Daily Diary Study of Self-Report Relationship Behaviors as Predictors of Relationship Satisfaction

The goal of this study was to examine associations between self-reported positive and negative relationship behaviors and relationship satisfaction using a 10-day daily dairy in a diverse sample of college students in committed relationships. The association between self-report relationship behaviors and relationship satisfaction was examined while controlling for time spent with their partner and relevant demographic variables. Further, the relative predictive power of self-report and partner perceived positive relationship behaviors of relationship satisfaction were investigated and compared. Daily relationship satisfaction, positive and negative relationship behavior checklists, and time spent with their partner were collected for 10 consecutive days. Results indicate that mean daily self-report positive and negative relationship behaviors were significantly predictive of relationship satisfaction, explaining at least 22.6% of variance in all analyses, after accounting for contextual variables. These results include both relationship satisfaction assessed through a global measure and mean daily report. Two models were examined, one in which mean daily positive and negative relationship behaviors were entered as separate predictors, and the other relationship behaviors were entered as a single behavior ratio, comprised of mean daily negative to positive relationship behaviors. Both self-report and perceived partner positive relationship behaviors were found to be significantly associated with daily relationship behavior. Commonality analysis supported that they uniquely explain .03% and 2.87% of variance respectively, while their shared common association explained 21.33% of the variance in relationship satisfaction. These results support self-report of positive and negative relationship behaviors as predictive of relationship satisfaction. Next steps include replication in additional populations and investigation into whether individualized relationship feedback is associated with changes in self-report relationship behaviors and satisfaction.