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Researchers followed couples and examined how people emotionally responded when their partners experienced daily stress.
Among newer couples, greater emotional reactivity to a partner's stress predicted better relationship-quality evaluations from that partner.
Feeling that the other person was responsive helped explain the association.
The effect also predicted less decline in relationship quality over time in the newer couples studied.
Interestingly, the same pattern wasn't found as strongly among established couples.
Being emotionally tuned in to someone's difficult day may carry particular significance while a relationship is still developing.
© Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (2024)