Assessing Context-Specific Attributions During Couples’ Conflict Interactions

Abstract

Two studies were conducted to develop and validate a six-item scale for measuring context-specific attributions regarding the extent to which people either blame or exonerate partners during couples' conflicts. Context-specific attributions pertain to appraisals made during a single episode of relationship conflict, and the scale was expected to be distinct from existing attribution scales measuring people's schemas regarding the types of attributions they typically make. Study 1 included 2,452 people in marriage or cohabitating relationships; Study 2 included 172 people in dating relationships, and participants in both studies completed Internet questionnaires. Item response theory was used to create an attribution scale using the fewest number of items to discriminate reliably across the full range of attribution levels. The resulting scale produced an expected pattern of convergent and divergent correlations with other context-specific measures, including two types of underlying concerns and three types of emotion. The context-specific attribution scale explained variance in these criterion variables that could not be explained by other existing scales that assess attributions at the schematic level.

Relational needs frustration: an observational study on the role of negative (dis)engaging emotions

“…This distinction is also congruent with both clinical theory and research regarding the types of emotion that occur during conflicts in couples. For instance, an approach to couple's therapy bearing substantial empirical support makes a difference between hard and soft emotions (Backer-Fulghum et al, 2018;Luginbuehl and Schoebi, 2020). Hard emotions are defined as emotions associated with asserting power and control that motivate people to protect themselves against partners who are perceived as harmful or neglectful, while soft emotions are pro-social emotions associated with experiencing or expressing vulnerability that lead to behaviors associated with closeness and relationship repair (Sanford, 2012).…”

The Trust Game for Couples (TGC): A new standardized paradigm to assess trust in romantic relationships

“…One could further identify dysfunctional trust in relationships in case of one partner or both partners suffering from a mental disorder that hampers the development of interpersonal trust (e.g., separation anxiety; [52]). Moreover, the TGC enables researchers to investigate experimental manipulations of various social contexts (e.g., couple conflict; [53,54]) and trust-related hormones (e.g., oxytocin; [8]) on partner-specific trust. Beyond assessing trust in romantic relationships, the TGC could also be flexibly adapted to assess trust in alternative dyadic relationships such as those involving friends, family members, work colleagues, or members of distinct social groups.…”