Registered Report Stage II: Does personality vary by relationship power? An investigation of satisfaction in diverse romantic partnerships

Power dynamics are intrinsic to interpersonal interactions. Historically, researchers studied romantic relationship power dynamics in the context of man-woman dyads, potentially confounding gender and power effects. We examined the associations among relationship satisfaction, relationship power, and individual characteristics, including dimensional assessments of gender expression and other personality and sociodemographic characteristics. We performed secondary analyses in a dataset (N = 1,750) that was diverse with respect to gender identity, sexual orientation, and relationship structure. Using complementary nonparametric statistical approaches for interactions and multilevel group analysis, we estimated the extent to which associations among key relationship features and personal characteristics vary and account for effects within- versus between-groups. Despite negligible average estimates of moderation of associations between personality traits and relationship satisfaction by relationship power, moderation was more pronounced for certain groups at certain levels of relationship power. When looking at intersectional participant groupings, there was more variation in the association with relationship satisfaction between-groups when based on identity (gender, relationship-type, SGM, assigned sex at birth) than resource indicators (age, education, leadership, SES). The findings demonstrate that person characteristics play a complex role in romantic relationships. Nonlinear models allowing composite consideration of multiple identities and sociodemographic characteristics can reveal nuanced boundaries on associations between personality, relationship power, and relationship satisfaction.