Individual differences in men’s and women’s warmth and disclosure differentially moderate couples’ reciprocity in conversational disclosure

Romantic couples often reciprocate each other’s disclosure during conversation, but to what extent do gender and individual differences in disclosure and warmth moderate the strength of disclosure reciprocity? We sought to answer this question by having 62 heterosexual dating couples discuss personal topics in the laboratory. Couples’ conversations were videotaped and rated for their level of disclosure by two coders. Participants also reported their own level of disclosure and their partner’s disclosure and warmth during the conversation. A series of multilevel models revealed that women’s—but not men’s—reports of their own and their partner’s disclosure increased disclosure reciprocity. In contrast, men’s—but not women’s—reports of their partner’s warmth decreased disclosure reciprocity.