Big Five personality traits and relationship quality: Self-reported, observational, and physiological evidence

This report explored links between Big Five personality traits and the quality of romantic relationships. Interpersonal functioning was operationalized at three levels of analysis (self-reported quality, observed emotional tone, and physiological reactivity) in three samples (dating, engaged, and married couples). Couples completed questionnaires about their own and partners' personalities and then discussed a disagreement in their relationship while being physiologically monitored. Two conceptual frameworks were examined; the first predicted that personality would be consistently associated with all indicators of functioning. The second framework predicted that personality would be consistently linked to perceived quality and trivially associated with observed emotional tone and electrodermal/cardiac reactivity. Significant associations were identified between personality and self-reported quality, and only trivial associations with other indictors.