Authors
Casey Totenhagen, Emily Butler, Melissa A. Curran, J. Serido
Publication date
2016
Journal
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships
Volume
33
Issue
6
Pages
768-791
Publisher
Sage
Description
We examined whether seven relational constructs (satisfaction, commitment, closeness, conflict, ambivalence, maintenance, and love) showed significant within-person residual variance over time (variability), whether couple members were similar in their variability (covariation), and whether variability and covariation differed by relationship length. We used dyadic daily diary data from 157 couples together from 2 months to 44 years. Each relational construct significantly varied within person from day to day, and couple members significantly covaried. Longer term couples generally experienced less variability than newer couples. We also found that for satisfaction, closeness, ambivalence, and love, couple covariation decreased in longer relationships. We discuss how these findings can be used to help individuals work to maintain greater stability in their feelings about the relationship.
Total citations
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Scholar articles
CJ Totenhagen, EA Butler, MA Curran, J Serido - Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 2016