Personal Self-Expansion and Romantic Relationship Well-Being

The goal of this study was to examine how individual self-expansion (i.e., growing as a person by learning new information and seeing the self in a new light) can be integrated into and benefit a romantic relationship. Undergraduate students were randomly assigned to either a week-long self-expanding activity or a control activity to examine the effects on relationship quality. Contrary to predictions, people in the self-expanding activity condition did not have higher relationship quality scores than participants who engaged in the control activity. However, participants who completed the self-expanding activity did share their activity with their partner more often and shared it more enthusiastically with their partner. Participating in a self-expanding activity alone may not be beneficial to a relationship, but through sharing it may benefit the individual in other ways.