Stress spillover in early marriage : the role of self-regulatory depletion

Stressful experiences external to a marriage (e.g., work stress, finances) are often associated with poor relationship functioning and lowered marital satisfaction, a phenomenon called stress spillover. To date, however, little attention has been devoted to understanding the specific mechanisms thro...

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Main Author: Buck, April Allen
Format: Others
Language:English
Published: 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/2152/ETD-UT-2012-05-4966
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spelling ndltd-UTEXAS-oai-repositories.lib.utexas.edu-2152-ETD-UT-2012-05-49662015-09-20T17:08:06ZStress spillover in early marriage : the role of self-regulatory depletionBuck, April AllenStressMarital qualityRelationship maintenanceDepletionStressful experiences external to a marriage (e.g., work stress, finances) are often associated with poor relationship functioning and lowered marital satisfaction, a phenomenon called stress spillover. To date, however, little attention has been devoted to understanding the specific mechanisms through which stress may lead to maladaptive relationship patterns. Drawing from theories of self-regulatory depletion, it was predicted that coping with external stress is an effortful process that consumes spouses' regulatory resources, leaving spouses with less energy to effectively respond to their relationship issues. The current study relied on a sample of 171 newly-married couples to examine whether self-regulatory depletion may mediate the link between external stress and relationship well-being. Couples were asked to complete a 14-day daily diary, which assessed their daily stress, their state of self-regulatory depletion, their marital behaviors, and their daily marital appraisals. Within-person analyses revealed that, on average, couples experienced stress spillover, such that on days when their stress was higher than usual they reported enacting more negative behaviors towards their partner and endorsed less positive appraisals of the relationship. Further evidence revealed that self-regulatory depletion accounted for a majority of these spillover effects. These findings suggest that even happy and committed couples may find it difficult to engage in adaptive relationship processes under conditions of stress.text2012-07-24T17:15:04Z2012-07-24T17:15:04Z2012-052012-07-24May 20122012-07-24T17:15:13Zthesisapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/2152/ETD-UT-2012-05-49662152/ETD-UT-2012-05-4966eng
collection NDLTD
language English
format Others
sources NDLTD
topic Stress
Marital quality
Relationship maintenance
Depletion
spellingShingle Stress
Marital quality
Relationship maintenance
Depletion
Buck, April Allen
Stress spillover in early marriage : the role of self-regulatory depletion
description Stressful experiences external to a marriage (e.g., work stress, finances) are often associated with poor relationship functioning and lowered marital satisfaction, a phenomenon called stress spillover. To date, however, little attention has been devoted to understanding the specific mechanisms through which stress may lead to maladaptive relationship patterns. Drawing from theories of self-regulatory depletion, it was predicted that coping with external stress is an effortful process that consumes spouses' regulatory resources, leaving spouses with less energy to effectively respond to their relationship issues. The current study relied on a sample of 171 newly-married couples to examine whether self-regulatory depletion may mediate the link between external stress and relationship well-being. Couples were asked to complete a 14-day daily diary, which assessed their daily stress, their state of self-regulatory depletion, their marital behaviors, and their daily marital appraisals. Within-person analyses revealed that, on average, couples experienced stress spillover, such that on days when their stress was higher than usual they reported enacting more negative behaviors towards their partner and endorsed less positive appraisals of the relationship. Further evidence revealed that self-regulatory depletion accounted for a majority of these spillover effects. These findings suggest that even happy and committed couples may find it difficult to engage in adaptive relationship processes under conditions of stress. === text
author Buck, April Allen
author_facet Buck, April Allen
author_sort Buck, April Allen
title Stress spillover in early marriage : the role of self-regulatory depletion
title_short Stress spillover in early marriage : the role of self-regulatory depletion
title_full Stress spillover in early marriage : the role of self-regulatory depletion
title_fullStr Stress spillover in early marriage : the role of self-regulatory depletion
title_full_unstemmed Stress spillover in early marriage : the role of self-regulatory depletion
title_sort stress spillover in early marriage : the role of self-regulatory depletion
publishDate 2012
url http://hdl.handle.net/2152/ETD-UT-2012-05-4966
work_keys_str_mv AT buckaprilallen stressspilloverinearlymarriagetheroleofselfregulatorydepletion
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