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Attributions in Marriage: Integrating Specific and Global Evaluations of a Relationship

University of Florida, mcnulty{at}ufl.edu

Benjamin R. Karney

University of Florida, karney{at}ufl.edu

How do partners in close relationships integrate perceptions of specific aspects of the relationship with global evaluations of the relationship as a whole? The attributions that partners make for each other’s behaviors should moderate this process by determining whether specific behaviors have global implications. To evaluate this idea, the current study assessed attributions and daily ratings of global and specific aspects of the relationship in a sample of 82 newlywed couples. Attributions were not associated with either kind of rating directly, but hierarchical linear modeling revealed that attributions were associated with the covariance between global and specific ratings within spouses. Results suggest a mechanism to account for the longitudinal association between attributions and marital satisfaction and point out the importance of measuring global and specific perceptions of relationships independently.

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