Evaluative Conditioning and Relationship Satisfaction

Large bodies of research indicate that people's health, occupational performance, and job satisfaction depend critically on their marital well-being. Nevertheless, several challenges associated with military service, such as increased stress and physical separation from one's partner, can threaten marital well-being. Prior research by our team highlights the important marital implications of automatic partner attitudes, or the immediate affective reactions experienced when thinking about or interacting with one's partner. Most couples strengthen these partner attitudes through enjoyable experiences together, but servicemembers who are separated from their partners must forego such activities, and job-related stress can minimize the positivity of any joint activities that do occur. Evaluative Conditioning (EC) offers a way to strengthen automatic partner attitudes without direct experience with the partner through simple pairings of photos of the partner with positive words and images. Our pilot study of civilian couples demonstrated that couples randomly assigned to view photos of their partners paired with positive stimuli for 6-7 minutes every three days for six weeks experienced enhanced automatic partner attitudes and thus marital satisfaction over eight weeks relative to control couples.

The proposed research would use a RCT to test (a) the feasibility and efficacy of EC procedure among active duty servicemembers and (b) whether there is an additional benefit to having the partner also complete the EC procedure. Regarding the first objective, the investigators predict that people who view their partner paired with positive stimuli will demonstrate enhanced automatic partner attitudes and therefore higher levels of marital satisfaction and more positive relationship behaviors relative to people who view their partner paired with neutral stimuli. Regarding the second objective, the investigators expect that EC will be more effective when the partner also completes it, though the investigators suspect it will be effective even among servicemembers whose partners do not complete the procedure.

The aim of the proposed research is to conduct an RCT to determine (a) whether evaluative conditioning can enhance automatic partner attitudes and thereby marital satisfaction and behavior in a sample of active duty servicemembers and (b) whether any benefits of EC depend on whether one or both members of the couple complete the procedure.

The investigators will recruit a sample of 500 active-duty servicemembers and their partners from Naval Medical Center at Portsmouth, VA. Half of all servicemembers will be randomly assigned to complete our EC procedure that pairs their partner with positive stimuli whereas the other half will be randomly assigned to complete a control procedure in which their partner is paired with neutral stimuli. Crossed with this manipulation, and also by random assignment, the partners of half the servicemembers will complete our EC procedure whereas the partners of the other half will complete the control procedure. Both members of the couple will complete assessments of automatic partner attitudes and marital satisfaction at baseline and then again every two weeks for eight weeks. Couples will also engage in recorded marital discussions at baseline and the 8-week follow-up to assess behavior.

Inclusion criteria

• one member of the couple is active-duty US military
• couple is married
• both couple members are at least 18 years old
• both couple members are proficient readers and speakers of English

Exclusion criteria

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