Satisfaction or Connectivity?: Implications From the Strong Relationality Model of Flourishing Couple Relationships

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Journal of Marital and Family Therapy

Volume

48

Issue

3

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc.

Publication Date

10-18-2021

First Page

883

Last Page

907

Abstract

A central feature of couple relationships research is the use of self-report measures of relationship satisfaction. Despite the widespread use of such measures in couples' research, scholars have raised critical questions about satisfaction-focused assessment, including concerns about taking an ontologically individualistic focus. Moving beyond ontological individualism, drawing from the Strong Relationality Model of Relationship Flourishing and data from 615 couples in the United States and Canada (N = 1230 individuals), we explored similarities and differences between assessments of relationship satisfaction and a measure based on strong relationality (relational-connectivity). We evaluated associations with other scales assessing relationship factors including indicators of well-being, relationship processes, virtues, and responsible actions. Using confirmatory latent profile analysis, we classified individuals as Flourishing (55.4%), Languishing (31.8%), Connected, Less-Satisfied (7.8%), or Satisfied, Less-Connected (5.0%). Our results suggest that attending to richer perspectives of relationship quality may spur additional understanding of many factors associated with meaningful couple relationships.

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