The Influence of Emotion Sharing and Perceived Partner Responsiveness on Intimacy Relationship Satisfaction

Liu YANG Miner HUANG

Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2022, Vol. 45 ›› Issue (1) : 126-132.

PDF(1011 KB)
PDF(1011 KB)
Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2022, Vol. 45 ›› Issue (1) : 126-132.

The Influence of Emotion Sharing and Perceived Partner Responsiveness on Intimacy Relationship Satisfaction

  • Liu YANG1,Miner HUANG2
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Abstract

Purposes: as a social animal species, human have abundant emotions. When people come across emotional events, they will have a desire to share these events and their emotions with others. Emotion Sharing can bring many positive effects, such as emotion recovery, pain relief, positive emotion enhancement and social fusion. Compared with other relationship types, more emotions are shared in romantic relationship, and which influences relationship satisfaction. Emotion can be divided into two types: positive emotion and negative emotion. Depending on if the emotion arises in social context, emotion divided into personal emotion and relational emotion. In the interpersonal process model of intimacy, perceived partner responsiveness is also an important variable, the mediation variable in this study. It refers to perceived the understanding, care and appreciation of the listener. The more responsiveness of partner perceived, the more satisfied with their romantic relationship. It can create and maintain trust and intimacy in a relationship, increasing the partner's confidence in accepting their feelings. To meet the internal needs of interpersonal belonging, intimacy and secure attachment. According to interdependency theory, two partners in a romantic relationship are not independent individuals, they have a strong interdependence. This study treat couples as an integral unit in data analysis. This method is good for exploring the influence of Emotion Sharing on romantic relationship. The influence of emotion valence on relationship between emotion sharing and relationship satisfaction remains largely unexplored. This study is aimed at exploring the influence of positive and negative emotion sharing on relation satisfaction in romantic relationships. The role of perceived partner responsiveness is also investigated. Methods: 155 romantic dyads participated in our study. They completed SSE scale, perceived partner responsiveness scale and intimacy satisfaction scale. We adopted Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APMI) to verify actor effect, partner effect and mediation of perceived partner responsiveness. Results: With positive emotion, the mediated actor effect is significant. Male positive emotion sharing significantly influences their relationship satisfaction, which is fully mediated by perceived partner responsiveness. Female positive emotion sharing significantly influences their relationship satisfaction, which is partly mediated by perceived partner responsiveness. Partner effect is partly significant. Male positive emotion sharing directly and positively influences their partner’s relationship satisfaction. However, female positive emotion sharing doesn’t influence their partner’s relationship satisfaction. With negative emotion, the mediated actor effect is significant. Male negative emotion sharing significantly influences their relationship satisfaction,?which is partly mediated?by?perceived partner responsiveness. Female negative emotion sharing significantly influences their relationship satisfaction, which is fully mediated by perceived partner responsiveness. Partner effects are not significant. Results showed that in romantic relationships, romantic partners are interdependent, Emotion Sharing influences relationship satisfaction through perceived partner responsiveness. However, the influence of different emotions on relationship satisfaction between male and female. When couples share positive emotions, women are more likely to be affected. In the process of emotion communication, both need to trust, understand and tolerate the opposite other. Only by doing this, romantic partners can be satisfied with their intimacy, and their relationship can healthily develop for a long time.

Key words

Emotion Sharing / Perceived partner Responsiveness / Intimacy relationship satisfaction / Actor-partner interdependence model

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Liu YANG Miner HUANG. The Influence of Emotion Sharing and Perceived Partner Responsiveness on Intimacy Relationship Satisfaction[J]. Journal of Psychological Science. 2022, 45(1): 126-132
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