Self-criticism and conflict resolution in romantic couples

One hundred and twenty heterosexual college student couples completed measures of self-criticism and relational schemas (Baldwin, 1992) and then attempted to resolve two conflicts while being videotaped. Overt hostility was rated from the videotapes. In both girlfriends and boyfriends, self-criticism was associated with negative relational schemas and more negative cognitive-affective reactions during the conflict resolution task. Self-critical women displayed greater overt hostility towards their partners. Structural equation modeling (SEM) demonstrated that negative relational schemas functioned as mediating variables that explained negative cognitive-affective reactions during the task. The SEM also showed that, in women, negative cognitive-affective reactions predicted overt hostility, which in rum predicted partners' distress and overt hostility. The results bolster cognitive-interpersonal analyses of depression by illustrating how cognitive structures associated with a hypothesized vulnerability (self-criticism) can have important interpersonal correlates.