Kelsey Madden

Our study expands on previous literature that suggests that higher levels of variability are associated with negative relationship outcomes such as relationship dissolution or depressive symptoms in individual partners. We hypothesized that a baseline level of relationship satisfaction would be negatively correlated with the momentary variability of relationship satisfaction using experience sampling methods. We collected data from 138 monogamous couples recruited from the Twin Cities area. They completed baseline survey to assess Big Five personality traits and relationship satisfaction. After the baseline assessment, they completed momentary surveys of their relationship satisfaction 5 times a day for 7 days using the ExpiWell application. We found a significant positive correlation between baseline ratings of relationship satisfaction and the variability of relationship satisfaction. We speculate that this unexpected association may be due to higher satisfaction couples being more cognizant of the fluctuations in their relationship satisfaction on a daily basis. For example, a couple with higher satisfaction may put more nuanced meaning into the events that cause a rating of 15 versus 20, whereas a lower satisfaction couple may experience the same difference but fail to report it in their ratings.