Shake it off: The role of optimistic expectations for conflict recovery

Abstract

As recent work suggests that global, dispositional forms of optimism may be more adaptive for relationship functioning than more focused, relationship-specific forms of optimism, the current study utilized observational and daily diary data collected from newlywed couples (N = 171) to determine whether global and specific optimistic expectations would differentially predict recovery following marital conflict. We predicted that spouses higher in global optimism would exhibit greater recovery, whereas spouses higher in relationship-specific optimism would exhibit reduced recovery. A series of multilevel models provided some evidence indicating that individuals higher in global optimism showed increased recovery, but this effect was inconsistent. Moreover, relationship-specific optimism failed to moderate responses to marital conflict, suggesting that this form of optimism may not always be detrimental.

Taking stock of the longitudinal study of romantic couple relationships: The last 20 years

“…For example, several articles examined how individual differences may worsen or alleviate conflict's adverse relational effects over time. These articles examined how factors such as gender (Fincham, Beach, & Davila, 2007), attachment (Cooper et al, 2018), optimism (Farnish & Neff, 2020), and goals (Gere & Impett, 2018) altered the conflict-relationship quality link. For example, Cooper et al (2018) found that attachment anxiety amplified the effects of daily conflict on relationship quality, such that partners had lower relationship quality on more conflictual versus less conflictual days.…”