After I graduate, I am continuing to explore romantic relationships by examining change and relationship outcomes in the long-term (feel free to watch my presentation to see what I mean). A little further out, I hope to gain more experience with clinical research and practice before applying to Clinical Psychology PhD programs in the fall, with the ultimate goal of working with families and couples as a psychologist. Something I’m especially excited about this summer is that I’m hoping to prepare a paper for publication for the first time, which will invaluable to my personal research experience!
The Impact of Communication and Emotion Regulation in Shaping Emotion and Motivation to Make Partner-Requested Changes
Abstract:
This study examined how the use of partner regulation and emotion regulation strategies shapes change outcomes in romantic relationships. Participants (N = 222) discussed aspects of their partner that they wanted to change. Coders rated requesters’ use of positive-direct and negative-direct communication strategies in these discussions. Changers reported the extent to which they had regulated their emotions with suppression and reappraisal. Negative-direct communication predicted lower positive emotion and relationship quality in the lab, and increases in initial motivation but decreases in change success two weeks later. Positive-direct communication predicted lower negative emotions and higher approach motivation and relationship quality. Positive-direct communication predicted lower change effort and success as reported by requesters, but not by changers. Target suppression predicted greater negative emotion and lower perceived relationship quality. Suppression was associated with greater change success, but not with change effort, two weeks later. Reappraisal positively predicted changers’ motivation to change, but did not predict effort or success two weeks later. Interactions between communication and emotion regulation on change were also explored. This study revealed effects of communication and emotion regulation on change processes within romantic relationships and help to identify contexts in which different communication and emotion regulation strategies are most effective
Supervisor: Dr. Emily Impett
Email: graceadele.wang@utoronto.ca