Empirically distinguishing interpersonal styles within romantic relationships: What is helpful or harmful when having a goal for your romantic partner?

Introduction

Relationship research rooted in self-determination theory often focuses on autonomy support. However, rarely is this interpersonal style considered alongside other facets of relational behaviours such as directive support and control.

Objective

The present study aimed to distinguish the three styles by providing a tool that can simultaneously assess them.

Method

A total sample of 710 French Canadians involved in a romantic relationship was used for factor extraction and test of dimensionality as well as reliability. Predictive validity was tested using multiple linear regressions with six outcomes: well-being, relationship quality, closeness, goal progress, cooperation and conflicts.

Results

Results suggested three distinct interpersonal styles, each of which showing a different pattern of prediction with the outcomes. Overall, autonomy support was associated with positive outcomes, whereas control was associated with negative outcomes. As for directive support, the global pattern was between the two others.

Conclusion

The present research offers a scale which simultaneously assesses and distinguishes the autonomy-supportive, directive-supportive and controlling styles in a romantic relationship context using three items each. By examining the associations between these three interpersonal styles and various outcomes four months later, this study sheds light on helpful and harmful behaviours in relation to the goals people have for their romantic partner.