Ambivalence Over Emotional Expressiveness in Intimate Relationships: A Shift From an Individual Characteristic to Dyadic Attribute

This study investigates how ambivalence over emotional expressiveness (AEE) relates to various aspects of intimate relationships, including perception of the relationship, marital satisfaction, and dyadic closeness. Whereas most commonly AEE has been treated as an individual attribute, we suggest looking at a combined measure of the AEE of both spouses as a dyadic attribute. We examine the contribution of each spouse's level of AEE as well as joint couple AEE to explain variations in the marital relationship. Data were collected from both spouses of 226 Israeli couples. Findings indicated that the AEE of individuals was more predictive of lower relationship quality than neuroticism and that dyadic AEE explains relationship quality more than the AEE of individual partners. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.