Labor of Love: The Link Between Emotion Work (Dis)similarity, Relationship, and Sexual Well-Being in Couples

Romantic relationships are a significant part of many people's lives, playing a pivotal role in shaping individuals' emotional and physical well-being. Emotion work, characterized as the behaviors relevant to the enhancement of significant others' emotional well-being and the provision of emotional support, can shape the quality of romantic relationships; however, prior research has found mixed findings as to what is the "right" amount of emotion work for relational outcomes. The present study aimed to address this gap using dyadic response surface analysis (DRSA) in a sample of 149 Portuguese couples to examine the degree to which romantic couples performed similar versus dissimilar emotion work and whether specific patterns of couples' similarity may uniquely contribute to their relationship and sexual well-being. We found no evidence of congruence effects; however, the response surface findings suggested that when both partners reported higher levels of emotion work, couples reported greater relationship satisfaction and sexual well-being (i.e. higher sexual desire and lower sexual distress), but also greater relationship conflict. These results underscore the importance of both partners' active engagement in emotion work toward each other and suggest that effectively managing differences may be more beneficial than striving for a perfect match.