Emotion Regulation Predicts Marital Satisfaction: More Than a Wives' Tale
Emotion Regulation Predicts Marital Satisfaction: More Than a Wives' Tale
复制标题
DOI：
10.1037/a0034272
复制
发表时间：
2014-02-01
期刊：
影响因子：
4.2
通讯作者：
Levenson, Robert W.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Bloch, Lian;Haase, Claudia M.;Levenson, Robert W.
情绪调节通常被认为是成功的人际关系的关键因素。具有讽刺意味的是，很少有研究调查配偶如何调节情绪和他们对婚姻的满意度之间的联系。我们利用了一项针对中年（40-50岁）和老年（60-70岁）长期已婚夫妇的13年3波纵向研究的数据，重点关注负面情绪下调（在第1波讨论婚姻冲突领域时测量）和婚姻满意度（在所有3波测量）之间的关联。负性情绪的下调通过确定配偶在负性情绪事件后减少负性情绪迹象（情绪体验，情绪行为和生理唤醒）的速度来评估。数据进行了分析，使用演员合作伙伴的相互依存模型。研究结果表明，（a）妻子的消极经验和行为的更大下调预测妻子和丈夫同时获得更高的婚姻满意度，（B）妻子的消极行为的更大下调预测妻子的婚姻满意度的纵向增加。妻子对建设性沟通的使用（在波1和波2之间测量）介导了纵向关联。这些结果显示了妻子在冲突中下调负面情绪对婚姻满意度的好处，并指出妻子的建设性沟通是一种中介途径。
Emotion regulation is generally thought to be a critical ingredient for successful interpersonal relationships. Ironically, few studies have investigated the link between how well spouses regulate emotion and how satisfied they are with their marriages. We utilized data from a 13-year, 3-wave longitudinal study of middle-aged (40-50 years old) and older (60-70 years old) long-term married couples, focusing on the associations between downregulation of negative emotion (measured during discussions of an area of marital conflict at Wave 1) and marital satisfaction (measured at all 3 waves). Downregulation of negative emotion was assessed by determining how quickly spouses reduced signs of negative emotion (in emotional experience, emotional behavior, and physiological arousal) after negative emotion events. Data were analyzed using actor-partner interdependence modeling. Findings showed that (a) greater downregulation of wives' negative experience and behavior predicted greater marital satisfaction for wives and husbands concurrently and (b) greater downregulation of wives' negative behavior predicted increases in wives' marital satisfaction longitudinally. Wives' use of constructive communication (measured between Waves 1 and 2) mediated the longitudinal associations. These results show the benefits of wives' downregulation of negative emotion during conflict for marital satisfaction and point to wives' constructive communication as a mediating pathway.