Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, Vol. 34, No. 7, 2015, pp. 587-610
587
© 2015 Guilford Publications, Inc.
This research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (Grant #615/10 and
#1422/14) awarded to the third author.
Address correspondence to eran.barkalifa@gmail.com
SATISFACTION IN COMMITTED COUPLES
BAR-KALIFA ET AL.
PERCEIVED PARTNER RESPONSIVENESS
MEDIATES THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN
SOCIAL ANXIETY AND RELATIONSHIP
SATISFACTION IN COMMITTED COUPLES
ERAN BAR-KALIFA, ADI HEN-WEISSBERG, AND ESHKOL RAFAELI
Bar-Ilan University, Israel
Despite the inherent interpersonal nature of social anxiety (SA), a surprisingly
sparse literature addresses the interpersonal processes occurring within the com-
mitted romantic relationships of SA individuals. The current study tested the hy-
pothesis that the relational phenomenon of perceived partner (un)responsiveness
(PPR; Reis, Clark, & Holmes, 2004), mediates the association between SA and
poor relationship satisfaction. We used recently-developed actor-partner-interde-
pendence mediational models with data from a 35-day dyadic diary study of 80
committed couples. Social anxiety was found to be tied to poor relationship sat-
isfaction in the daily lives of both persons with SA (actors) and their partners. For
the actors, this negative association was fully mediated by the actor’s perception
of poor partner responsiveness. In contrast, for the partners, this negative associa-
tion was not attributable to PPR. The results remained essentially unchanged even
when controlling for comorbid depressive symptoms and for prior relationship
satisfaction.
Keywords: Social Anxiety, Perceived Partner Responsivness, Romantic Relation-
ships, Daily Diaries, Actor-Partner-Interdependence-Mediational-Model
Social anxiety (SA) involves a marked and persistent fear of social
or performance situations in which the person is exposed to unfa-
miliar people or to possible scrutiny by others. Individuals with SA