"Should I expect the best or brace for the worst: the effects of newlyweds' expectations on their future relationship satisfaction

108 Pages·2001·3.8 MB·English

by  McNulty, James K

THE"ESFHFOEUCLTDSIOEFXNPEECWTLYTHWEEDBSE'STEXOPREBCRTAATCIEOFNOSROTNHTEHWEOIRRSFTU?T'URE
RELATIONSHIPSATISFACTION
By
JAMESK.MCNULTY
ADISSERTATIONPRESENTEDTOTHEGRADUATESCHOOLOFTHE
UNIVERSITYOFFLORIDAINPARTIALFULFILLMENTOFTHE
REQUIREMENTSFORTHE
DEGREEOFDOCTOROFPHILOSOPHY
UNIVERSITYOFFLORIDA
2001
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Firstoff,Iwouldliketothankthemembersofmycommittee,BenjaminKarney
(chair).JamsShepperd,BarrySchlenker,MarkFondacaro,andJamesAlgina,forthe
timeandinsightstheyhaveprovidedtothisproject.Iwouldalsoliketothankmy
parents,JamesandKathyMcNulty.Withouttheircontinuedsupportandencouragement,
IwouldnotbewhereIamtoday.Finally,IwouldliketothankmyflitvirewifeMelissa
fortheoverwhelmingloveandsupportshehasprovidedmethroughoutmygraduate
career.Ilookforwardtothemanyyearsofhappinesswehaveaheadofus.
ii
TABLEOFCONTENTS
page
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS "
ABSTRACT v
INTRODUCTION 1
REVIEWOFLITERATURE 4
ExpectancyConfirmation 4
PositiveExpectationsandDisappointment 8
ReconciliationandtheDistinctionbetween
GlobalandSpecificExpectations 11
OverviewoftheCurrentStudy 16
Hypotheses 17
METHOD 23
Participants 23
Procedure 24
Materials 25
DataAnalysis 30
RESULTS 32
DescriptiveStatisticsandCorrelations 32
WereSpecificandGlobalExpectationsAssociatedwith
AttributionsandNegativeBehavior? 35
WereSpecificandGlobalExpectationsAssociatedwith
MaritalOutcomesOverTime? 37
DidPositiveExpectationsLeadtoPositiveChangesinMarital
SatisfactionWhenTheyWereLikelytoGetConfirmed? 47
DISCUSSION 69
StudyRationaleandSummaryofResults 69
WhenArePositiveExpectationsLikelytoGetConfirmed? 74
AdditionalDirectionsforFutureResearch 76
StrengthsandLimitations 79
Conclusion 81
iii
APPENDIXA SEMANTICDIFFERENTIALMEASUREOF
MARITALSATISFACTION 82
APPENDIXB QUALITYMARRIAGEINDEX 83
APPENDIXC INVENTORYOFSPECIFICMARITALPROBLEMS 84
APPENDIXD EXPECTATIONSFORFURTURERELATIONSfflP
SATISFACTION 85
APPENDIXE EXPECTEDTRAJECTORYOFMARITAL
SATISFACTION 86
APPENDIXF EXPECTATIONSFORSTABILITY 87
APPENDIXG EXPECTATIONSFORSTEADINESS 88
APPENDIXH EXPECTATIONSFORPARTNER 89
APPENDIXI EXPECTATIONSFORSPECIFICRELATIONSHIP
PROBLEMS 90
APPENDIXJ RELATIONSHIPATTRIBUTIONSMEASURE 91
REFERENCES 93
BIOGRAPHICALSKETCH 101
iv
AbstractofDissertationPresentedtotheGraduateSchooloftheUniversityofFloridain
PartialFulfillmentoftheRequirementsfortheDegreeofDoctorofPhilosophy
THE"ESFHFOEUCLTDSIOEFXNPEEWCTLYTWHEEDBSE'STEXOPREBCRTAATCIEOFNOSROTNHTEHWEOIRRSFTU?T'URE
RELATIONSHIPSATISFACTION
By
JAMESK.MCNULTY
August,2001
Chairperson:BenjaminR.Karney
MajorDepartment:Psychology
Whataretheimplicationsofpositiveexpectationsaboutarelationship?The
answertothisquestionmaydependonwhethertheexpectationsgetconfirmedor
disconfirmed.Positiveexpectationsshouldleadtopositiveoutcomestotheextentthat
theyareconfirmedthroughprocessesofexpectancyconfirmation,butmayleadto
negativeoutcomesiftheyaredisconfirmed.Onefactorthatmaybeassociatedwith
whetherexpectationsgetconfirmedordisconfirmedisthespecificityoftheoutcome.
Expectationsaboutglobaloutcomes,becausetheyaremoreopentointerpretationand
morelikelytoleadtoconfirmatorybehaviors,shouldbemorelikelytogetconfirmed,
leadingtopositivefeelingsabouttherelationshipovertime.Incontrast,expectations
aboutspecificoutcomes,becausetheyarelessopentointerpretationandlesslikelyto
leadtoconfirmatorybehaviors,shouldbemorelikelytogetdisconfirmed,leadingtoless
positivefeelmgsabouttherelationshipovertime.Thisdissertationaddressedthis
possibilitybyexaminingtheimplicationsofpositiveexpectationsaboutrelationship
V
outcomesthatvaryinspecificity.Newlymarriedcouplesreportedtheirexpectationsfor
globalandspecificrelationshipoutcomesandsubsequentlyreportedtheirsatisfaction
withtherelationshipeverysixmonthsfortwoyears.Contrarytothepredictionthat
globalandspecificexpectationswouldhavedifferenteffectsonthetrajectoryofmarital
satisfaction,resultsindicatedthat,onaverage,positiveexpectationsaboutbothglobal
andspecificoutcomesledtodeclinesinmaritalsatisfaction.However,consistentwiththe
ideathattheassociationbetweenexpectationsandchangeovertimewoulddependonthe
likelihoodthattheexpectationswouldgetconfirmed,objectiveandsubjectivemeasures
ofrelationshipqualitymoderatedtheassociationbetweenexpectationsandchangein
satisfactionovertime.Whenpositiveexpectationswereconfirmedbyatendencytomake
positiveattributionsandengageinfewnegativebehaviors,positiveexpectationsledto
stablemaritalsatisfaction.Incontrast,whenpositiveexpectationsweredisconfirmedbya
tendencytomakenegativeattributionsandengageinfrequentnegativebehaviors,
positiveexpectationsledtodeclinesinmaritalsatisfaction.Thecurrentfindingssuggest
thataclearunderstandingoftheroleofexpectationsinrelationshipswillbelimited
withouttakingintoaccountthebroaderfactorslikelytobeassociatedwiththe
confirmationanddisconfirmationofpositiveexpectations.
vi
INTRODUCTION
<
Thingsbecomebetterwhenyouexpectthebestinsteadoftheworst.
-NormanVincentPeale,Thepowerofpositivethinking(p.110)
Blessedisthemanthatexpectsnothing,forheshallneverbedisappointed.
-AlexanderPope
Contemporarywisdomsuggeststhattheexpectationspartnershaveabouttheir
closerelationshipsshouldplayaroleindeterminingwhethertheirrelationshipswill
succeedorfail.Consistentwiththisidea,researchershavedemonstratedthatexpectations
influenceawidevarietyofinterpersonalfactors,includingcognitions,behaviors,and
emotions(Olson,Roese,&Zanna,1998).Accordingly,whatnewlywedsexpectfrom
theirrelationshipsshouldaffecthowtheyultimatelyfeelaboutthem.
Ahhoughboththeoryandresearchsuggestthatexpectationsshouldinfluence
relationshipoutcomes,thereisnoconsensusaboutthedirectionoftheinfluence.
Consistentwiththeideathatpeoplewhothinkabouttheirrelationshipinpositiveterms
shouldobtampositiveoutcomes,researchonexpectancyconfirmationshowsthatpeople
interpreteventsandbehaveinamannerconsistentwiththeirpriorexpectations(Darley
&Fazio,1980;Miller&Tumbull,1986;Snyder,1984).Thus,comparedtothosewith
morepessimisticexpectations,peoplewhoexpectpositivethingsfromtheirrelationships
shouldbehavemoreconstructively,interpretspecificeventsmorecharitably,and
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thereforebehappierovertime.Incontrast,consistentwiththeideathatpositive
expectationsmaybedetrimentaltorelationships,researchoncounterfactualthinking
demonstratesthatpeoplewithpositiveexpectationscanbedisappointedwhentheir
outcomesdonotmeettheirexpectations(e.g.,Mellers,Schwartz,Ho,&Ritov,1997).
Accordingly,partnerswithpositiveexpectationsabouttheirrelationshipsmayreactmore
negativelytospecificrelationshipproblems,andconsequentlygrowlesshappyover
time.
Understandingthefactorsthatcontributetothefunctioningandstabilityofclose
relationshipsisimportant.Althoughallrelationshipsbeginverysatisfying,mostbecome
lesssatisfyingovertime.Moreover,maritaldistressisthenumberonereasonwhypeople
seekcoxonseling(Veroff,Kulka,&Douvan,1981).Yet,itremainsunclearexactlywhat
causesrelationshipstobecomeunhappyandwhatmaycausethemtobehappyagain.
Giventhecloseconnectionbetweenexpectationsandinterpersonaloutcomes,
expectationsfrequentlyhavebeenthetargetofinterventionstopromotehealthy
relationships(e.g.,Baucom,Epstein,Rankin,&.Burnett,1996;Eidelson&Epstein,1982;
Markman,Stanley,&.Blumberg,1994;Olson,Foumier,&Druckman,1986).
Unfortunately,however,duetothelackunderstandingabouttheroleofexpectationsin
relationships,recommendationsareofteninconsistentwithoneanother.Forexample,one
approachtopreventingmaritaldistressarguesthat"couplesareatincreasedriskwhen
expectationsareunreasonable"(Stanley,Blumberg,&Markman,1999,p.285).In
contrast,otherworkonmaritaltherapytechniquessuggeststhat"holdingextreme
standardsdoesnotseemtodoomcouplestodissatisfaction.Instead...holdingextreme
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standardsthataskagreatdealofthemarriageispositivelyrelatedtomarital
adjustment"(Baucometal,1996,p.83).
Thegoalofthisdissertationistodeterminethelongitudinalimplicationsof
positiveexpectationsaboutarelationshiponrelationshipoutcomes.Specifically,this
researchaddressesthequestion:isitadaptivetohavepositiveexpectationsatthe
beginningofarelationship,orv^illsuchoptimismleadtodisappointment?Tothisend,
theremainderofthisintroductionisorganizedintofoursections.Thefirstsection
reviewsresearchontheprocessofexpectancyconfirmation,wherebyexpectationslead
toconsistentoutcomesandconsistentevaluations,suggestingthatpositiveexpectations
willleadtopositiveoutcomes.Thesecondsectionreviewstheliteratureon
counterfactualreasoningwherebypositiveexpectationscanleadtodisappointmentby
providingacontrasttoactualoutcomes.Thethirdsectionwillattempttoreconcilethese
contradictoryfmdingsbydistinguishingbetweenexpectationsaboutglobaloutcomesand
expectationsaboutmorespecificoutcomes.Thefinalsectionwilldescribeastudy
designedtoevaluatewhetherthedistinctionbetweenglobalandspecificexpectations
mattersbyexaminingthelongitudinalimplicationsofpositiveexpectationsabout
relationshipoutcomesthatvaryinspecificity.
LITRERATUREREVIEW
ExpectancyConfirmation
Oneoftheoldestandmostwell-establishedprinciplesinsocialpsychologyisthe
ideathatpeople'soutcomesandevaluationsareconsistentwiththeirpriorexpectations.
Inaclassicstudyofthiseffect,HaroldKelley(1950)askedstudentstoevaluateaguest
lecturerwhomtheyhadbeenledtoexpectwouldbeeither"warm"or"cold."After
participatinginagroupdiscussion,thosestudentswhoexpectedawarmlecturer
evaluatedhimmorepositivelythanstudentswhoexpectedacoldlecturer.Inotherwords,
studentsevaluatedthelecturerinamannerconsistentwiththeirpriorexpectations.
RosenthalandJacobson(1968)extendedthisfindingbydemonstratingthatexpectancy
confirmationsaffectimportantsocialsituations.Theseauthorstoldelementaryschool
teachersthatbasedonresultsfromanIQtestsomeoftheirstudentswould"bloom"
intellectuallyoverthecourseoftheacademicyear.Inactuality,"bloomers"were
randomlyselectedandthusnomorelikelytoshowincreasesinintelligencethantheother
studentsintheclass.WhentestedwiththeIQtestagainattheendoftheschoolyear,
however,thestudentslabeled"bloomers"demonstratedasignificantlygreaterincreasein
IQthanstudentsnotlabeled"bloomers."SincetheearlyworkofKelley(1950)and
RosenthalandJacobson(1968),researchershaveshownthatexpectancyconfirmations
influencenumerousotherimportantsocialphenomenaincludingstereotypedperceptions
(e.g.,Duncan,1976;Hasorf&Cantril,1954;Rosenhan,1973),discriminatorybehaviors
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