How was your day? Couples ’ affect when telling and hearing daily events

This study examined day-to-day mood changes associated with disclosure of positive and stressful events as affect regulation within couples. In daily diaries, 48 couples cohabiting in the United States reported whether they told their partner about the most positive and stressful event of their day. Participants reported greater positive affect on days when they told their partner about the most positive event of their day. This effect was less pronounced among avoidant women. Participants also reported greater positive affect on days when their partner shared their most posi-tive event. Sharing about stressors was not associated with greater negative affect. These findings underscore the importance of investigating affect regulation processes such as daily event disclosures from a dyadic perspective. One obvious benefit of long-term romantic relationships is having someone with whom to share the joys and navigate the hurdles of daily life. Such day-to-day interpersonal expe-riences fit within a larger class of relationship processes involving affect regulation, in which relationship partners assist one another (both consciously and unconsciously) in modulating affective experiences (e.g., Cassidy, 1994; Thompson, 1994). Although romantic partners obviously influence one another’s positive as well as negative affect, most previous work investigating links between affect and rela-tionships has focused almost exclusively on the regulation of negative affect and emotion. For example, numerous studies have investi-gated how romantic partners assist one another in times of high stress or major life transition, such as preparing for stressful exams, managing serious illness, becoming parents, and so fort