Article Review
The main purpose of the study was to investigate the predictive ability of romantic relationship quality in happiness above and beyond the influence of one’s personality among emerging adults. The study incorporates two studies. The aim of study 1 was to establish the role that romantic relationship quality plays in predicting happiness above and beyond the influence of one’s personality. Study 2 was more of a follow-up study that aimed at replicating and extending the findings of the first study.
Important Information
A number of factors constitute important information in this article. First is the purpose of the study which revolves around romantic relationships and their relation to happiness. Second, this article uses an extensive review of literature regarding romantic relationships, emerging adulthood and romantic relationships and happiness, personality and their association with romantic relationships. Second, the study’s target is emerging adults, and thus the sample is drawn from individuals who are between the ages of 18 an 29 years. According to Demir (258), these are neither adults nor adolescents, but are in the process of becoming adults. The sample is drawn from this age-group because forming and maintaining romantic relationships is a key part in the lives of emerging adults. The sample is composed of 221 dating emerging adults who have a mean age of 22.49 years. Third, the study takes place in two stages with study 2 being used to test the replicability of the first study.
Inferences/Conclusions
Findings of this study indicated that romantic relationships quality contributed to emerging adults’ happiness above and beyond the influence of their personality. For example, the correlations between the study variables in study 1 supported the hypothesis that the quality of romantic relationship was positively linked to happiness. Study 2’s aim was to identify the strongest attribute of the quality of romantic relationships that predicted happiness. Results of study 2 indicated that emotional security and companionship features of romantic relationship quality were the strongest predictors of happiness. Also, identity formation was found to be the moderator in the relation between happiness and the quality of romantic relationship. Of importance to note is that intimacy was not the strongest attribute of relationship quality predicting happiness despite it being a construct that has received wide theoretical and empirical attention. Overall, the study concluded that the quality of romantic relationships contributes to happiness above and beyond the influence of one’s personality in emerging adults.
Key Concepts and Main Points
The main point derived in this article is that above and beyond the influence of one’s personality, the quality of romantic relationships contributes to happiness. The functions assessed in determining the quality of romantic relationships include help, stimulating companionship, reliable alliance, intimacy, self-validation and emotional security. Of all the six functions, companionship and emotional security came out as the strongest predictors of happiness. Surprisingly, while intimacy is usually strongly linked to happiness in romantic relationships, it was not a strong feature that predicted happiness in relationships. The study was not without limitations, one of them being that there was no clear definition of what a romantic relationship is. The other limitation was that there were more women than men in the sample.
Application and Opinion
The findings of this study are important especially in handling relationship and marriage matters. Romantic relationships form a significant part of the lives of people. Often, these relationships become problematic because the partners cannot understand each other. These findings can be applied in counseling people in relationships by helping them to identify the areas where they can derive happiness. This also includes interventions in marriages that seem to run into problems. this article is well written and draws information from a wide body of literature. It effectively identifies key variables and analysis them and draws important conclusions that are in line with the hypotheses. This article is very important in understanding romantic relationships and can find wide application in intervention practices.
Works Cited
Demir, Meliksah. Sweetheart, You Really Make Me Happy: Romantic Relationship Quality and Personality as Predictors of Happiness among Emerging Adults. Journal of Happiness Studies, 2007; 9: 257-277.
