Self-Esteem and Supportive Dyadic Coping in Intimate Relationships

Prior research established positive ties between intimate partners' self-esteem (SE) and support interactions, but evidence on whether intraindividual changes in SE and supportive dyadic coping are associated over time remains scarce. The present study tested prominent theories suggesting a reciprocal prospective relationship between SE, one's own and partner's supportive dyadic coping using 14 waves of nationally representative data totaling 13,683 young adults from Germany. We used random intercept cross-lagged panel models for data analysis. Our findings revealed significant reciprocal within-person transactions between SE, one's own and partner's dyadic coping over time. We conclude that high SE may boost positive support interactions in intimate relationships. At the same time, giving and receiving positive support in times of stress may strengthen intimate partners' SE on the long run. Overall, our findings provide robust evidence that people's support interactions and SE development go hand in hand within the context of intimate partner relationships.