Love won’t tear us apart but work might: How job stressors relate to constructive and destructive reactions to one’s romantic partner’s negative behavior

This study investigates the associations between job stressors and accommodation (i.e., constructive and nondestructive reactions to negative behavior) in romantic relationships. We propose that situational constraints and workload negatively relate to self-regulatory resources that, in turn, are associated positively with constructive reactions and negatively with destructive reactions. To test our hypotheses, we surveyed 238 employees with online questionnaires twice on one workday. In general, results showed that job stressors were negatively associated with self-regulatory resources that, in turn, were associated with accommodation. In particular, situational constraints, but not workload, negatively related to self-regulatory resources. Self-regulatory resources were negatively associated with destructive reactions, but unrelated to constructive reactions. Self-regulatory resources mediated the indirect effect of job stressors on destructive reactions assessed with a scenario method. We discuss the importance of replenishing self-regulatory resources and suggest ways how to do so