A study published in the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy explores how power dynamics within couples can affect relationship quality. The findings suggest that the consequences are different for men and women.
Previous research has suggested that couples with an equal share of power tend to be the most satisfied with their relationships. Study authors Jitka Lindová and associates wanted to extend this research by diving deeper into the dynamics of imbalanced partnerships.
Lindová and colleagues say, “it is not clear who the dissatisfied partner in power-imbalanced couples is and what the specific cause of his/her dissatisfaction is, especially in couples where violence or other extreme forms of coercion are not reported . . . Moreover, it is unclear whether men and women are satisfied with the same power distribution. Literature seems to indicate that the association between power in a relationship and perceived relationship quality is to some extent gender-specific.”
A study was conducted involving three samples of Czech and Slovak heterosexual couples stemming from three larger relationship studies. The final sample consisted of 192 couples who were in long-term relationships of at least eight months long, The participants ranged between 18 and 46 years old.
A survey measured each partner’s perceived relationship power with the question, “In your current romantic relationship, which of you is more dominant/powerful?”. Responses were coded into “low” “high” or “equal” relationship power. Each partner also completed measures of relationship control (e.g., “Most of the time we do what my partner wants to do.”) and decision-making-dominance (e.g., “Who usually has more say on whether you have sex?”). Finally, all subjects completed an assessment of perceived relationship quality which included a measure of relationship satisfaction.
First, as expected, couples in relationships with an equal balance of power reported higher relationship quality than couples that involved one partner with more power than the other. Of the couples who agreed on a power imbalance within the relationship, 56% had high-power woman and 44% had high-power men.
Men who perceived themselves as having either low or high power in their partnerships were less satisfied with their relationships than men who perceived equal power within their pairing. Interestingly, while men whose female partners had low power were also less satisfied with their relationships, having a female partner with high power was not associated with decreased relationship satisfaction for men.
For women, on the other hand, neither having a partner with high power nor having a partner with low power was associated with decreased relationship satisfaction. Women who perceived themselves as having low power, however, did experience decreased relationship satisfaction.
“Couple’s power distribution was more strongly linked to men’s than to women’s relationship quality perceptions,” the authors explain. “Specifically, relationship quality in men decreased when they perceived themselves as having either less or more relationship power than their partners but also in cases where their female partners perceived themselves as having less relationship power than they did.”
Women’s relationship quality tended to be more influenced by negative uses of power from their partners. Having a partner who used control and having a partner who demonstrated dominance were both associated with reduced relationship satisfaction in women.
Lindová and colleagues discuss the meaning of these findings. “Whereas one’s lower relationship power could be viewed as a favorable consequence of having a high-quality, highly valued partner—as seems to be a case for the men in our sample—it can be also viewed as an unfavorable state that arises in consequence of a partner’s negative coercive behaviors. The latter seems to be the case for women in our sample.”
The authors explain how their findings may be unique to the Czech culture, where the historically female-dominated household norm appears to linger.
The study, “Power Distribution and Relationship Quality in Long-Term Heterosexual Couples”, was authored by Jitka Lindová, Denisa Průšová, and Kateřina Klapilová.
