Physiological Predictors of Stress in Couple Interactions

Increased emotional distress is linked to greater physiological reactions. During relationship conflict, these physiological reactions impact each partner’s physiological and physical well being. This emotional and physiological disturbance has been seen in direct relationship conflicts. Even though the aspect of the conflict that these disturbances are linked to creates physiological reaction, there are a multitude of factors that can explain this arousal. Overall individual stress or allostatic load, the subjective experience of stress in the given interaction, and the stress associated with the conflict topic are factors associated with physiological reactivity within relationship conflict. Few studies have examined the impact of individual allostatic load and subjective levels of stress in particular interaction on physiological reactivity during conflict-based interactions in couples.