Emotional Dynamics and Emotion Regulation in Intimate Relationships

Emotions often occur in the context of intimate relationships and shape individuals’ interactions with romantic partners. Consequently, the regulation of emotions is a core theme in intimate relationships. Interactions with a close partner require emotion regulation capacities for optimal functioning, and at the same time they often serve emotion regulation goals, expanding individuals’ emotion regulation resources. The current chapter focuses on intimate romantic relationships as a context of, and resource for, emotional experience and regulation. A first section centers on how emotion dynamics evolve in adaptive or maladaptive ways within couples, and how emotion regulation can facilitate sensitive emotional responses to a partner’s emotional signals. A second section explores how relationships can serve as a means to regulate one’s own and partner’s emotions, drawing upon several important theoretical frameworks. A final section of the chapter discusses possible mechanisms underlying interpersonal emotion regulation, and concludes with an outline of how intimate partners might ideally respond to each other’s emotions to benefit from the emotion regulation capacities of intimate relationships.