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Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood
Published on: February 11, 2017
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Trait emotion regulation similarity and well-being
Lameese Eldesouky1, James J Gross2, Tammy English3
1Department of Psychology, The American University in Cairo, New Cairo, Egypt. lameese.eldesouky@aucegypt.edu.
Scientific Reports
|August 6, 2025
Summary
Emotional regulation similarity between romantic partners does not impact well-being. This study found no association between shared emotion regulation habits and psychological or relational well-being in couples.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Relationship Science
Background:
- Emotion regulation (ER) significantly influences individual and relational well-being.
- Previous research has primarily focused on individual ER strategies and their outcomes.
- The role of shared or similar ER habits within romantic relationships remains underexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between similarity in habitual emotion regulation (ER) strategies and psychological and relational well-being in romantic couples.
- To extend prior research by examining whether shared ER patterns contribute to relationship satisfaction and individual mental health.
Main Methods:
- Survey study involving 254 American romantic couples (N=508).
- Participants completed self-report measures assessing habitual use of various emotion regulation strategies for both positive and negative emotions.
- Psychological and relational well-being were assessed using established indices. Similarity was measured using difference scores, profile correlations, and actor x partner interaction.
Main Results:
- Contrary to hypotheses, similarity in trait-level emotion regulation was not significantly associated with any measure of psychological or relational well-being.
- This finding held true across all examined ER strategies and regardless of the similarity metric employed.
- Individual emotion regulation and a partner's emotion regulation were linked to well-being, but the congruence of these strategies was not.
Conclusions:
- The degree of similarity in emotion regulation habits between romantic partners does not appear to be a significant factor in their overall well-being.
- While individual and partner's emotion regulation strategies matter, the congruence of these strategies may be less critical for relationship and psychological health.
- Future research could explore other dyadic factors or specific ER strategy combinations that might influence relationship well-being.
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