University of California, Riverside A Meta-Analytic Approach to We-Talk and Positive Functioning in Romantic Couples Alexander Karan Robert Rosenthal Megan L. Robbins University of California, Riverside

Introduction Romantic relationships are interdependent First-person plural pronouns may reflect interdependence We-talk: “we,” “us,” “our” We-talk positively relates to many indicators of positive functioning Negative and null findings too Relationship depends on who uses we-talk Hallmark of rom rel is that they are interdependent or behaviors… Especially in romantic relationships, these influences may seep into how connected the partners are. They may feel similarly about events or share interests. They may have to rely on each other and desire to help each other to get through life stressors they are inevitably going to come across. Through this interdependence, their identities may begin to merge and one way this may expressed is through their use of words Relationship depends on who uses, self, partner, patient, spouse Coping contexts especially desirable to go through it together than individually. Because of conceptual differences, we conducted a meta-analysis to add clarity to this line of work

Method and Results 30 published and unpublished articles relating we-talk and positive functioning 30 articles, positive functioning broadly defined - relationship outcomes and behaviors, mental health, physical health and health behaviors Plot depicts actor effects… positive trend actor effects We-talk and rel outcomes most robust – 25 studies AND it would take 94 studies with an average effect size of 0 to bring this to p=.05 r = .08

Results Partner effects were similar r = .11 Strongest was partner and health beh r = .17 Particularly true in patient samples where the spouses we-talk most strongly related to patients’ positive functioning r = .11

Conclusions Consistent positive relationship between we-talk and positive functioning Partner > actor effect Spouse > patient we-talk for patient outcomes Causal direction? Consistent positive relationship. We think this really underscores the importance of interdependence in romantic relationships as it seems to be linked to positive functioning for both individuals in the relationship Pattern of partner > actor, relationship outcomes and health behaviors Similarly, spouses > patients for patients own outcomes However, these were all correlational. Causal direction between we, inter and positive functioning still needs to be addressed.

Significance and effect sizes