THE EXPERIENCE, EXPRESSION, AND PERCEIVED APPROPRIATENESS OF EMOTIONSACROSS LEVELS OF RELATIONSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Emotion experience and expression in romantic relationships were inves tigated. We predicted (a) a curvilinear relationship between level of relationship development and intensity of emotion experience, (b) a cu rvilinear relationship between level of relationship development and i ntensity of emotion expression, and (c) a linear relationship between level of relationship development and perceived appropriateness of emo tion expression. Two hundred one student and community respondents com pleted an emotion survey assessing a positive and negative emotion inc ident they had experienced, the intensity of experience, expression, a nd degree of appropriateness. Level of relationship development was op erationalized by length of relationship. Confirmation for the first tw o hypotheses was found for negative emotions only. Perceived appropria teness of emotion expression did not vary across levels of relationshi p development for either negative or positive emotions.