The association of spontaneous self-affirmation with relationship functioning

In this study, we aimed to investigate whether spontaneous self-affirmation is associated with better functioning in romantic relationships. For this aim, we conducted a pre-registered study with 335 participants (168 women, 164 men, one trans woman, one non-binary, and one genderqueer woman) cohabiting with their partner for at least one year. Participants responded to scales measuring spontaneous self-affirmation, relationship satisfaction, commitment, intimacy, conflict frequency, conflict resolution styles, and attachment anxiety and avoidance. Results indicated that spontaneous self-affirmation is significantly related to relationship satisfaction, commitment, intimacy, and constructive conflict resolution style of positive problem solving but not conflict frequency and destructive conflict resolution styles (i.e., conflict engagement, withdrawal, and compliance) after controlling for age, education, financial status, and the number of children. Results also showed that spontaneous self-affirmation is associated with relationship satisfaction (but no other indicators of relationship functioning) after controlling for the attachment dimensions of anxiety and avoidance. These results provide the first evidence indicating that spontaneous self-affirmation could be a potential resource for a satisfying relationship but its shared variance with attachment is mostly responsible for its association with relationship functioning indicators.