Emotion Regulation and Relationship Satisfaction in Couple Therapy: What Happens Across Sessions?

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Clinical Psychology
• Relationship Science

Background:

• Previous research links partners' emotion regulation (ER) to well-being.
• Knowledge gaps exist regarding ER within clinical couples during therapy.

Purpose of the Study:

• Examine intra- and interpersonal effects of ER difficulties on relationship satisfaction trajectory in couple therapy.
• Investigate gender differences in ER and relationship satisfaction.
• Analyze changes in relationship satisfaction and ER across therapy sessions.

Main Methods:

• Longitudinal study of 174 mixed-sex couples in initial couple therapy sessions.
• Assessed ER difficulties (awareness, acceptance, strategies, impulsivity).
• Tracked relationship satisfaction changes over eight therapy sessions.

Main Results:

• Relationship satisfaction generally improved across therapy sessions.
• Partners' rates of change in satisfaction were similar regardless of gender.
• ER difficulties showed both intra- and interpersonal effects on satisfaction.
• Counterintuitively, some ER difficulties (e.g., lack of awareness, nonacceptance) were positively associated with relationship satisfaction.

Conclusions:

• ER difficulties significantly influence relationship satisfaction dynamics in couple therapy.
• Clinicians may benefit from focusing on ER processes, potentially using emotion-focused approaches.
• Further research with diverse samples is recommended to validate findings.