Partner Schemas and Relationship Functioning: A States of Mind Analysis

Cognitions such as relationship attributions and beliefs, measured by self-report, have been identified as robust correlates of relationship (e.g., marital) satisfaction. This study sought to build on the theory and assessment of cognitions in relationships by evaluating partner schemas, defined in terms of self-ratings and recall of positive and negative partner-descriptive trait adjectives. The States of Mind (SOM; Schwartz & Garamoni, 1989) model was used to examine the ratio of positive to positive-plus-negative partner schemas. In a sample of dating college students (N = 94), the ratio of positive to positive-plus-negative partner schemas was positively associated with relationship satisfaction and negatively associated with distress-maintaining causal and responsibility attributions for partner behavior; these results remained significant when controlling for depressive symptoms. These results suggest that ratios of positive to negative relationship cognitions, including positive and negative views of the partner, and use of information-processing measures of cognition, may be important topics for continued research in understanding relationship functioning.