Walsh Courtney M, Neff Lisa A, Gleason Marci E J
Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Texas at Austin.
J Fam Psychol. 2017 Jun;31(4):513-519. doi: 10.1037/fam0000277. Epub 2017 Jan 12.
Throughout a marriage couples will share countless ordinary moments together that may seem trivial, but which actually have potential to affirm and strengthen relational bonds. According to theories of emotional capital, the accumulation of shared positive moments in a relationship should serve as an essential resource for protecting the relationship against threats. To date, however, few empirical studies have explored the role emotional capital may play in shaping responses to negative relationship experiences. In the current study, newly married couples completed 3 14-day daily diary tasks assessing emotional capital, negative partner behaviors, and marital satisfaction over a 3-year period, for a total of 42 potential days of diary data. Contrary to predictions, emotional capital on a given day was not associated with reactivity to relationship threats on the following day. However, conceptually replicating prior work, individuals who accumulated more emotional capital on average across the diary tasks did exhibit lower reactivity to daily relationship threats; that is, on days of greater relationship threat (i.e., negative partner behaviors), those spouses who generally accrued more shared positive moments with their partner maintained greater feelings of marital satisfaction compared with spouses who accrued fewer positive moments. These findings contribute to a growing literature illustrating how positive shared activities between partners help sustain relationship quality over time. (PsycINFO Database Record
在婚姻生活中，夫妻会共同经历无数看似微不足道的平凡时刻，但这些时刻实际上具有巩固和强化关系纽带的潜力。根据情感资本理论，关系中共享积极时刻的积累应成为保护关系免受威胁的重要资源。然而，迄今为止，很少有实证研究探讨情感资本在塑造对负面关系经历的反应中可能发挥的作用。在当前的研究中，新婚夫妇完成了3次为期14天的每日日记任务，在3年的时间里评估情感资本、伴侣的负面行为以及婚姻满意度，总共收集了42天的日记数据。与预测相反，某一天的情感资本与次日对关系威胁的反应性并无关联。然而，从概念上重复先前的研究，在整个日记任务中平均积累了更多情感资本的个体，对日常关系威胁的反应性确实较低；也就是说，在关系威胁较大的日子（即伴侣出现负面行为），与积累较少积极时刻的配偶相比，那些通常与伴侣积累了更多共享积极时刻的配偶保持着更高的婚姻满意度。这些发现为越来越多的文献做出了贡献，这些文献说明了伴侣之间积极的共享活动如何随着时间的推移有助于维持关系质量。（《心理学文摘数据库记录》 ）
