When Rose-Colored Glasses Turn Cloudy: Stressful Life Circumstances and Perceptions of Partner Behavior in Newlywed Marriage

Abstract

Stressful life circumstances can destabilize the couples’ relationships by increasing tensions and hindering positive exchanges between partners. Yet, stress may be linked not only to what individuals do in their relationship but also to what they see, as stress can shift individuals’ attentional focus toward negative stimuli. To test this possibility, the current study examined whether individuals confronting more stressful life events and/or daily hassles are more likely to attentively monitor their partner’s negative relationship behaviors. A daily diary study of 79 newlywed couples revealed that individuals who recently experienced more stressful life events were especially attuned to day-to-day fluctuations in their partner’s negative behaviors, but not their partner’s positive behaviors. Moreover, these individuals generally perceived their partner as enacting more negativity across the diary period compared with individuals who faced fewer stressful events. These findings held when adjusting for several individual difference factors known to predict perceptual biases within relationships.