Is it harmful to me or to us? A dyadic analysis of Chinese young adults' dysfunctional individuation and romantic relationship satisfaction

Abstract

This study aimed at examining how romantically involved Chinese young adults' dysfunctional individuation was associated with their and their partners' perceptions of romantic relationship satisfaction. We recruited 296 Chinese couples who were currently in heterosexual romantic relationships at the university. The couples completed self‐report measures of their dysfunctional individuation and relationship satisfaction. Results from the cross‐sectional actor–partner interdependence model (APIM) indicated that (a) for both genders, actor effects existed: Chinese young adults' dysfunctional individuation was negatively associated with their romantic relationship satisfaction; (b) in terms of partners' effects, women's dysfunctional individuation was negatively associated with men's perceptions of relationship satisfaction; but (c) men's dysfunctional individuation was not significantly associated with women's perceptions of relationship satisfaction. The findings were the first to reveal the actor and partner effects of dysfunctional individuation on romantic relationship satisfaction. The study results provided practical implications regarding how young adults can have satisfying romantic relationships.