Power Distribution and Relationship Quality in Long-Term Heterosexual Couples

Abstract

Power imbalance in romantic couples is associated with lower relationship quality. Reasons underlying this phenomenon remain, however, unclear. In 192 Czech and Slovak long-term heterosexual couples, we measured relationship quality (Dyadic Adjustment Scale) and assessed its link with perceived relationship power, control, decision making, and personality dominance. Decreased relationship quality was found in power-imbalanced couples, and power distribution affected perceived relationship quality especially in men. In women, lower perceived relationship quality was associated with their partners’ control and personality dominance. Results are discussed in the context of interdependence and approach/inhibition theories of power, and some culturally specific explanations are provided.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Anna Pilátová for her diligent proofreading and Lucie Krejčová for editing the paper.

Notes

1 In Czech, the question was: “Kdo je ve vašem současném vztahu dominantní?” We have deliberately used the term “dominantní”, which in Czech refers broadly to general influence superiority, instead of the Czech equivalent of powerful, i.e. “mocný, mít moc”, which is not used in everyday language in that sense.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Czech Science Foundation [grant number 16-16971S]. The study was also a result of the research funded by the project LO1611 with a financial support from the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports (MEYS) under the NPU I program; Charles University Research Centre program No. 204056; the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports – Institutional Support for Longterm Development of Research Organizations – Charles University, Faculty of Humanities [Charles Univ, Fac Human 2019]; and by the Specific Academic Research project [grant number 260 469].