Stress and its associations with relationship satisfaction

•Stress is a dyadic phenomenon that affects both partners in a romantic relationship.•Stress can originate both outside (external) and inside (internal) the relationship.•External stress can spillover into the relationship causing internal stress.•Stress negatively effects heterosexual and same-sex couples’ relationship satisfaction.

Stress is an all too common experience for people around the world. In the past 30 years, researchers have built upon traditional models of stress, which have focused on the individual, to explore stress’ systemic effects. As such, the once thought individual experience of stress can now be conceptualized as a dyadic construct that affects both individuals within an interdependent dyad. Reviewing a selection of the literature published after Randall and Bodenmann's [1] seminal review on the impact of stress on close relationships, this review conceptualizes the associations between different types of stressors — particularly those that originate outside (external) and inside (internal) the relationship — and relationship satisfaction within romantic relationships. Implications for future research and clinical interventions are discussed.