Does routine communication predict marital satisfaction? Between- and within-person effects

ABSTRACT

Previous studies have almost exclusively examined the between-person associations between couple communication and marital satisfaction. However, relationship dynamics have also been theorized at the within-person level. This study examined the bidirectional associations between routine communication and marital satisfaction at the between-person (interindividual) level and within-person (intraindividual) level using three annual waves of data from 268 Chinese newlyweds (Mage = 29.59, SD = 3.25 for husbands; Mage = 28.08, SD = 2.51 for wives). Participants reported separately on their experiences of routine communication and marital satisfaction. The cross-lagged panel model (CLPM) was applied to examine between-person concurrent and lagged effects, and the random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI_CLPM) was applied to examine within-person concurrent and lagged effects. Results from the CLPM revealed unidirectional lagged between-person associations from positive routine communication to marital satisfaction (instead of reciprocal associations). Results from the RI_CLPM showed a unidirectional lagged within-person association from positive routine communication to marital satisfaction (husbands only). Additionally, significant concurrent associations emerged in both models. This study provides additional insight into the within-person examination of non-conflict communication processes and highlights the importance of disaggregating between-person and within-person effects in understanding the nature of the dynamic association between routine communication and marital satisfaction.

KEYWORDS:

• Routine communication
• marital satisfaction
• between-person effect
• within-person effect
• Chinese newlyweds

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

This research has been sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China ‘The dynamic association between newlywed couple interaction and marital relationship: the mediating role of emotion and affect’ (31971017) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China ‘The effect of couple interaction on marital relationship: behavioral and cognitive neural mechanisms’(31571157).