Responses to capitalization attempts in couple relationship: The contribution of diary methods

Introduction. Capitalization in couples is the process through which people share positive events with the partner (i.e., capitalization attempts), which in turn responds in an “active” way in order to maximize the benefits deriving from the event. Goals and Method. This study analyzed the associations between the type of positive events (internal vs. external to the couple) and active-constructive and passive-destructive responses as well as the moderating role of the type of communication of the event (less explicit vs. explicit) in this association and the association between the types of positive events (internal vs. external to the couple) and individual and relational well-being as well as the moderating role of active-constructive and passive-destructive responses in this association. Forty-nine married couples (Mean relationship duration = 18 years) completed 2 times a day for 2 weeks a daily diary in electronic format (PDA) containing items designed to detect the type of the positive event experienced, the type of communication, individual and relational well-being and the short version of the Perceived Responses to Capitalization Attempts scale (PRCA; Gable, Reis, Impett, & Asher, 2004). Results. Regarding the active-constructive responses, the multilevel analyses showed that an explicit communication is associated with a perception of the other as a more active-constructive in response to a positive event, while regarding the passive-destructive responses, for women, an explicit communication was associated with a perception of the other as less passive-destructive, while men perceived their partners as more passive-destructive as a result of their less explicit communication of a positive external event. As regards the individual well-being, the multilevel analyses showed that for men the active-constructive responses given by the partner to their positive event allowed an increase of individual well-being. Moreover, in the days in which women received a less active-constructive response from their partner, they reported lower levels of individual well-being, while in the days in which they reported a positive internal and external event to the couple, if they received from the partner a more passive-destructive response, they also reported lower levels of individual well-being. For what concerns the relational well-being, in the days in which both member of the couple perceived the response of the partner as more active-constructive also reported greater levels of relational well-being. In contrast, in days in which both women and men perceived the response of the partner as passive-destructive, they also reported lower levels of relational well-being. Conclusions. Internal and external positive events and their more or less explicit communication are associated with the perception of the partner as more or less active-constructive or passive-destructive. Moreover, a more or less explicit communication of an internal or external positive event led to different changes in individual and relational well-being and the active-constructive and the passive-destructive responses moderated this association.