Military couples' childhood experiences and romantic relationship satisfaction: The role of accepting influence

Although accepting influence (i.e., being open to the influence of others) is considered important for couple relationships, there is a lack of empirical research on the association between accepting influence and relationship satisfaction. Moreover, research has not examined what family experiences may precede one's ability to accept influence in later romantic relationships, although life course theory and the vulnerability stress adaptation model support the notion that stressful childhood experiences may be consequential for accepting influence adaptive processes, which, in turn, can impact relationship satisfaction. This study used dyadic, couple data and an actor partner interdependence model to investigate the associations between stressful childhood experiences, accepting influence, and relationship satisfaction in a sample of 229 military couples (with one male service member and one female civilian spouse) after accounting for elements of their military context (e.g., rank, number of deployments), relationship length, and mental health. The path model also estimated the indirect effects from both partners' stressful childhood experiences to relationship satisfaction through accepting influence. Female spouses' stressful childhood experiences were associated with their perceptions of male partners' accepting influence, which, in turn, was associated with both partners' relationship satisfaction, demonstrating partial mediation. Military couples, as well as other couples in stressful contexts, may benefit from interventions that address how prior family experiences impact current accepting influence processes. Moreover, accepting influence behaviors can be a tool for couples to utilize to mitigate the possible negative consequences of their stressful circumstances on their relationship.