The influence of differences in political attitudes on romantic relationships

Abstract

Research shows that political conflicts result in discord and tension within families and friends. However, the impact of political differences on romantic relationship quality and outcomes remains unexplored. The present study used the 2019 Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement in Hong Kong as the context to examine the underlying mechanism between political differences and romantic relationship quality; we hypothesized the mediating role of everyday conflicts. We also tested the moderated effect of relationship maintenance and four conflict handling strategies. A two-wave prospective study with a tenday diary study was carried out. One hundred and thirty participants who were in a romantic relationship (67.7% female, mean age = 25.6) completed the pre-survey at Time 1 (T1) from March to April 2022. Among them, 114 completed the diary study, and 98 completed the postsurvey at Time 2 (T2). Results suggested that political differences at T1 predicted more conflicts with criticism, which harmed their relationship quality at T2. Moderated mediation analyses revealed that couples with a higher level of relationship maintenance buffered the negative effect of political differences on relationship quality. Although no significant moderating effect was found on the four types of conflict handling strategies, path analyses suggested a higher level of dominance and a lower level of avoidance negatively predicted relationship quality. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.