The interplay of negative urgency and cognitive reappraisal in couples' communication conflict

Abstract

Little is known about the individual factors that potentiate communication conflict in romantic relationships. This study examined the main and interactive effects of two types of emotion regulation in 1240 couples enrolled in an online relationship intervention. Results revealed that higher levels of actors' communication conflict were associated with actors' greater negative urgency and lower cognitive reappraisal. Furthermore, actors' cognitive reappraisal acted as an inhibitor of communication conflict, but only for actors with low levels of negative urgency. Partner effects on perceived actor conflict followed a similar pattern. There was no evidence that the emotion regulation of one partner moderated the effect of the emotion regulation of the other. These results highlight the importance of considering the contribution of couples' emotion regulation in the etiology of their communication conflict and selecting interventions that best match their emotion regulation needs.