressive symptoms, even when controlling for baseline depressive symptoms; (b) depressive symptoms were both an antecedent and a consequence of dyadic conflict; (c) perfectionistic concerns incrementally predicted dyadic conflict and depressive symptoms beyond neuroticism (i.e., a tendency to experience negative emotions) and other-oriented perfectionism (i.e., rigidly demanding perfection from one's partner); and (d) the relationships among variables did not differ based on gender. As the most rigorous test of the social disconnection model to date, this study provides strong support for this emerging model. Results also clarify the characterological and the interpersonal context within which depressive symptoms are likely to occur.

Adolescents' Gender Mistrust: Variations and Implications for the Quality of Romantic Relationships

Recent research demonstrates that perceptions of gender mistrust are implicated in lower marriage rates among low-income populations. Yet few quantitative studies have examined the factors predicting gender mistrust during adolescence and whether it influences the quality of subsequent nonmarital romantic relationships. Analysis of three waves of data from the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (N = 1,106) indicates that in addition to neighborhood poverty rates, parents' own gender mistrust and parent-child relationship quality are related to adolescents' gender mistrust, suggesting that parents play an important role in influencing adolescents' developing feelings of gender mistrust. Perceptions of gender mistrust are not related to whether adolescents are involved in dating relationships, but are linked to higher levels of jealousy and verbal conflict in adolescents' subsequent romantic relationships, albeit only for male adolescents.

Recovering From Conflict in Romantic Relationships

This study adopted a developmental perspective on recovery from conflict in romantic relationships. Participants were 73 young adults (target participants), studied since birth, and their romantic partners. A novel observational coding scheme was used to evaluate each participant’s degree of conflict recovery, operationalized as the extent to which the participant disengaged from conflict during a 4-min “cool-down” task immediately following a 10-min conflict discussion. Conflict recovery was systematically associated with developmental and dyadic processes. Targets who were rated as securely attached more times in infancy recovered from conflict better, as did their romantic partners. Concurrently, having a romantic partner who displayed better recovery predicted more positive relationship emotions and greater relationship satisfaction. Prospectively, target participants’ early attachment security and their partners’ degree of conflict recovery interacted to predict relationship stability 2 years later, such that having a partner who recovered from conflict better buffered targets with insecure histories.

Depressive Symptoms and Romantic Relationship Qualities from Adolescence Through Emerging Adulthood: A Longitudinal Examination of Influences

Research has consistently demonstrated the negative consequences of depression on adolescents’ functioning in peer and family relationships, but little work has examined how depressive symptoms affect the quality of adolescents’ and emerging adults’ romantic relationships. Five waves of data on depressive symptoms, romantic relationship conflict, and use of positive problem solving were collected from 188 boys and girls during middle adolescence to emerging adulthood. Latent growth curve models indicated that having more depressive symptoms when 15 years old was associated with both more increase in relationship conflict and less increase in positive problem solving as compared to adolescents with fewer depressive symptoms. These results suggest that depression in middle adolescence may impair subsequent romantic relationship qualities into late adolescence and emerging adulthood.

Emotion and underlying concerns during couples' conflict: An investigation of within‐person change

This study investigated how emotion changes within persons across different episodes of romantic relationship conflict. Presumably, changes in different types of emotion are linked to changes in the types of underlying adaptive concerns people have during conflict, which in turn are linked to changes in the types of emotion that one's partner is perceived to express. Over the span of 8 weeks, 105 college students in romantic relationships completed between 2 and 5 online assessments of a recent relationship conflict. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to distinguish within‐person effects from between‐person effects. Results confirmed expected differences between types of emotion and types of underlying concern, indicated that most effects occur at the within‐person level, and identified mediating pathways.

Interparental Conflict and Adolescents' Romantic Relationship Conflict

This study examined associations between interparental conflict and adolescents' romantic relationship conflict. High school seniors (N=183) who lived with married parents completed questionnaires about their parents' marriage and their own romantic relationships. A subset of 88 adolescents was also observed interacting with their romantic partners. Adolescents' perceptions and appraisals of interparental conflict were related to the amount of conflict in romantic relationship and adolescents' conflict styles. Adolescents' appraisals of interparental conflict (i.e., self-blame, perceived threat) moderated many of the associations between interparental conflict and conflict behavior with romantic partners. The patterns of moderated effects differed by gender. These findings suggest that the meanings boys and girls ascribe to interparental conflict are important for understanding how family experiences contribute to the development of romantic relationships.

Close Relationships and Happiness Among Emerging Adults

The present investigation examined the role of multiple close relationships (mother, father, best friend, and romantic partner, if any) in happiness among emerging adults with and without a romantic partner. The results for those without a partner (n = 152) revealed that only the relationship experiences with mother and best friend were predictive of happiness. On the other hand, the findings for those with a partner (n = 159) showed that only three factors, namely mother–child relationship quality, romantic relationship quality and conflict were predictive of happiness. The results for this group also suggested that romantic relationship quality was protective of best friendship conflict; moreover, best friendship quality did not buffer the negative impact of romantic partner conflict on happiness, suggesting a less important role of best friends in happiness. In other words, the findings suggest that when emerging adults are involved in a romantic relationship, friends’ importance in happiness might be less pronounced or not pronounced at all. The results were discussed in light of the literature and suggestions were made for future research.

Depressive Symptoms in Young Adults: The Role of Attachment Orientations and Romantic Relationship Conflict

Although romantic involvement in adulthood has generally been associated with enhanced well-being, some aspects of adults’ romantic relationships (e.g., maladaptive conflict behaviors) have been linked with depressive symptoms. In order to better understand the role of romantic involvement in well-being, the present study examined links among attachment orientations, conflict behaviors with romantic partners, and depressive symptoms in an undergraduate sample of young adults (N = 110). Correlational analyses generally supported the hypothesized links. When a regression series was applied to the data in order to determine whether young adults’ conflict behaviors serve as a mediator in the link between their attachment orientations and depressive symptoms, mediation was not supported. Instead, results supported a model wherein attachment orientations and conflict behaviors (attacking) were independent predictors, explaining unique variance in young adults’ depressive symptoms. Findings underscore the importance of considering specific aspects of young adults’ romantic relationships in the prediction of their depressive symptoms and illuminate the role attachment orientations and conflict behaviors in their depressive symptoms.

Emotion dysregulation in the intergenerational transmission of romantic relationship conflict.

The role of emotion dysregulation in the intergenerational transmission of romantic relationship conflict was examined using multimethod and multiagent prospective longitudinal data across 21 years for 190 men and their mothers and fathers. As predicted, an individual's emotion dysregulation was a key mediator in the transmission of relationship conflict, along with poor parenting skills. Parents' emotion dysregulation was directly related to their son's emotion dysregulation, which was in turn associated with the son's later relationship conflict. Additionally, parents' emotion dysregulation was significantly related to their poor discipline skills, which were linked to the son's emotion dysregulation and eventual relationship conflict. Findings highlight emotion dysregulation as a significant mechanism explaining the continuity of romantic relationship conflict across generations.

Assessing the Propensity for Sexual Coaxing and Coercion in Relationships: Factor Structure, Reliability, and Validity of the Tactics to Obtain Sex Scale

Although there are measures of sexual interest and sexual conflict in romantic relationships, none discriminate between sexual coaxing and sexual coercion or are sensitive to proximal changes in the propensity to use such strategies. In order to study these changes, we developed the Tactics to Obtain Sex Scale (TOSS) to assess self-reported likelihood of engaging in sexual coercion and sexual coaxing with a romantic partner. In Study 1, a sample of men and women (N = 419) in heterosexual relationships completed the TOSS and measures of its predicted correlates, including antisociality and mating success. An exploratory factor analysis of TOSS scores yielded a two-factor solution. As predicted, the two-factor solution identified coaxing (COAX) and coercion (COERCE) subscales. There was good internal reliability for TOSS, COAX, and COERCE scales (Cronbach alphas > .89). Significant correlations between COAX and self-perceived mating success and between COERCE and psychopathy provided preliminary evidence of construct validity. In Study 2, we replicated the factor structure and established the scale as a reliable and valid index of partner sexual coercion and coaxing propensity.

Social information processing mediates the intergenerational transmission of aggressiveness in romantic relationships.

This study explored the K. A. Dodge (1986) model of social information processing as a mediator of the association between interparental relationship conflict and subsequent offspring romantic relationship conflict in young adulthood. The authors tested 4 social information processing stages (encoding, hostile attributions, generation of aggressive responses, and positive evaluation of aggressive responses) in separate models to explore their independent effects as potential mediators. There was no evidence of mediation for encoding and attributions. However, there was evidence of significant mediation for both the response generation and response evaluation stages of the model. Results suggest that the ability of offspring to generate varied social responses and effectively evaluate the potential outcome of their responses at least partially mediates the intergenerational transmission of relationship conflict.

Conflict Beliefs, Goals, and Behavior in Romantic Relationships During Late Adolescence

Little is known about social cognition regarding conflict in romantic relationships during late adolescence. The current study examined beliefs, social goals, and behavioral strategies for conflict in romantic relationships and their associations with relationship quality among a sample of 494 college students. Two dimensions of conflict beliefs, constructive and destructive, were identified. Constructive conflict beliefs were associated with relationship-oriented conflict goals and negotiation strategies during romantic conflict. Destructive conflict beliefs were associated with conflict goals focused on revenge or individual needs (self or partner) and with destructive conflict behavior (aggression and compliance). Conflict goals partially mediated links between general conflict beliefs and specific conflict strategies. Conflict beliefs, goals, and behavior also uniquely predicted the degree of conflict and intimacy in romantic relationships.

Coping as a mediator between interparental conflict and adolescents' romantic attachment

This study examined the association between interparental conflict and late adolescents' attachment in romantic relationships through analyses of the mediating and moderating effects of adolescents' coping. Adolescents (n = 96, age 18—19 years, 81% female) reported on dimensions of interparental conflict, romantic attachment, and strategies for coping with parents' conflicts. As expected, higher levels of conflict were associated with significantly higher levels of anxious attachment in romantic relationships. This association was mediated by involuntary disengagement coping, but not by other coping responses (involuntary engagement, voluntary engagement, or voluntary disengagement). Hypotheses regarding moderation were not supported. These results suggest that coping may be influenced by the nature of the parental conflict, which, in turn, shapes the impact of conflict on later romantic relationships.

Social Dominance in Romantic Relationships: A Prospective Longitudinal Study of Non‐verbal Processes

AbstractThe study of social dominance has a long tradition within the peer relationships literature, but rarely has the topic been investigated observationally and longitudinally within other salient close relationships. The present study investigated the role of experiences in social relationships and adjustment indices in childhood in predicting later observed non‐verbal social dominance behaviors in the context of romantic relationships in emerging adults. Analyses from a subsample (N = 70) from a 29‐year prospective longitudinal study revealed links between early peer behavior and subsequent romantic relationship interactions for men and women. Non‐verbal social dominance behaviors were concurrently associated with poor romantic relationship quality, conflict, and physical and verbal aggression within the dyad. Both childhood externalizing and internalizing behaviors significantly predicted non‐verbal social dominance behaviors in the romantic partner interactions.

Predicting conflict within romantic relationships during the transition to adulthood

AbstractWe conducted a retrospective study between 1997 and 2000 with 200 participants in the Children in the Community Study at their mean age of 29 (range: 27–31 years). Participants completed detailed narrative interviews about their transition to adulthood and described monthly levels of partner conflict that had occurred between ages 17 and 27. Data from these interviews were used to investigate the developmental trajectory and predictors of conflict in romantic relationships. Multilevel growth models showed that partner conflict increased between ages 19 and 25 and then declined slightly. Parental divorce, low parental socioeconomic status, being an only child, being divorced, being married, cohabiting, and having biological offspring were associated with elevated partner conflict. Different patterns of association between these variables and partner conflict were observed in men and women.

The perceived characteristics of irresolvable, resolvable and resolved intimate conflicts

PurposeThe paper seeks to investigate the characteristics of irresolvable interpersonal conflicts by comparing irresolvable conflicts to resolvable and resolved conflicts on each of Coleman's common social psychological factors associated with intractable conflicts.Design/methodology/approachUndergraduate students were randomly assigned to complete questionnaires about an irresolvable conflict, a resolvable conflict, or a resolved conflict. Participants reported on conflicts in romantic or parental relationships.FindingsThree of Coleman's factors distinguished irresolvable interpersonal conflicts: length of conflict; hopelessness; and resistance to resolution. Three factors did not: issue centrality; conflict pervasiveness; and motivation to harm.Research limitations/implicationsThe participants in this study were college undergraduates. Because we asked participants to report on conflicts in romantic or parental relationships, this study does not include irresolvable conflicts that might occur in other relationships. The measures employed in this study were self‐created and tested for the first time in this investigation. Future research should replicate this study with a more representative sample, focus on the role of communication or individual sense‐making processes, and investigate how, if ever, these conflicts end or are resolved.Practical implicationsThis study indicates that similarities exist between intractable and irresolvable interpersonal conflicts. However, irresolvable interpersonal conflicts in ongoing relationships have unique identifying processes associated relational maintenance despite conflict.Originality/valueTo the authors' knowledge, no other research has thoroughly investigated irresolvable interpersonal conflicts. Research on intractable conflicts provides some insight into these conflicts, but our preliminary results indicate that irresolvable interpersonal conflicts likely should not be categorized with other types of intractable conflicts.

Self-determination and conflict in romantic relationships.

Four studies examined associations between E. L. Deci and R. M. Ryan's (1985, 2000) construct of autonomy, responses to relationship disagreements, and dissatisfaction after conflict. In Study 1, diary data showed that trait autonomy predicted relationship autonomy, which in turn predicted relative satisfaction after disagreements. In Study 2, trait autonomy predicted relationship autonomy, which was associated with less defensive and more understanding responses to conflict. Studies 3 and 4 examined whether one's partner's relationship autonomy uniquely predicted reported and observed behavior during conflict. Autonomous reasons for being in the relationship (of both self and partner) predicted both reported and observed responses to conflict and feelings of satisfaction.

Perceptions of Conflict and Support in Romantic Relationships: The Role of Attachment Anxiety.

Guided by attachment theory, a 2-part study was conducted to test how perceptions of relationship-based conflict and support are associated with relationship satisfaction/closeness and future quality. Dating partners completed diaries for 14 days (Part 1) and then were videotaped while discussing a major problem that occurred during the diary study (Part 2). Part 1 reveals that more anxiously attached individuals perceived more conflict with their dating partners and reported a tendency for conflicts to escalate in severity. Perceptions of daily relationship-based conflicts negatively impacted the perceived satisfaction/closeness and relationship futures of highly anxious individuals, whereas perceptions of greater daily support had positive effects. Part 2 reveals that highly anxious individuals appeared more distressed and escalated the severity of conflicts (rated by observers) and reported feeling more distressed. The authors discuss the unique features of attachment anxiety and how changing perceptions of relationship satisfaction/closeness and stability could erode commitment over time.

Consensus Change, Conflict, and Relationship Satisfaction in Romantic Relationships

In this cross-sectional study of 92 romantic relationships, both the S. S. Hendrick (1988) Relationship Assessment Scale and a 16-item negative conflict scale were independently associated with the consensus items of the Short Marital Adjustment Test (H. J. Locke & K. M. Wallace, 1959), but not with change from initial to present consensus. However, consensus change was significantly correlated with relationship satisfaction and negative conflict in those reporting decreased consensus or no change but not increased consensus. Furthermore, relationship satisfaction was accounted for solely by negative conflict in the increased consensus group and by present consensus in the decreased consensus group. These results suggest that the association of relationship satisfaction with consensus and negative conflict may differ according to perceived consensus change.