If You Are Happy for Me, You Are Part of Me! Couple Identity and Capitalization

In couple relationships, partners establish a new identity within the relationship (i.e., couple identity), which is crucial for their relational well-being. Despite the importance of couple identity, little is known about how it emerges as a consequence of partners’ relational behaviors. Among relational behaviors, in recent years the way in which couple members respond to the partner’s fortune (i.e., capitalization responses) has been considered an important facet of couple relationship functioning. Two studies investigated the role of capitalization responses in shaping couple identity. In particular, we tested the association between couple identity and capitalization responses (active-constructive, passive-constructive, active-destructive, and passive-destructive), and the mediating role of couple identity in the link between capitalization responses and relationship quality. A daily diary study (N = 57 stable couples) revealed that on days women and men perceived their partner’s response as active-constructive and on days men perceived their partner’s response as active-destructive, they reported higher levels of couple identity. On the contrary, on days women perceived their partner’s response as active-destructive or passive-destructive they reported lower levels of couple identity. A longitudinal two-wave study (N = 278 stable couples) showed that couple identity mediated the link between the active-constructive and passive-destructive responses and relationship quality for both women and men. In conclusion, couple identity is shaped in partners’ interactions. Particularly, partner support (or absence of support) in good times appears to influence how partners’ perceive themselves as a unit.