Testing the associations between dispositions toward ridicule and being laughed at and romantic jealousy in couples: An APIM analysis

Abstract

Objective How people deal with ridicule and being laughed at plays a role in romantic life. We extend the research on the fear of being laughed at (gelotophobia), joy in being laughed at (gelotophilia), and joy in laughing at others (katagelasticism) by testing their associations with romantic jealousy and its consequences for relationship satisfaction (RS). Method Our study is based on Actor–Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) analyses of self and partner ratings of the laughter‐related dispositions using data from 228 opposite‐sex couples. APIM mediation analyses estimated indirect effects of jealousy on the associations between the dispositions and RS. Results As expected, gelotophobia‐related positively to jealousy in actors, whereas gelotophilia and katagelasticism showed differential relationships. The analysis of partner effects showed that the actual expressions in the dispositions are unrelated to jealousy but perceived expressions account robustly for experiences of jealousy beyond self‐ratings. Finally, jealousy had indirect effects on the associations between the dispositions and RS. Conclusion These findings contribute to our understanding of the role of dealing with ridicule and laughter in romantic life. We embed the findings into the literature, discuss practical implications, and derive future directions to expand the knowledge on gelotophobia, gelotophilia, and katagelasticism in romantic life.

Revisiting Adult Playfulness and Relationship Satisfaction: APIM Analyses of Middle-Aged and Older Couples

“…Pending further research, this might hint that partners of lightheartedly playful people are inclined to experience this type of playfulness (i.e., seeing life as a game; low seriousness) in their partner as threatening to the relationship, even in long-enduring relationships. In line with research showing that partner perceptions incrementally contribute to understand relationship outcomes (Brauer et al, 2021d), it seems advisable to examine how one perceives their partner's Lighthearted playfulness and whether this contributes to one's RS beyond the actual expressions of the partner's playfulness.…”

“…Although our study's prime aim was replicating PBWC's (2019a) findings, extension would be desirable: As PBWC, we only collected self-ratings of playfulness and RS, but considering that the inclusion of partner ratings contributes incrementally to understand the associations between personality traits and relationship outcomes (cf. Brauer et al, 2021d), we recommend collecting partner ratings in future research. Fifthly, future research might consider mediator and moderator variables that could contribute to explaining the findings (cf.…”

The Moderator Role of Interpersonal Emotion Regulation on the Associations between Commitment, Intimacy, and Couple Satisfaction

“…Non-hostile criticism seems to have a positive connection for both women’s and men’s couple satisfaction [ 77 ]. Similarly, ridicule can contribute to a lower level of couple satisfaction [ 78 ]. However, its effects are dependent on how the individual relates themself to them [ 42 ].…”

Revisiting the Power to Forgive: A Dyadic Approach for Determining the Relations Between Power, Self-Esteem, and Forgiveness in Romantic Relationships

“…We report bootstrapped 95%-Confidence Intervals ( k = 5,000 samples). For direct effects, we computed effect sizes (see Brauer et al, 2021) separately for men and women (Δ F/M = b / SD F/M ). Δ is the change in the outcome in SD s when the predictor changes by 1 point.…”