Romantic Relationships and Health: An Examination of Individuals’ Perceptions of their Romantic Partners’ Influences on their Health

Abstract

This study examines individuals' perceptions of the impact their significant others have on their health and the extent to which these perceptions are associated with relationship quality and actual health. Two-hundred and ten participants (105 U.S. couples; mean age=24.93) completed measures of their relationship quality and health along with an open-ended measure asking them to indicate how they felt their partner influenced their health. Results indicated that participants perceived their romantic partners to be primarily positive health influences, women believed their partners were more influential than did men, and eating and physical activity behaviors were believed to be most affected by partners. Participants' relationship quality and health were associated with their reports of their perceived partners' health influences.

Weight-related social control and relationship quality

“…As mentioned previously, people generally prefer to enact positive social control in their relationships (Lewis & Butterfield, 2007;Markey et al, 2007). This tendency is illustrated among the couples in the current study and also makes sense in the context of health communication wherein people enact social control because they want their partners to be healthier (Butterfield & Lewis, 2002).…”

“…Research indicates that people in harmonious relationships perceive more positive influence (Markey et al, 2007), yet other research indicates that social control is unrelated to relationship satisfaction (Butterfield & Lewis, 2002). Given the contrasting findings in the literature, the third research question is posed in an effort to understand the dyadic association between diet-and exercise-related social control and relationship quality:…”

Relación entre el grado de actividad física y la satisfacción sexual y corporal en estudiantes universitarios costarricenses

“…Finalmente, podría buscarse una relación inversa a la que se ha planteado entre las variables de estudio, en el sentido de que más bien puede ser la SS la que mejore el NAF y la SC, pues algunos estudios demuestran que son las conductas de alimentación y de actividad física los aspectos más positivamente influenciados dentro de una relación de pareja; es decir, se tiende a cambiar estos comportamientos por el hecho de tener pareja (Markey, Markey, & Fishman, 2007). O por el contrario, en el sentido que puede considerarse la respuesta sexual como ejercicio o AF por sí misma (Butt, 1990;Chen, Zhang, & Tan, 2009).…”

Guidance for Reviewers: Observations After a Year as Editor

“…Moreover, involvement in romantic relationships has positive effects for psychological and physical health (Braithwaite, Delevi, & Fincham, 2010;Cui, Finchman, & Pasley, 2008;Markey, Markey, & Gray, 2007). Although several variables are relevant to one's ability to develop and maintain interpersonal relationships, a critical factor is confidence in one's ability to nurture them, or relationship selfefficacy (RSE; Lopez et al, 2007).…”