Romantic Relationship Satisfaction, Commitment to Career Choices and Subjective Well-Being

Attachment theory indicates that romantic partners’ availability and responsiveness provide individuals with a sense of security and the repeated experience of which could have enduring effects on individuals’ subjective well-being and relationship outcomes. We proposed that retrieving episodic memory and episodic simulation related to secure-base support could also help individuals obtain information about partners’ responsiveness, which in turn would promote long-term subjective well-being and relationship satisfaction. To provide the evidence of this notion, the current study investigated the relationship between partner’s responsiveness in episodic memory/simulation of secure-base support and relationship satisfaction as well as subjective well-being. We recruited 136 young adults ( M age = 21.89, SD = 2.57) who were currently involved in a romantic relationship for at least 6 months. Participants completed measures of relationship satisfaction and subjective well-being; then, they provided specific episodic memory and simulations related to secure-base support as well as rated partners’ responsiveness in each event. Results indicated that partners’ responsiveness in both episodic memory and simulations was significantly positively related to participants’ relationship satisfaction and subjective well-being. These results provide novel implications for the function of episodic memory and episodic simulation of secure-base support in the attachment system.

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Do romantic relationships promote happiness? Relationships’ characteristics as predictors of subjective well-being

Interpersona An International Journal on Personal Relationships ◽

10.5964/ijpr.4195 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 3-19

Author(s):

Amanda Londero-Santos ◽

Jean Carlos Natividade ◽

Terezinha Féres-Carneiro

Keyword(s):

Life Satisfaction ◽

Negative Affect ◽

Romantic Relationships ◽

Relationship Satisfaction ◽

Romantic Relationship ◽

Predictive Power ◽

Well Being ◽

Personality Factors ◽

Subjective Well Being ◽

Personality Variables

This study aimed to investigate the predictive power of aspects of the romantic relationship on subjective well-being, beyond what is explained by sociodemographic and personality variables. Participants were 490 heterosexual adults (68.8% women), all involved in a monogamous romantic relationship. Romantic relationship variables were substantial predictors of the three components of subjective well-being, explaining 21% of the variance in life satisfaction, 19% of the variance in positive affect, and 15% of the variance in negative affect, in addition to sociodemographic variables and personality factors. Still, relationship satisfaction was one of the main predictors of subjective well-being. The results highlight the importance of romantic relationships over subjective well-being, suggesting that cultivating satisfying romantic relationships contributes to a happier life.

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