A psychometric analysis of the Relationship Attribution Measure–Online Behavior

• Published date: 01 December 2023
• Author: Kieran T. Sullivan,Aine F. Sullivan,Thomas N. Bradbury
• Date: 01 December 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12840

RESEARCH

A psychometric analysis of the Relationship

Attribution Measure–Online Behavior

Kieran T. Sullivan

1

|Aine F. Sullivan

1

|Thomas N. Bradbury

2

1

Department of Psychology, Santa Clara

University, Santa Clara, CA

2

Department of Psychology, University of

California–Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA

Correspondence

Kieran T. Sullivan, Santa Clara University,

Department of Psychology, 500 El Camino

Real, Santa Clara, CA 95053, USA.

Email: ksullivan@scu.edu

Funding information

This study was funded by a grant from the

Provost’s Office at Santa Clara University.

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of the study is to develop and eval-

uate a measure of attributions about partner online

behavior.

Background: The attributions that intimate partners make

for one another’s actions foreshadow deterioration in rela-

tionship satisfaction. Although online communication is

now pervasive, tools for assessing the attributions partners

make for online behavior (e.g., why a partner hasn’t

responded to a text message) are not yet available.

Method: College students (Sample 1) and individuals rec-

ruited via Qualtrics panels (Sample 2) completed an online

survey assessing attributions, relationship satisfaction,

attachment anxiety, jealousy, and depression.

Results: The Relationship Attribution Measure–Online

Behavior (RAM-OB) is internally consistent, unifactorial,

and reasonably stable. Maladaptive attributions

(i.e., internal, stable, and global explanations for negative

behavior) are negatively correlated with relationship satisfac-

tion and positively correlated with attachment anxiety, jeal-

ousy, and depression (Study 1). Further, we demonstrate

that maladaptive attributions covary with lower levels of

relationship satisfaction even after controlling for anxious

attachment, jealousy, and depression, and that the relation-

ship between attributions and satisfaction is stronger for

women and for people living with lower incomes (Study 2).

Conclusion: The RAM-OB is a reliable and valid measure

of the attributions partners make about online behavior.

Implications: The availability of the RAM-OB may create

new opportunities for understanding the role of technology

and media-related behaviors in intimate relationships.

KEYWORDS

attributions, intimate relationships, online communication, social media

Received: 19 July 2021Revised: 6 October 2022Accepted: 1 January 2023

DOI: 10.1111/fare.12840

© 2023 National Council on Family Relations.

2516 Family Relations. 2023;72:2516–2534.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare

“Why hasn’t he responded to my text?”“Why did she ‘like’that picture of her ex?”Romantic

partners in the digital age must contend with the ambiguity and increased risk of misinterpreta-

tion that are inherent in online communication and social media. Nonverbal cues, such as facial

expressions, body language, and tone of voice, that characterize and contextualize face-to-face

communication, are largely lacking in the digital arena. The resulting ambiguity provides fod-

der for misinterpretation, potentially increasing the likelihood that partners will attribute online

behaviors to distress-promoting causes (e.g., he’s ignoring me on purpose; she’s intentionally

trying to make me jealous) rather than to relationship-enhancing sources (e.g., his cell service is

spotty; she’s so friendly—she likes everyone’s posts).

Long before the advent of online communication and social media, relationship scientists

sought to understand how variability in couples’relationship satisfaction might correspond with

the topography of specific behaviors that partners exchanged. A key assumption in this work,

drawing from early applications of social learning theory to marriage (e.g., Jacobson &

Margolin, 1979; for a review see Johnson & Bradbury, 2015), was that relationship difficulties

arise not solely because of the overt behaviors that partners exchange but also because of the

subjective meanings that partners ascribe to those behaviors. That is, otherwise identical behav-

iors were expected to differ markedly in their intra- and interpersonal consequences depending

on how those behaviors are interpreted and explained. Moreover, the manner in which those

explanations were offered was expected to be indicative of the global sentiments that partners

hold about their relationship more generally (e.g., Fincham & O’Leary, 1983).

Consistent with these claims, a large body of research now demonstrates that intimate part-

ners frequently infer the causes of and intentions for one another’s behavior (e.g., Holtzworth-

Munroe & Jacobson, 1985) and that those attributions are associated with relationship satisfac-

tion (for reviews see Bradbury & Fincham, 1990; Fincham & Bradbury, 1991). Compared to

satisfied couples, couples experiencing relationship distress tend to make nonbenign causal attri-

butions for negative partner behaviors. For example, if a spouse acts cool and distant, distressed

partners are more likely to attribute this behavior to causes that are located within the partner

(internal), that are likely to persist over time (stable), and that are likely affect many aspects of

the relationship (global), such as “He’s acting cool and distant because he cares more about

himself than about me and our relationship.”And as this example suggests, distressed partners

are also more likely to hold their partners responsible for perceived negative behavior, viewing

it as intentional, motivated by selfish concerns, and blameworthy. Satisfied partners, in con-

trast, are more likely to attribute the cause of negative behavior to circumstances (external),

and view it as likely to fluctuate over time (unstable), and to affect only a circumscribed domain

of interaction within the relationship (specific), such as “My spouse is acting cool and distant

because he is tired and had a bad day at work.”Moreover, those in satisfied relationships are

less likely to hold their partners responsible for perceived negative behavior, viewing the behav-

ior as unintentional, motivated by unselfish concerns, and not worthy of blame. Longitudinal

studies demonstrate that these attributional tendencies foreshadow changes in relationship satis-

faction (Fincham & Bradbury, 1987; Karney & Bradbury, 2000), perhaps because maladaptive

attributions covary reliably with negative behavior and reciprocation of negative behavior dur-

ing couples’conversations (Bradbury & Fincham, 1992; Miller & Bradbury, 1995; see

Fincham & Bradbury, 1987,1989).

Maladaptive relationship attributions have also been linked to individual well-being,

increasing the probability and intensity of adverse emotions, such as depression and jealousy,

related to negative or ambiguous partner behavior. Although findings regarding the direct asso-

ciation between relationship attributions and depression have been mixed (Fincham &

Bradbury, 1993) and somewhat modest, causal attributions have been shown to moderate the

relationship between depression and relationship satisfaction (Gordon et al., 2005; Heene

et al., 2007), with negative causal attributions strengthening the depression–relationship discord

association. Nonbenign attributions are also associated with more fervent jealous reactions to a

RELATIONSHIP ATTRIBUTIONS FOR ONLINE BEHAVIOR2517