engleski

How problematic are (perceived) partner’s negative behaviors for relationship satisfaction?

Evidence suggests that being in a satisfying romantic relationship buffers stress levels in general and is closely connected to one’s quality of life. However, when characterized by high levels of negative interactions between partners, relationships are also stressful by themselves. Furthermore, stress external to the relationships spills over into it, again increasing negative and decreasing positive interactions between romantic partners, and lowering relationship satisfaction. All this questions if relationships can serve as a buffer against stress, and calls for further examination of positive and negative partner interactions, and their role for marital satisfaction. The aim of this study was to examine how perceived spouse's affectionate and antagonistic behaviors, and their interplay, contribute to one's marital satisfaction. Firstly, we explored who shows more negative behavior, i.e. whether it depends on some contextual factors such as gender, age, length of marriage and family structure. Secondly, we examined the relation between perceived partner's behavior and marital satisfaction (while controlling for love and contextual variables) in order to determine whether positive behaviors can serve as a protective factor for marital satisfaction. Questionnaire assessing love, marital satisfaction, perceived partners' affectionate and antagonistic behaviors and demographic data was administered to a heterogeneous sample of 302 married couples from Croatia with the average marriage length of 18 years and age span of 20–82 years. Findings suggest that contextual factors modify the way spouses behave in their marriage. Results also indicate that perceived spouse's affectionate and antagonistic behaviors both contribute to marital satisfaction with the impact of antagonistic behaviors being buffered when they appear in an affectionate relationship. This finding suggests that antagonistic behaviors can be interpreted differently depending on the level of affection they are embedded in. Finally, the perception of partner's affectionate and antagonistic behaviors had significant incremental power over feelings of love and other contextual variables when predicting marital satisfaction.

affection; antagonistic behavior; context; marital satisfaction; perceived spouse's behavior

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