A Systematic Study of Ambivalence and Well-Being in Romantic Relationships

Giulia Zoppolat; Francesca Righetti; Ruddy Faure; Iris K. Schneider

doi:10.1177/19485506231165585

A Systematic Study of Ambivalence and Well-Being in Romantic Relationships

Giulia Zoppolat^*, Francesca Righetti, Ruddy Faure, Iris K. Schneider

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

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.

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
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506231165585
Publication status	Published - Apr 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2023.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported by grants from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) awarded to Francesca Righetti (Veni grant 451-12-024 and Vidi grant 195.010) and by a joint Open Research Area (ORA) grant awareded to Francesca Righetti and W. Hofmann (NWO Grant 464-15-093 and German Research Foundation Grant HO 4175/6-1, respectively).

Funders	Funder number
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft	HO 4175/6-1
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek	464-15-093, 195.010, 451-12-024

Keywords

ambivalence
attitudes
automatic processes
mixed emotions
romantic relationships
well-being

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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.",

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AU - Schneider, Iris K.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2023.

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N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

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A Systematic Study of Ambivalence and Well-Being in Romantic Relationships

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Keywords

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