What’s Competence Got to Do with It? The Association Between Romantic Competence and Social Support Behaviors Among Emerging Adult Couples
What’s Competence Got to Do with It? The Association Between Romantic Competence and Social Support Behaviors Among Emerging Adult Couples
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/11401/77176 | |
| dc.description.sponsorship | This work is sponsored by the Stony Brook University Graduate School in compliance with the requirements for completion of degree. | en_US |
| dc.format | Monograph | |
| dc.format.medium | Electronic Resource | en_US |
| dc.language.iso | en_US | |
| dc.publisher | The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY. | |
| dc.type | Dissertation | |
| dcterms.abstract | Research has consistently demonstrated that romantic relationships during emerging adulthood are salient experiences that are important to identity development and set the stage for future intimate relationships. One area of emerging research is on romantic competence, or a set of skills an individual possesses that affect how he/she approaches and negotiates romantic relationships. Although research has begun to examine the association between romantic competence and self-reported relationship behaviors and outcomes, it has not objectively assessed behavioral indicators of competence nor has it examined how romantic competence skills are enacted during couple interactions. The main goal of this dissertation was to extend previous research by examining whether social support seeking and social support provision behaviors are associated with romantic competence. Using an actor-partner interdependence model (APIM), this dissertation used data from 89 emerging adult heterosexual couples (M age = 20.65 for males, 20.16 for females) to examine the within-person (actor effects) and between-partner (partner effects) associations between romantic competence and behaviors exhibited during social support couple interaction tasks. In addition, the role of relationship satisfaction in the association between competence and behavior was examined. Key findings indicated that for women, higher romantic competence was associated with more positive and less negative support seeking behavior, and more positive support provision behavior, even when relationship satisfaction was entered as a covariate in the model. For men, higher romantic competence was associated with less negative support seeking behavior, and was marginally associated with less negative support provision behavior, even when controlling for relationship satisfaction. Furthermore, some partner effects emerged, highlighting the importance of examining the dyadic process. The association between behavior and the individual domains of romantic competence (i.e., mutuality, learning, insight, and emotion regulation) are also discussed. These findings extend our understanding of how romantic competence affects dyadic processes, and have clinical implications for relationship education programs as well as psychotherapy that may be focused on improving relationship functioning. Finally, these findings are discussed within the context of emerging adulthood and the importance of this developmental period. | |
| dcterms.available | 2017-09-20T16:52:09Z | |
| dcterms.contributor | Davila, Joanne | en_US |
| dcterms.contributor | O'Leary, K. Daniel | en_US |
| dcterms.contributor | Moyer, Anne | en_US |
| dcterms.contributor | Crowell, Judith. | en_US |
| dcterms.creator | Bhatia, Vickie | |
| dcterms.dateAccepted | 2017-09-20T16:52:09Z | |
| dcterms.dateSubmitted | 2017-09-20T16:52:09Z | |
| dcterms.description | Department of Clinical Psychology | en_US |
| dcterms.extent | 110 pg. | en_US |
| dcterms.format | Application/PDF | en_US |
| dcterms.format | Monograph | |
| dcterms.identifier | http://hdl.handle.net/11401/77176 | |
| dcterms.issued | 2016-12-01 | |
| dcterms.language | en_US | |
| dcterms.provenance | Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-20T16:52:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Bhatia_grad.sunysb_0771E_12760.pdf: 1029153 bytes, checksum: ee431634654e138afb0ac0aeccb6ecff (MD5) Previous issue date: 1 | en |
| dcterms.publisher | The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY. | |
| dcterms.subject | Psychology -- Clinical psychology -- Social psychology | |
| dcterms.subject | couples, dating, emerging adults, romantic competence, romantic relationships, social support | |
| dcterms.title | What’s Competence Got to Do with It? The Association Between Romantic Competence and Social Support Behaviors Among Emerging Adult Couples | |
| dcterms.title | What’s Competence Got to Do with It? The Association Between Romantic Competence and Social Support Behaviors Among Emerging Adult Couples | |
| dcterms.type | Dissertation |
