Outcomes of emotional support in dating relationships: Relational turbulence or sentiment override?

Abstract

This study tests the relational turbulence model by considering how qualities of dating relationships may polarize positive evaluations of partner supportiveness and emotional improvement following an interaction about a stressful experience. Sentiment override, which is the tendency for negative relationship qualities to attenuate positive evaluations of a partner, was evaluated as a competing hypothesis. Using a laboratory-based observation method, participants completed stressful activities and talked with a dating partner. Results supported the relational turbulence model, such that the positive association between observer ratings of enacted support and emotional improvement increased when turbulence was high. All results for perceived supportiveness were nonsignificant. Relationship satisfaction did not predict either outcome; therefore, the sentiment override hypothesis was not supported.

Relational Turbulence Theory: Explaining Variation in Subjective Experiences and Communication Within Romantic Relationships

“…Relational turbulence uniquely indexes the overall sense of chaos in the relationship. Following empirical evidence that relational turbulence exerts a distinct influence on reactions to particular events, above and beyond the effect of relational satisfaction (McLaren & Solomon, ; Solomon & Priem, in press), we position it as a separate substantive global quality of romantic relationships. Our reasoning is reflected in a fifth axiom and proposition:

A5: Experiences of specific episodes characterized by biased cognitive appraisals, strong emotions, and polarized communication coalesce into a sense of chaos within the relationship. P5: Through their effect on perceptions of chaos within the relationship, experiences of specific episodes characterized by biased cognitive appraisals, strong emotions, and polarized communication cause global evaluations of the relationship as turbulent.

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Relational turbulence and health‐compromising behaviors: Integrating relational turbulence and stress theories

“…That is, do perceptions of turmoil in the relationship account for unique variance beyond the variance accounted for by relationship satisfaction? Research indicates that relationship satisfaction colors overall relationship perceptions such that people who are satisfied perceive their relationships to be more positive, while people who are dissatisfied have more negative views of their relationships, a process known as sentiment override (Solomon & Priem, 2016;Weiss, 1980). Research has shown that, not surprisingly, relational turbulence and satisfaction are negatively correlated (McLaren & Solomon, 2014;Solomon & Priem, 2016;Theiss & Knobloch, 2011).…”

“…Research indicates that relationship satisfaction colors overall relationship perceptions such that people who are satisfied perceive their relationships to be more positive, while people who are dissatisfied have more negative views of their relationships, a process known as sentiment override (Solomon & Priem, 2016;Weiss, 1980). Research has shown that, not surprisingly, relational turbulence and satisfaction are negatively correlated (McLaren & Solomon, 2014;Solomon & Priem, 2016;Theiss & Knobloch, 2011). However, even when controlling for relationship satisfaction, relational turbulence elements still explained significant variance in couple's relationship maintenance behavior (Knobloch & Theiss, 2011), level of emotional support (Solomon & Priem, 2016), and experiences of hurt (McLaren & Solomon, 2014).…”

“…Research has shown that, not surprisingly, relational turbulence and satisfaction are negatively correlated (McLaren & Solomon, 2014;Solomon & Priem, 2016;Theiss & Knobloch, 2011). However, even when controlling for relationship satisfaction, relational turbulence elements still explained significant variance in couple's relationship maintenance behavior (Knobloch & Theiss, 2011), level of emotional support (Solomon & Priem, 2016), and experiences of hurt (McLaren & Solomon, 2014). Nevertheless, because relationship satisfaction has been found to be associated with reported relationship stress, depression, and health-compromising behavior (e.g., Randall & Bodenmann, 2009;Rodriguez et al, 2014;Whitton & Whisman, 2010), we controlled for relationship satisfaction when testing the model portrayed in Figure 1.…”

Operationalizing relational turbulence theory: Measurement and construct validation

“…Weiss, ). Although a handful of studies have shown that patterns consistent with the relational turbulence model are robust after covarying relationship satisfaction (e.g., Solomon & Priem, ; Theiss & Knobloch, ), a more complete evaluation of this issue is warranted.…”