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Self‐Respect and Pro‐Relationship Behavior in Marital Relationships
Author(s) -
Kumashiro Madoka,
Finkel Eli J.,
Rusbult Caryl E.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/1467-6494.05030
Subject(s) - psychology , social psychology , mediation , association (psychology) , forgiveness , variance (accounting) , developmental psychology , accounting , political science , law , business , psychotherapist
This work advances an interdependence theoretic analysis of the role of self‐respect in ongoing close relationships. Self‐respect is defined as the tendency to perceive the self as a principled person who is worthy of honor and high regard and is argued to rest on moral integrity. Consistent with predictions, results from a study of marital relationships revealed that individual self‐respect is positively associated with both the individual's and the partner's pro‐relationship behavior (accommodation, forgiveness, conciliation). Mediation analyses revealed that self‐respect not only exhibits direct associations with each person's behavior, but also exhibits indirect associations with each person's behavior, via the impact of each person's actions on reciprocal pro‐relationship behavior from the partner. Mediation was more reliably observed for the association of self‐respect with partner behavior than for the association with individual behavior. Both individual pro‐relationship behavior and partner pro‐relationship behavior are positively associated with couple well‐being, which in turn is positively associated with personal well‐being (life satisfaction, physical health, psychological adjustment). These associations were evident in both within‐participant and across‐partner analyses and for both self‐report and interaction‐based measures of behavior. Self‐respect reliably accounts for unique variance beyond variance attributable to self‐esteem.