The Interactive Effects of Emotional Closeness, Positive Affect, and Perceived Positive Communication in Romantic Couples: A Daily Diary Study

Abstract

Research has suggested that independently and in combination, positive affect, emotional closeness, and perceived positive communication behaviors, are important to relationship satisfaction for adults in romantic relationships. The current study leveraged daily diary data from 158 individuals in cohabitating romantic couples to better understand the isolated and interactive effects of an individual's daily positive affect, emotional closeness, and perceived positive communication behaviors (verbal and nonverbal) on their daily relationship satisfaction. We expected that higher scores on each daily predictor would be associated with higher daily relationship satisfaction. Informed by positivity resonance theory, we also expected that the effect of these predictors would enhance each other in pairs, regardless of inclusion of the third component. We found that each of these predictors was individually associated with higher daily relationship satisfaction. We also found significant interactions between daily emotional closeness and both daily perceived positive communication behaviors and daily positive affect, in association with daily relationship satisfaction. There was not a significant interaction between positive affect and perceived positive communication behaviors. Across analyses, we found a buffering effect such that when one construct was low, the other tended to protect against the negative association with relationship satisfaction. Daily emotional closeness consistently emerged as beneficial to daily relationship satisfaction. Findings suggest that, from an individual perspective, endorsement of these positive experiences over the course of the day is relevant to relationship satisfaction on the same day.