Feelings in words: Emotion word use and cardiovascular reactivity in marital interactions.

Abstract

Putting feelings into words is often thought to be beneficial. Few studies, however, have examined associations between natural emotion word use and cardiovascular reactivity. This laboratory-based study examined emotion word use (i.e., from computerized text analysis) and cardiovascular reactivity (i.e., interbeat interval changes from baseline) across two interaction contexts (i.e., conflict and positive conversations) in 49 mixed-sex married couples (age: M = 43.11, SD = 9.20) from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. We focused on both frequency (i.e., relative proportion of emotion words) and diversity (i.e., relative proportion of unique emotion words) of emotion words. Data were collected between 2015 and 2017 and analyzed treating both partners and conversations as repeated measures, resulting in 196 observations overall (four per dyad). Findings showed that (a) when spouses used more negative emotion words (especially anger), they showed higher cardiovascular reactivity. This finding was robust when controlling for covariates; generalized across gender, interaction contexts, and socioeconomic status. Moreover, (b) when spouses used a more diverse negative emotion vocabulary, they showed higher cardiovascular reactivity, but this was not robust when controlling for negative emotion word frequency. Associations between (c) positive emotion word use and cardiovascular reactivity were not statistically significant. Verbalizing negative emotions thus seems to go along with higher cardiovascular reactivity, at least in the short term. Replication is needed across other relationship types, genders, and sexual orientations. These findings highlight emotion word use as an indicator of cardiovascular reactivity, which has implications for the identification of potential health risks that emerge during marital interactions.

When I am sixty-four… evaluating language markers of well-being in healthy aging narratives

“…Despite its positive associations with self-reported well-being in our model, the affective language factor also showed positive associations with the maladaptive evaluative language factor. This implies that emotional expression might not always reflect adaptive processes, which has also been documented in other studies [ 65 ].…”

Emotion Regulation in Couples Across Adulthood

“…The picture becomes even more nuanced when considering the many consequences of couples’ emotion regulation not only for relationship functioning but also for well-being, health, and even longevity ( Kiecolt-Glaser & Newton 2001 , Smith et al 2014 , Wells et al 2022 ). Some negative emotions (e.g., anger), for example, may be quite adaptive in midlife relationships when they propel partners toward active engagement and problem solving ( Haase et al 2012 , Karney & Bradbury 2020 , Kunzmann et al 2014 ) while they, at the same time, may put strain on the cardiovascular system ( Meier et al 2023b ) and predict the development of cardiovascular symptoms ( Haase et al 2016 ). The picture takes on further complexity when considering the many contexts which couples’ relationships are embedded in—across different racial and ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural backgrounds as well as different sexual and gender orientations (e.g., Karney & Bradbury 2020 , Ong et al 2022 , Rogers et al 2021 ).…”