Stress, Relationship Satisfaction, and the Moderating Role of Self-Esteem

Stress is a mental and physical reaction experienced whenever one faces demands believed to exceed their current resources. Operationalized, perceived stress is “a psychological state reflecting an individual’s evaluation of life events as uncontrollable, unpredictable, and overwhelming”(Gniewosz, 2024, p. 1). According to Karney and Bradbury’s (1995) Vulnerability-Stress-Adaptation model, individual differences, such as self-esteem, and past experiences can play a role in shaping relationship quality under stress. Self-esteem, an individual difference trait, refers to one’s overall evaluation of self-worth which for some can be tied into romantic relationship content (i.e. relationship contingency of self-worth). The current study assessed the link between perceived stress and relationship satisfaction with relationship contingency of self-worth as a moderator. A community sample of individuals (N = 257) who were involved in a romantic relationship, completed weekly measures of perceived stress and relationship quality over six weeks of pandemic lockdown in spring 2020. Mirroring previous research, stress was found to be negatively associated with relationship satisfaction. However, contrary to the hypothesis, relationship contingency of self-worth did not significantly moderate the association. Surprisingly, there was evidence of positive correlation between relationship contingency of self-worth and relationship satisfaction that future research could explore.