Stress and Co-Parenting Relationships: Using Language Style Matching as an Indicator of Extra-Dyadic Stress and Team Problem-Solving

Abstract

Language style matching (LSM), or the degree of similarity in dyads’ use of function words (e.g., prepositions, negations, or personal pronouns), has been linked with psychological and behavioral outcomes at both the individual and group levels (e.g., relationship intimacy, engagement, and team performance). The aim of this study was to examine how stress affects LSM in romantic couples and whether LSM predicts performance in a problem-solving task. Cohabiting, opposite-sex couples were randomly assigned to one of four stress conditions—both partners stressed, neither partner stressed, only male partner stressed, or only female partner stressed. Upon completion of the stress manipulation, the couples discussed their experiences, engaged in a caregiving task with an infant simulator, and expressed gratitude for each other. Conversations from 62 couples were audio-recorded, transcribed by a team of research assistants, and run through Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) software to calculate LSM scores. Success scores, measured as the percentage of the infant’s fusses that were adequately satisfied, were automatically generated in reports from the infant simulator and checked by a research assistant. ANOVA output indicated that LSM did not significantly differ by stress condition (F(3,58) = 0.628, p = 0.599), and a linear regression showed that LSM scores did not significantly predict caregiving success (p = 0.299). In sum, LSM did not significantly differ by stress condition, nor was it indicative of success in a caregiving task. Thus, LSM may be more closely associated with more general indicators of relationship status, such as relationship duration and time spent living together, rather than context-dependent factors.