Antisociality and dyadic conflict: The mediating role of emotion dysregulation and hazardous drinking

Objective: Antisociality, a constellation of antagonistic personality styles, has been shown to increase conflict in romantic couples. However, the malleable mechanisms that underpin how antisociality drives conflict within both partners in couples remain less explored. Method: Using a dyadic framework, the present study examined whether emotion dysregulation and/or hazardous drinking explained the association between antisociality and dyadic conflict among married and cohabitating couples ( N = 962). An actor–partner interdependence mediation model was used to evaluate intrapersonal and interpersonal influences. Results: Several parallel pathways emerged involving emotion dysregulation, with higher levels of actor antisociality associated with (a) greater actor conflict perpetration through actor emotion dysregulation, (b) greater actor conflict perpetration through partner emotion dysregulation, (c) greater partner conflict perpetration through actor emotion dysregulation, and (d) greater partner conflict perpetration through partner emotion dysregulation. No evidence of chained mediation was obtained. Conclusions: Overall, these findings indicate that emotion dysregulation and hazardous drinking are important mechanisms underlying the association between antisociality and couples’ conflict; however, the lack of chained mediation suggests that their influences are exerted independently rather than sequentially. Results also emphasize the importance of interventions adopting both a dyadic perspective to account for the interpersonal nature of the links of antisociality with conflict through emotion dysregulation and hazardous drinking in couples. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)