Need fulfillment and emotional experience in interdependent romantic relationships

Drawing from theoretical models of emotion and aspects of interdependence t heory, we investigated the association among need fulfillment, relative dep endence, and emotional experience within romantic relationships. Daily self -reports of general and relationship-related emotional experience and perce ived fulfillment of relationship needs were collected on four consecutive d ays from participants involved in romantic relationships. Consistent with h ypotheses, fulfillment of relationship needs was found to significantly pre dict emotional experience, with the association at times moderated by the g eographic distance of the relationship (local versus long-distance). In add ition, participants in relationships characterized by an inequality of depe ndence experienced less positive and more negative relationship-related emo tion than did participants in mutually dependent partnerships.