Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T09:33:40.877Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Attachment and Relationship Satisfaction: Mediating Role of Perception of the Partner's Investment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 September 2020

Amanda Londero-Santos Open the ORCID record for Amanda Londero-Santos [Opens in a new window] ,
Jean Carlos Natividade  and
Terezinha Féres-Carneiro
Amanda Londero-Santos*
Affiliation:
Psychometrics Department, Institute of Psychology, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Jean Carlos Natividade
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Terezinha Féres-Carneiro
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
*
Address for correspondence: Amanda Londero-Santos, Department of Psychology, Rua Marquês de São Vicente, 225, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil Email: amandalondero@me.com
Get access

Abstract

This study investigated the role of perception of the partner's investment (PPI) as a mediator of the relation between attachment and relationship satisfaction. The participants in the study were 1088 Brazilians who were involved in a committed monogamous romantic relationship. Relations between study variables were tested using structural equations. The results showed that PPI fully mediated the relation between attachment-related anxiety and avoidance and relationship satisfaction. Attachment factors that were mediated by PPI explained 80.7% of the variance of relationship satisfaction. The results revealed that higher levels of attachment-related avoidance and anxiety were associated with a lower PPI and consequently lower relationship satisfaction. Therapeutic interventions for couples may reduce perceptual bias, mainly when attachment levels of the dyad are known.

Keywords

relationship satisfactionadult attachmentperception of the partner's investment
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Relationships Research , Volume 11 , 2020 , e13
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bell, R.A., Daly, J.A., & Gonzalez, M.C. (1987). Affinity-maintenance in marriage and its relationship to women's marital satisfaction. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 49, 445–454.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1969/1982). Attachment and loss: Vol I. Attachment (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1973). Attachment and loss: Vol II. Separation anxiety and anger. New York, NY: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1980). Attachment and loss: Vol III. Loss sadness and depression. New York, NY: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Brassard, A., Lussier, Y., & Shaver, P.R. (2009). Attachment, perceived conflict, and couple satisfaction: Test of a mediational dyadic model. Family Relations, 58, 634–646.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bretherton, I., & Munholland, K.A. (2016). The internal working model construct in light of contemporary neuroimaging research. In Cassidy, J. & Shaver, P.R. (Eds.), Handbook of attachment (3rd ed., pp. 63–88). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Butzer, B., & Campbell, L. (2008). Adult attachment, sexual satisfaction, and relationship satisfaction: A study of married couples. Personal Relationships, 15, 141–154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Candel, O.S., & Turliuc, M.N. (2019). Insecure attachment and relationship satisfaction: A meta-analysis of actor and partner associations. Personality and Individual Differences, 147, 190–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cassidy, J., & Shaver, P.R. (Eds.). (2016). Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (3rd ed.). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Collins, N.L., & Allard, L.M. (2001). Cognitive representations of attachment: The content and function of working models. In Fletcher, G.J.O. & Clark, M.S. (Eds.), Blackwell handbook of social psychology: Vol. 2. Interpersonal processes (pp. 60–85). London, UK: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Collins, N.L., & Feeney, B.C. (2004). Working models of attachment shape perceptions of social support: Evidence from experimental and observational studies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87, 363–383.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Collins, N.L., Ford, M.B., Guichard, A.M.C., & Allard, L.M. (2006). Working models of attachment and attribution processes in intimate relationships. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32, 201–219.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cramer, D. (2006). How a supportive partner may increase relationship satisfaction. British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 34, 117–131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, B.J. (1998). The Partner-Specific Investment Inventory: An evolutionary approach to individual differences in investment. Journal of Personality, 66, 383–442.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feeney, J.A. (2016). Adult romantic attachment: developments in the study of couple relationships. In Cassidy, J. & Shaver, P.R. (Eds.), Handbook of attachment (3rd ed., pp. 435–463). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Feeney, J.A., Noller, P., & Roberts, N. (1998). Emotion, attachment, and satisfaction in close relationships. In Andersen, P.A. & Guerrero, L.K. (Eds.), Handbook of communication and emotion: Research, theory, applications, and contexts (p. 473–505). Academic Press.Google Scholar
Féres-Carneiro, T. (1998). Casamento contemporâneo: o difícil convívio da individualidade com a conjugalidade [Contemporary marriage: the difficult association between individuality and conjugality]. Psicologia: Reflexão e Crítica, 11, 379–394.Google Scholar
Florian, V., Mikulincer, M., & Bucholtz, I. (1995). Effects of adult attachment style on the perception and search for social support. The Journal of Psychology, 129, 665–676.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frei, J.R., & Shaver, P.R. (2002). Respect in close relationships: Prototype definition, self-report assessment, and initial correlates. Personal Relationships, 9, 121–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gadassi, R., Bar-Nahum, L.E., Newhouse, S., Anderson, R., Heiman, J.R., Rafaeli, E., & Janssen, E. (2016). Perceived partner responsiveness mediates the association between sexual and marital satisfaction: A daily diary study in newlywed couples. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 45, 109–120.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gana, K., & Broc, G. (2019). Structural equation modeling with Lavaan. London, UK: ISTE Ltd.Google Scholar
Glenn, N.D. (1990). Quantitative research on marital quality in the 1980s: A critical review. Journal of Marriage and Family, 52, 818–831.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hazan, C., & Shaver, P. (1987). Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 511–524.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hendrick, S.S., Hendrick, C., & Adler, N.L. (1988). Romantic relationships: Love, satisfaction, and staying together. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 980–988.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holmbeck, G.N. (1997). Toward terminological, conceptual, and statistical clarity in the study of mediators and moderators: Examples from the child-clinical and pediatric psychology literatures. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 65, 599–610.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hudson, N.W., & Fraley, R.C. (2016). Adult attachment and perceptions of closeness. Personal Relationships, 24, 17–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karney, B.R., & Bradbury, T.N. (1995). The longitudinal course of marital quality and stability: A review of theory, methods, and research. Psychological Bulletin, 118, 3–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kimmes, J.G., Durtschi, J.A., Clifford, C.E., Knapp, D.J., & Fincham, F.D. (2015). The role of pessimistic attributions in the association between anxious attachment and relationship satisfaction. Family Relations, 64, 547–562.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawrence, E., Rothman, A.D., Cobb, R.J., Rothman, M.T., & Bradbury, T.N. (2008). Marital satisfaction across the transition to parenthood. Journal of Family Psychology, 22, 41–50.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Londero-Santos, A. (2020). Satisfação com o relacionamento amoroso: variáveis preditoras e impacto sobre o bem-estar subjetivo [Relationship satisfaction: Predictor variables and impact on subjective well-being, Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro.Google Scholar
Londero-Santos, A., Natividade, J.C., & Feres-Carneiro, T. (2020). Romantic relationship and partner schemas: Concepts associated with a positive valence. Trends in Psychology. doi: 10.1007/s43076-020-00037-zCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Londero-Santos, A., Natividade, J.C. & Féres-Carneiro, T. (in press). Uma medida de satisfação com o relacionamento amoroso [A measure of satisfaction in romantic relationship]. Avaliação Psicológica.Google Scholar
Mak, M.C.K., Bond, M.H., Simpson, J.A., & Rholes, W.S. (2010). Adult attachment, perceived support, and depressive symptoms in Chinese and American cultures. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 29, 144–165.Google Scholar
Mikulincer, M., & Shaver, P.R. (2016). Attachment in adulthood: Structure, dynamics, and change (2nd ed.). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Natividade, J.C., & Shiramizu, V.K.M. (2015). Uma medida de apego: versão brasileira da Experiences in Close Relationship Scale - Reduzida (ECR-R-Brasil) [An attachment measure: Brazilian version of Experiences in Close Relationship Scale — Short Form]. Psicologia USP, 26, 484–494.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Natividade, J.C., Barros, M.C., & Hutz, C.S. (2012). Influência da flexão de gênero dos adjetivos em instrumentos psicológicos em Português [The influence of adjectives gender flexion in psychological instruments in Portuguese]. Avaliação Psicológica, 11, 259–264.Google Scholar
Overall, N.C., Fletcher, G.J.O., Simpson, J.A., & Fillo, J. (2015). Attachment insecurity, biased perceptions of romantic partners’ negative emotions, and hostile relationship behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 108, 730–749.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
R Core Team. (2019). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria.Google Scholar
Reis, H.T., & Gable, S.L. (2015). Responsiveness. Current Opinion in Psychology, 1, 67–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reis, H.T., Crasta, D., Rogge, R.D., Maniaci, M.R., & Carmichael, C.L. (2018). Perceived Partner Responsiveness Scale (PPRS). In Worthington, D.L. & Bodie, G.D. (Eds.), The sourcebook of listening research (pp. 516–521). New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Roach, A.J., Frazier, L.P., & Bowden, S.R. (1981). The marital satisfaction scale: Development of a measure for intervention research. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 43, 537.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosseel, Y. (2012). Lavaan: An R package for structural equation modeling. Journal of Statistical Software, 48, 1–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rusbult, C.E. (1980). Commitment and satisfaction in romantic associations: A test of the investment model. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 16, 172–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rusbult, C.E., Agnew, C.R., & Arriaga, X.B. (2011). The investment model of commitment processes. Department of Psychological Sciences Faculty Publications, 26, 1–33.Google Scholar
Rusbult, C.E., Martz, O.J.M., & Agnew, C.R. (1998). The Investment Model Scale: Measuring commitment level, satisfaction level, quality of alternatives, and investment size. Personal Relationships, 5, 357–391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stackert, R.A., & Bursik, K. (2003). Why am I unsatisfied? Adult attachment style, gendered irrational relationship beliefs, and young adult romantic relationship satisfaction. Personality and Individual Differences, 34, 1419–1429.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stafford, L., & Canary, D.J. (1991). Maintenance strategies and romantic relationship type, gender and relational characteristics. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 8, 217–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tabachnick, B.G., & Fidell, L.S. (2013). Using multivariate statistics (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.Google Scholar
VanderDrift, L.E., Agnew, C.R., & Wilson, J.E. (2014). Spanish version of the Investment Model Scale. Personal Relationships, 21, 110–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wei, M., Russell, D.W., Mallinckrodt, B., & Vogel, D.L. (2007). The Experiences in Close Relationship Scale (ECR) — Short Form: Reliability, validity, and factor structure. Journal of Personality Assessment, 88, 187–204.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed