Discussing plans to marry prior to engagement Is

Discussing plans to marry prior to engagement: Is there such a thing as planning too far ahead? Keneski, E. , Morgan, T. A. , Kerlee, K. , Arevalo, T. & Loving, T. J. The University of Texas at Austin Introduction Results Discussion § Discussing the future of one’s romantic relationship—including the possibility of marriage and a wedding—is an exciting, novel experience for couples, but also distressing. 1 2 § Are some discussions more helpful than others on the path to an enjoyable engagement, happy wedding day, and satisfying and committed relationship? For Engaged Participants: § Discussing getting married more frequently was associated w/ higher relationship satisfaction (b=. 15, p=. 01) and commitment (b=. 15, p=. 01). § Discussing the proposal, ring, and wedding more frequently was not generally associated w/ relationship satisfaction (b=-. 05, p=. 30; b=. 01, p=. 94; b=. 06, p=. 20) or commitment (b=. -10, p=. 10; b=. -04, § Communicating about future relationship plans may be an indicator of concurrent positive relationship communication, given that discussing the possibility of marriage was associated with relationship quality only for engaged but not married individuals. § Despite the intuitive appeal of discussing what type of ring(s) and wedding partners might want, doing so prior to ‘making it official’ (becoming engaged) may be too early to positively affect Limitations & Future Directions these later experiences. Method Participants: (N = 392) recruited from MTurk § 215 engaged to be married in the next year § 177 married in the previous year Procedure: Completion of an online survey § Recalled how frequently they had discussed marriage- and wedding-related topics from 1 = never to 5 = very often “Before becoming engaged, how often did you and your partner discuss…” “…the possibility of getting married? ” “…the possibility of when or how a proposal would take place? ” “…the type of wedding you want[ed]? ” “…the type of ring(s) you want[ed]? ” § Rated satisfaction with proposal, ring(s), p=. 43; b=-. 02, p=. 70). For Married Participants: § Discussing getting married more frequently was not associated w/ satisfaction (b=-. 11, p=. 32) or commitment (b=-. 14, p=. 13). § Discussing the proposal and ring(s) more frequently was associated w/ lower levels of relationship satisfaction (b=-. 16, p=. 11; b=-. 19, p=. 03; not for discussing the and commitment (b=. 20, p<. 01; b=-. 26, p<. 001); discussing the wedding more frequently was also associated w/ lower levels of commitment (b=-. 14, p=. 10). For Engaged & Married Participants: § Discussing the ring(s) and wedding was not associated w/ satisfaction w/ the ring(s) (for engaged, b=-. 01, p=. 99; for married, b=-. 01, p=. 85) or wedding (for engaged, wedding, b=-. 08, p=. 42) b=. 01, p=. 74; for married, b=. 07, p=. 32). § Given the cross-sectional nature of the current study, it is not possible to determine whether engagement and wedding experiences influence relationship quality over time. § Future longitudinal studies could provide support for temporal causality. References 1 Loving, T. J. , Gleason, M. E. J. , & Pope, M. T. (2009). Transition novelty moderates daters’ cortisol responses when talking about marriage. Personal Relationships, 16, 187 -203. 2 Schoenfeld, E. A. , & Loving, T. J. (2013). I do… do you? Dependence and biological sex moderate daters’ cortisol responses when accommodating a partner’s thoughts about marriage. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 88, 325 -333. 3 Rusbult, C. E. , Martz, J. M. , & Agnew, C. R. (1998). The Investment Model Scale: Measuring commitment level,