Abstract:
Prior research has shown that engaging in negative and direct behaviours to change or regulate a romantic partner’s dissatisfying attitudes and behavior has important consequences for the success of those regulation attempts. However, prior research has not examined whether individual dispositions influence the relative success of negative-direct partner regulation strategies. The current research investigated whether the self-esteem of regulation agents influenced the longitudinal outcomes of negative-direct partner regulation strategies. In Study 1, participants in committed relationships (N = 156) rated their regulation attempts, the types of regulation strategies they enacted, and the success of their regulation attempts across a six month period. In Study 2, individuals (N = 78) reported on their regulation behaviour and the degree to which their partner attempted to improve their relationship every day for a period of 10 days. In Study 3, both members of committed couples reported on their regulation attempts, described the regulation strategies they used, and reported the success of regulation attempts three months later. In all three studies, the self-esteem of regulation agents was also assessed. The results revealed that negative-direct partner regulation strategies were associated with lower regulation success over time when regulation agents were lower in self-esteem (Study 1 and 3). In contrast, negative-direct regulation strategies were more successful when agents with high self-esteem engaged in negative-direct partner regulation strategies (Study 2). These results illustrate that negative-direct partner regulation strategies will not be beneficial when enacted by individuals with low self-esteem, probably because the chronic negativity associated with low self-esteem creates a relationship context that dilutes the power of negative-direct strategies to convey that problems are severe and it is important that targeted partners change. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.
