Implications of Relationship Social Comparison Tendencies

The construct of relationship social comparison orientation, an individual's propensity to compare his or her romantic relationship to that of others' romantic relationships on various dimensions, is examined in dating and married samples.The study examines the role of uncertainty as a precondition to relationship comparison tendencies.Findings show that married individuals report higher levels of certainty and satisfaction than dating individuals. Dating individuals reported more frequent engagement in general relational comparisons and relational comparisons with negative affect. General relational comparisons and negative affect relational comparisons factor scales were negatively associated with satisfaction in both samples. Findings also show convergence on self-reported and spouse ratings of personality, in the married sample, for Big 5 traits as well as for relational comparison tendencies and general social comparison orientation. Positive affect relational comparisons were found to have a small positive association with satisfaction,suggesting that some comparison processes are not maladaptive and may serve to bolster relationship functioning.