Intimacy and Need Fulfillment in Couple Relationships

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Two studies were conducted to explore the following questions: (i) does intimacy, within the context of a couple relationship, contribute to individual need fulfillment?; (ii) does self-disclosure have beneficial effects on need fulfillment without being accompanied by intimacy's others dimensions: positive affective tone and partner listening and understanding?; and (iii) does intimacy's impact on need fulfillment mediate its relationship with physical and psychological well-being? For the first study, 154 commuter university students completed questionnaire measures of well-being and the Need Fulfillment Inventory (NFI), a new paper-and-pencil test that assesses the agentic and communal dimensions of need fulfillment. Results from study 1 showed positive correlations between both agentic and communal need fulfillment and well-being. For the second study, 133 cohabiting couples were asked to complete the NFI, two measures of relational intimacy, five measures of well-being, and to keep a daily record of their interactions for a week. Factor analyses of the daily record data revealed three dimensions of verbally intimate interaction: positive affective tone, daily self-disclosure, and listening and understanding. Results supported the notion that relational intimacy, assessed globally and as a characteristic of the couples' daily interactions, is positively associated with individual need fulfillment. Self-disclosure's impact on need fulfillment was found to vary as a function of the other dimensions of intimacy present in the interactions. The pattern of moderation between self-disclosure and other dimensions of intimacy was not exactly as predicted, however; sometimes, self-disclosure may soften the detrimental effects of negative interactions on need fulfillment. Finally, the mediational hypothesis was mostly supported, which indicates that intimacy's relationship to psychological well-being is most likely accounted for by its effects on individual need fulfillment. Need fulfillment did not fully mediate the relationship between intimacy and depressive symptoms.

This publication has 25 references indexed in Scilit: