Social Exchange Orientation and Conflict Communication in Romantic Relationships

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Prior research has not conclusively established how individuals' social exchange orientation (EO) affects their communication in, and satisfaction with, romantic relationships. Surveying 466 individuals in romantic relationships, we found that concern about being underbenefitted was more strongly correlated with conflict behaviors than concern about overbenefittedness, and that conflict communication influenced the relationship between exchange orientation and relationship satisfaction. We discuss the need for further research to discover how EO may influence communication patterns as relationships develop.