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Actor and partner effects of self-esteem on relationship satisfaction and the mediating role of secure attachment between the partners
Journal
Journal of Research in Personality
Volume
47
Number
1
Pages / Article-Number
26-35
Keywords
Self-esteem, Relationship satisfaction, Relationship-specific attachment security, Dyadic data analysis, Actor-partner interdependence model
Abstract
We examined actor and partner effects of self-esteem on relationship satisfaction, using the actor-partner interdependence model and data from five independent samples of couples. The results indicated that self-esteem predicted the individual's own relationship satisfaction (i.e., an actor effect) and the relationship satisfaction of his or her partner (i.e., a partner effect), controlling for the effect of the partner's self-esteem. Gender, age, and length of relationship did not moderate the effect sizes. Moreover, using one of the samples, we tested whether secure attachment to the current partner (assessed as low attachmen-trelated anxiety and avoidance) mediated the effects. The results showed that attachment-related anxiety and avoidance independently mediated both the actor and the partner effect of self-esteem on relationship satisfaction. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.