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Savouring Beliefs and Positive
Adjustment in Couples:
An Application of the Actor-Partner
Interdependence Model
Dr. Christina Samios
Department of Psychology, Bond University, Australia
Oral presentation for NZAPP, Auckland, June 2015
Background
 Evidence has been accumulating to indicate
that positive emotions are important in their
own right (see Fredrickson et al., 2008).
 According to Fredrickson’s (2004)
influential theory of positive emotions,
positive emotions broaden attentional
focus and build personal resources.
 Savouring beliefs (the beliefs people hold about
their ability to savour positive experiences) has
been identified as a construct that can promote
positive emotions (Bryant, 2003).
 People are just as likely to share their positive experiences with others as they are their
negative experiences (Rime, 2007).
 Although there is increasing research that examines the interpersonal processes
involved in regulating negative emotional experience, there is at present a lack of
research that examines positive emotions within the interpersonal context that they
are experienced.
The Present Study
 The present study examines dyadic processes involved in savouring beliefs
within romantic relationships.
 Specifically, we test whether couple members’ scores on savouring beliefs
and indicators of positive adjustment are related, as well as whether one’s
partner’s savouring beliefs relates to their own positive adjustment while
controlling for the effect of their own savouring beliefs.
• By using the Actor-partner Interdependence Model (Kenny et al., 2006), the
following hypotheses were tested:
• couple members’ scores on savouring beliefs and positive indicators of
wellbeing will be positively related (1); and
– there will be both actor and partner effects of savouring beliefs on positive
wellbeing, such that one’s own savouring beliefs and one’s partners’ savouring
beliefs will be related to higher scores on positive affect, satisfaction with life
and relationship satisfaction (2).
Actor-partner Interdependence
Model (APIM)
Actor effect
Actor effect
Participants
• Seventy-eight couples in a heterosexual relationship
• Relationship status: married (n = 24, 31%), in a de facto
(n = 13, 17%), or dating relationship (n = 41, 53%)
• Average commitment to the relationship rating of 6.37
(SD = 0.83, scores ranged from 4 to 7) on a scale from
1 (not at all committed) to 7 (very committed).
• Males were aged 30.73 on average (SD = 11.36) and
females were aged 29.26 on average (SD = 10.48).
• Savouring Beliefs
Measures
– The 24-item Savoring Beliefs Inventory (Bryant, 2003) was used to assess participants’
appraisal of their capacity to savour through reminiscence, savour the moment, and savour
through anticipation. Each subscale consists of 8 items that are rated from 1 (strongly
disagree) to 7 (strongly agree).
– Item examples: “I can make myself feel good by remembering pleasant events from my
past”; “I feel fully able to appreciate good things that happen to me”; and “I can enjoy
positive events in my mind before they actually occur.”
• Positive Wellbeing Measures
– Positive affect was measured by the five positive affect items from the Bradburn Affect
Balance Scale (Bradburn, 1969). Participants rate the extent to which they have felt each of
the five positive states (e.g., particularly excited or interested in something) during the past
few weeks from 1 (not at all) to 5 (very often).
– Life satisfaction was measured by the 5-item Satisfaction with Life Scale (Pavot & Diener,
1993). Items (for example, “In most ways my life is close to ideal”) are rated from 1
(strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree).
– Relationship satisfaction was measured by the 7-item Abbreviated Spanier Dyadic
Adjustment Scale (Sharpley & Rogers, 1984), which provides a global measure of
relationship satisfaction. Three items measure philosophy of life; three items measure time
spent together; and one item measures global perception of happiness in the relationship.
Design and Procedure
• The study design was a standard dyadic design—
each participant was paired with only one other
participant—and data was collected at one point
in time.
• Participants were recruited from the psychology
research notice board (21%) and from the
community.
– Those who were recruited from the psychology
research notice board were offered credit for their
psychology course.
• All participants completed a hard copy of the
survey and were asked to complete the survey
separately from their partner.
Preliminary Results
Table 1
Means, standard deviations, paired-tests, and intercorrelations for key study variables (N = 78 dyads)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
M
SD
ta
1. Savouring through reminiscence
.69*** .74*** .77*** .24*
.13
.24*
9.14
6.81
-0.14
2. Savouring in the moment
.82*** .60*** .81*** .19
.22
.19
8.79
6.57
-0.49
3. Savouring in anticipation
.82*** .87*** .71*** .08
.19
.28*
9.17
6.67
0.72
4. Positive Affect
.24*
.21
.23*
.46*** .60*** .44*** 14.54 4.20
0.16
5. Life satisfaction
.34*
.30**
.27*
.70*** .59*** .45*** 21.18 6.59
-0.01
6. Relationship satisfaction
.27*
.31**
.28*
.48*** .61*** .79*** 24.42 4.46
0.73
M
9.05
8.45
9.62
14.62
21.18
24.65
SD
7.69
7.29
7.66
3.89
7.40
4.18
Note. Statistics for the men (n = 78) are presented above the diagonal and statistics for the women (n = 78) below the diagonal.
t represents the t statistic for the paired samples t-tests comparing mean scores for men and women on key study variables.
a
*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.
Actor-partner Interdependence Models
• Multilevel modelling from a pairwise data set using MIXED MODELS in
SPSS Version 20 was performed to test actor and partner effects of the three
savouring beliefs variables on each indicator of adjustment.
• The models also included gender, age, relationship status, relationship
duration, commitment to the relationship, and interaction terms.
– These interaction terms included interaction between gender and each actor and
partner effect and interactions between actor and partner effects.
• We contrasted the models with one that did not include the distinguishing
variable of gender and the interaction terms with gender.
– Estimating both models using maximum likelihood and comparing the models
using a chi-square difference tests found that the model that included gender
and the interactions with gender was not a significantly better model for the
prediction of positive affect (χ2 (7) = 6.90, p = .439), satisfaction with life (χ2
(7) = 11.70, p = .111), nor relationship satisfaction (χ2 (7) = 4.97, p = .663).
Thus, we report the model for each wellbeing indicator that does not include
gender or the interaction terms with gender.
The actor effect of
savouring beliefs varies
according to partner
savouring beliefs,
however a test of simple
slopes demonstrated that
neither simple slope was
statistically significantly
different from zero (low
partner savouring
beliefs: B = -0.07, p =
.166; high partner
savouring beliefs: B =
0.02, p = .392).
Discussion
•
•
•
•
•
•
Nonindependence: As expected, couple members’ scores on savouring beliefs and
all three indicators of positive adjustment were related, suggesting that there is a
social context involved in the development of these constructs, perhaps explained by
the social sharing of emotions.
One actor effect was found, indicating that savouring beliefs, in general, is helpful
for life satisfaction, and one partner effect (in the negative direction) was found for
savouring in the moment on positive affect, which indicates that one’s partner’s
savouring in the moment perhaps is employed to compensate for their partner’s lack
of positive affect, among other explanations.
The actor by partner interaction for savouring beliefs indicates that a significant
others’ savouring beliefs impacts the effect one’s own savouring beliefs has on their
positive affect, however future research is needed.
This study has a number of limitations: cross-sectional design; non-random
sampling; use of self-report measures.
Future research should adopt a longitudinal design and consider alternative
measures of positive adjustment.
Implications: Positive psychology interventions may consider the interpersonal
context in which we regulate positive emotions and may adapt Loving Kindness
Meditation.
Questions or Comments?
References
Bradburn, N.M. (1969). The structure of psychological wellbeing. Oxford, England: Aldine.
Bryant, F.B. (2003). Savoring Beliefs Inventory (SBI): A scale for measuring beliefs about savouring. Journal of Mental Health, 12, 175-196.
doi: 10.1080/0963823031000103489
Bryant, F.B., & Veroff, J. (2007). Savoring: A new model of positive experience. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Fredrickson, B. L. (2004). The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London.
Series B, Biological Sciences, 359, 1367-1377. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2004.1512
Fredrickson, B.L., Cohn, M.A., Coffey, K.A., Pek, J., & Finkel, S.M. (2008). Open hearts build lives: Positive emotions, induced through
loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95(5), 1045-1062. doi:
10.1037/a0013262
Kenny, D.A., Kashy, D.A., & Cook, W.L. (2006). Dyadic data analysis. New York: Guilford Press.
Pavot, W., & Diener, E. (1993). Review of the satisfaction with life scale. Psychological Assessment, 5, 164-172.
Rime, B. (2007). The social sharing of emotion as an interface between individual and collective processes in the construction of emotional
climates. Journal of Social Issues, 63, 307-322.
Sharpley, C.F., & Rogers, H.J. (1984). Preliminary validation of the Abbreviated Spanier Dyadic Adjustment Scale: Some psychometric data
regarding a screening test of marital adjustment. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 44, 1045-1049.