| Popis: |
In this chapter, we discuss how partners’ feelings about relationship inequity (i.e., unequal access to relationship resources, such as sex, emotional investment, finances, and family-size decisions) can cause relationship dissatisfaction. Individuals may initiate a romantic relationship with the desire to create a long-term committed relationship that is emotionally and sexually fulfilling. However, romantic relationships do not always fulfill both partners’ needs and desires, and couples often experience conflict and dissatisfaction when this happens. In this chapter, we explore both the proximate and ultimate reasons for why individuals experience dissatisfaction in their relationships. Proximate reasons include issues such as finances, cultural backgrounds, and ascribed sex roles whereas ultimate causes encompass issues of sexual conflict with others, reproduction-related conflict, and jealousy. Further, we also survey a promising area of research that suggests dissatisfaction in a romantic relationship may arise from a deficit in emotional and sexual access for one of the partners in the relationship. We conclude by suggesting that researchers explore how relationship deficits affect couples who identify as LGBTQ, pursue consensual nonmonogamy and investigate how relationship access deficits affect couples from non-WEIRD samples. Additionally, we suggest that future research examine how relationship access deficits affect abuse in relationships because such research may help deter or end abuse. |
