Romantic conflict narratives and associations with psychological relationship aggression in emerging adult couples

Abstract

This cross-sectional study aimed to understand how emerging adult couples interpreted relationship conflicts, and whether such meaning making was associated with psychological relationship aggression and moderated by gender. We specified the I Cubed model of relationship aggression to examine how in the context of recounting relationship conflicts, the impellance factors of anger and break-up anxiety might increase and the inhibition factor of perspective taking might decrease the likelihood of relationship aggression. Each partner in 126 couples was interviewed separately about their unmet relationship needs. Narrative-based measures of impellance and inhibition were obtained as well as self-reported psychological relationship aggression and satisfaction. Although gender was not a moderator, there was some support for associations of impellance and inhibition factors with aggression. Extending prior work using couple observations and diary methods, we found that interpreting conflict events in terms of anger and perspective taking was related to relationship aggression while controlling for relationship satisfaction. Consistent with the I Cubed model, there were actor effects such that anger ratings were an impellance factor that increased and perspective taking was an inhibition factor that decreased the likelihood of aggression. Our findings suggest that narrating past conflicts related to unmet needs is a task that involves the management of anger associated with more relationship aggression. The efficacy of relationship education programs for emerging adult couples might be improved by focusing on skills to decrease anger and facilitate perspective taking.

The attenuating effect of perspective taking on negative behavior in relationship interactions.

“…Taken together, the prior research suggests that greater perspective taking provides a more balanced, less self-focused understanding of relationship interactions and partner behavior that should reduce the degree to which actors behave negatively. However, the most direct evidence that perspective taking reduces negative behavioral responses relies on general reports of perspective taking and behavioral tendencies (e.g., Arriaga & Rusbult, 1998; Corcoran & Mallinckrodt, 2000; Loudin et al, 2003; Rizkalla et al, 2008), coding descriptions of past partner transgressions (e.g., Feiring et al, 2020, 2022), or reported responses to hypothetical scenarios (e.g., Arriaga & Rusbult, 1998). These methods offer relatively weak tests of whether perspective taking attenuates actors’ negative behaviors as couples respond to each other within relationship interactions.…”

“…Other self-report studies suggest that perspective taking should be particularly valuable in reducing negative behavior when actors face negative behavior by their partner. Feiring and colleagues (Feiring et al, 2020, 2022) found that, although actors tend to recount their partner’s negative behavior as being intentionally hurtful, narratives that involve greater perspective taking also include less aggressive responses by actors and less conflict escalation. Similarly, Arriaga and Rusbult (1998) illustrated that instructed perspective taking was associated with less partner blaming attributions and lower self-reported tendencies to retaliate against partner’s hypothetical negative behavior.…”

Emerging adult romantic relationship narratives during COVID‐19: Understanding relational challenges and opportunities

“…Relationship uncertainty is associated with more negative emotion and appraisals of irritation as more severe and relationally threatening (e.g., Solomon et al, 2016). In our pre‐pandemic narrative work on emerging adult romantic relationships, we have consistently observed that for some partners, specific conflict events may be viewed as a source of worry about whether the relationship should or will continue, an interpretation we call break‐up anxiety (Feiring et al, 2018; Feiring, Liang, et al, 2022; Feiring, McMahon, & Gall, 2022). Both the BUA and uncertainty constructs share the idea that partners are unsure about the nature and future of the relationship.…”

“…In interpersonal contexts, anger is viewed as a likely response to a sense of being injured, unjustly treated, or thwarted (Birkley & Eckhardt, 2015). In conflict narratives, as well as daily diaries and observations of romantic conflict, anger is associated with the increased likelihood of reacting aggressively (Crane & Testa, 2014; Feiring, Liang, et al, 2022). Sadness, in contrast to anger, is viewed as indicating a partner's tendency to interpret conflict events from a more vulnerable than defensive stance.…”

Sit beside rather than face others: Influence of body orientation on psychological perspective-taking

“…In a society, understanding the cognitive perspective of others can encourage altruistic motivation (Batson et al, 1997;Trötschel et al, 2011), and increase the probability of reaching an agreement during negotiations (Galinsky et al, 2008). CPT can also decrease stereotypical expressions (Galinsky & Moskowitz, 2000), and aggressive behavior (Feiring et al, 2022;Richardson et al, 1994).…”