A Systematic Study of Ambivalence and Well-Being in Romantic Relationships
Research output: Contribution to journal › Research article › Contributed › peer-review
Contributors
Abstract
People in close relationships can, and often do, experience ambivalence (i.e., mixed feelings) toward their romantic partner. Although ambivalence is common and consequential, research on this phenomenon is fragmented. The present work examines how four different types of ambivalence (i.e., objective, subjective, implicit-explicit, and implicit ambivalence) relate to well-being. In four intensive studies (N = 1,134) and internal meta-analyses, ambivalence was related to lower personal and relational well-being, but this association was only statistically significant for explicit (i.e., objective and subjective) types of ambivalence, with subjective ambivalence showing the strongest association, particularly for relationship outcomes. This work is the first systematic study of ambivalence and well-being in relationships and highlights the importance of capturing mixed feelings in relationship research and how such focus can benefit research on attitudinal ambivalence and well-being more broadly.
Details
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 329-339 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Social Psychological and Personality Science |
Volume | 15 |
Issue number | 3 |
Early online date | 29 Apr 2023 |
Publication status | Published - Apr 2024 |
Peer-reviewed | Yes |
External IDs
Mendeley | 65e9398e-55ad-3fc4-9dbf-d112650b597c |
---|---|
WOS | 000978600300001 |
ORCID | /0000-0003-0915-0809/work/145224199 |
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Keywords
- ambivalence, attitudes, automatic processes, mixed emotions, romantic relationships, well-being, Mixed emotions, Ambivalence, Well-being, Romantic relationships, Attitudes, Automatic processes