Large bodies of research indicate that people's health, occupational performance, and job
satisfaction depend critically on their marital well-being. Nevertheless, several
challenges associated with military service, such as increased stress and physical
separation from one's partner, can threaten marital well-being. Prior research by our
team highlights the important marital implications of automatic partner attitudes, or the
immediate affective reactions experienced when thinking about or interacting with one's
partner. Most couples strengthen these partner attitudes through enjoyable experiences
together, but servicemembers who are separated from their partners must forego such
activities, and job-related stress can minimize the positivity of any joint activities
that do occur. Evaluative Conditioning (EC) offers a way to strengthen automatic partner
attitudes without direct experience with the partner through simple pairings of photos of
the partner with positive words and images. Our pilot study of civilian couples
demonstrated that couples randomly assigned to view photos of their partners paired with
positive stimuli for 6-7 minutes every three days for six weeks experienced enhanced
automatic partner attitudes and thus marital satisfaction over eight weeks relative to
control couples.
The proposed research would use a RCT to test (a) the feasibility and efficacy of EC
procedure among active duty servicemembers and (b) whether there is an additional benefit
to having the partner also complete the EC procedure. Regarding the first objective, the
investigators predict that people who view their partner paired with positive stimuli
will demonstrate enhanced automatic partner attitudes and therefore higher levels of
marital satisfaction and more positive relationship behaviors relative to people who view
their partner paired with neutral stimuli. Regarding the second objective, the
investigators expect that EC will be more effective when the partner also completes it,
though the investigators suspect it will be effective even among servicemembers whose
partners do not complete the procedure.
The aim of the proposed research is to conduct an RCT to determine (a) whether evaluative
conditioning can enhance automatic partner attitudes and thereby marital satisfaction and
behavior in a sample of active duty servicemembers and (b) whether any benefits of EC
depend on whether one or both members of the couple complete the procedure.
The investigators will recruit a sample of 500 active-duty servicemembers and their
partners from Naval Medical Center at Portsmouth, VA. Half of all servicemembers will be
randomly assigned to complete our EC procedure that pairs their partner with positive
stimuli whereas the other half will be randomly assigned to complete a control procedure
in which their partner is paired with neutral stimuli. Crossed with this manipulation,
and also by random assignment, the partners of half the servicemembers will complete our
EC procedure whereas the partners of the other half will complete the control procedure.
Both members of the couple will complete assessments of automatic partner attitudes and
marital satisfaction at baseline and then again every two weeks for eight weeks. Couples
will also engage in recorded marital discussions at baseline and the 8-week follow-up to
assess behavior.