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Abstract
We theorized that relational uncertainty fosters a pessimism bias that leads spouses to process messages negatively. We conducted a study in which 125 couples engaged in videotaped conversations. Although participants reported modest levels of relational uncertainty, our results were consistent with our predictions. Relational uncertainty predicted individuals’ judgments of the affiliation, dominance, and involvement of their partner's messages (H1, H2), but it was not associated with the perceptions of outside observers (RQ1). Relational uncertainty was positively associated with spouses’ appraisals of the self threat and relationship threat of conversation (H3, H4) and their feelings of negative emotion (H5). Hence, spouses experiencing mild relational uncertainty may be reactive to conversations that seem ordinary to outside observers.
Acknowledgements
This study was funded by an Arnold O. Beckman Award granted to the first author by the University of Illinois Research Board. The authors are grateful to Katherine Becker, Gail Bernstein, Allison Campbell, Carly Compobasso, Kate Curtis, Sara DiDomenico, Nicol Figueroa, Lisa Gabris, Jessica Garrity, Angela Kinsella, Catherine Knight, Amy Leon, Donna Victoria Marshall, Marina Romero, Kimberly Verest, Erica Weber, and Dan Wilbrandt for their assistance with coding and rating. They also thank Dr. Denise Haunani Solomon for her feedback on an earlier version of the manuscript.
Notes
1. We informally examined the data to gain insight into the issues couples talked about within the positive and surprising event conversations. As per the instructions for positive talk, couples tended to identify and discuss strengths of their marriage. For example, spouses talked about supporting each other, communicating effectively, enjoying quality time together, trusting each other, sharing common interests, working well together, having fun in daily activities, and respecting personality differences. For surprising event talk, couples discussed a wide range of issues. Examples include surprising pregnancies, unanticipated career changes, unexpected financial difficulties, sudden illnesses, looming decisions about where to settle down geographically, uncertainty about how to get along with extended family members, and questions about how to raise children.
2. We conducted a prior investigation to evaluate whether Knobloch and Solomon's (1999) measure of relational uncertainty was suitable for use with married couples. Participants were 46 married individuals (21 males and 25 females) who ranged in age from 21 to 70 years old (M=37.04 years, SD=13.30 years, Mdn = 35 years). Respondents were married for an average of 13.93 years (range = less than 1 year to more than 48 years, SD=13.47 years, Mdn = 8 years). Approximately half of the participants (54%) had children.Individuals completed a short questionnaire containing the 12-item measure of relational uncertainty. Participants reported low mean levels of self uncertainty (M=1.46, SD=0.50, α=.80), partner uncertainty (M=1.63, SD=0.70, α=.89), and relationship uncertainty (M=1.63, SD=0.67, α=.83), but some variation existed across the sample, and the scales displayed adequate reliability levels. Based on these results, we deemed the 12-item measure of relational uncertainty to be appropriate for a sample of married couples.
3. The direction and magnitude of these correlations are consistent with previous investigations (Knobloch, 2007). We conducted subsidiary CFA analyses to evaluate whether the items could be collapsed into one measure, but the 12 items failed to form a unidimensional factor. This finding is compatible with theoretical work characterizing the sources of relational uncertainty as conceptually distinct (Berger & Bradac, 1982; Knobloch & Solomon, 2002a), and it is consistent with previous measurement results (Knobloch, 2007). Thus, we retained self, partner, and relationship uncertainty as separate variables.
