Conflict, negative emotion, and reports of partners’ relationship maintenance in same-sex couples.

Abstract

The literature on relationship maintenance has focused primarily on the beneficial outcomes of maintenance, and, as a result, little is known about relational processes that may interfere with reports of partners' maintenance. The authors examine how daily conflict influences individuals' reports of their partners' maintenance, and how a constructive communication style buffers this influence by reducing negative emotion on conflict days. In a daily diary study of 98 same-sex couples in romantic relationships, they found that the negative association between conflict and reports of a partner's relationship maintenance was mediated by negative emotion. That is, there was an indirect effect by which daily conflict was associated with higher levels of daily negative emotion, which was associated with reports of lower levels of partners' relationship maintenance. This indirect effect was moderated by couples' overall level of constructive communication such that higher levels diminished the degree to which couples experienced negative emotion on days with episodes of relational conflict. The authors discuss results in the context of interpersonal theory and provide implications for clinicians and practitioners.

Interpersonal Problems and Negative Affect in Borderline Personality and Depressive Disorders in Daily Life

“…Due to this, we cannot comment on whether the associations between negative affect and interpersonal problems observed herein are a result of general psychopathology, with a number of associations being especially relevant to and pronounced in BPD, or whether the associations would hold in healthy individuals as well. Based on previous studies with healthy samples, revealing positive associations between conflict and negative affect (Bolger & Schilling, 1991; Bolger & Zuckerman, 1995; Kennedy et al, 2002; Laurenceau et al, 2005; Ogolsky & Gray, 2015), we presume that the general pattern of effects we observed herein would hold in healthy participants, too. However, we expect this association would be weaker in a number of ways, because healthy participants should have a lower general affective reactivity and lower sensitivity to negative events.…”

“…Previous studies have not assessed the relationship between disagreement and negative affect in a BPD sample, although a number of studies using nonclinical samples have examined this. Daily diary studies of romantic couples have found a positive association of relationship conflict with daily negative affect (Ogolsky & Gray, 2015), anger (Kennedy, Bolger, & Shrout, 2002), and anxiety (Laurenceau, Troy, & Carver, 2005). Furthermore, disagreements with a spouse or other adults were positively associated with same-day negative affect (Bolger & Schilling, 1991) and with next-day anger and depression (Bolger & Zuckerman, 1995), the latter only for participants high in Neuroticism, a trait common in those with BPD (Samuel & Widiger, 2008).…”

The Association Between Relationship Events and Experiences and Partner Evaluations: An Ideal Standards Perspective

“…This study also found positive relationship events such as outings and socializing with one's partner were associated with increased levels of relationship satisfaction. Furthermore, in a 14-day diary study of same-sex romantic couples, Ogolsky and Gray (2016) found that experiencing higher perceived levels of daily conflict was associated with lower levels of the evaluation of relationship maintenance.…”

Identifying Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Search Terminology: A Systematic Review of Health Systematic Reviews

“…We added five additional terms that were not used in any search. These are terms we have seen used in LGBT health research: “same gender loving” [ 36 ], “same sex couple” [ 37 ], “same sex couples” [ 38 ], “sexual and gender minority” [ 39 ], and its plural version, “sexual and gender minorities.” This full list of 82 terms is presented below with bolded terms coming from the identified reviews and italicized terms added based on their use in the field.…”