Extant literature suggests not only that social relationships are one context in which individuals may pursue personal strivings (Rusbult, Finkel & Kumashiro, 2009a), but also that individuals may assess their marital satisfaction based on their goal-striving successes (Li & Fung, 2011). Indeed, the degree to which partners appear to be responsive to one another's goals and ideals, termed partner responsiveness, has been linked with personal and relational well-being (Reis, Clark & Holmes, 2004; Rusbult et al., 2009a). Virtues such as commitment, trust, and compassion have been theoretically and empirically associated with upward cycles of partner responsiveness and personal and relational well-being (Canavello & Crocker, 2010; Reis & Gable, 2015). Partner responsiveness has also been consistently linked with goal attainment and well-being in the context of social relationships (Drigotas, 2002). The present study sought to bridge these two literatures by examining the potential mediating role of partner responsiveness between virtues and goal attainment. Data for the present study came from a cross-sectional survey of 840 heterosexual married couples living across the United States. Hypotheses were analyzed using an actor-partner interdependencemodel (Kenny, Kashy & Cook, 2006). Results suggested that partner responsiveness partially mediated actor effects of virtue on goal attainment, but fully mediated the partner effects of virtue on goal attainment. Gender effects emerged such that the direct effects of virtues on goal attainment were stronger for husbands than for wives. These results indicate that within-dyads (Kenny et al., 2006) gender difference variables (e.g. percent of family income earned) are likely to account for these differences. Study limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Syftet med denna experimentella studie var att öka kunskapen om perfektionism genom att undersöka huruvida perfektionism går att påverka, hur perfektionism påverkar prestation samt hur olika perfektionismdimensioner tar sig uttryck i olika situationer. För att undersöka detta skapades ett internetexperiment innehållande en kort version av Pennebaker’s essay writing procedure (uppsatsskrivande-uppgift), en korrekturläsningsuppgift samt självskattningsformulär för olika perfektionismdimensioner och self-compassion. Deltagarna i studien randomiserades till två olika betingelsegrupper som fick skriva om en gång då de lyckats (pos. betingelsegrupp) eller en gång då de misslyckats (neg. betingelsegrupp). Resultatet visade på ett signifikant samband mellan perfektionismdimensionen perfectionist strivings och antalet ändringar i texten hos den negativa betingelsegruppen samt ett signifikant samband mellan self-compassion och antal skrivna ord i uppsatsskrivande-uppgiften före ändring i den positiva betingelsegruppen. Resultaten visade även på signifikanta korrelationsskillnader både mellan perfektionismdimensionen perfectionist strivings och antalet ändringar i texten samt mellan self-compassion och antalet skrivna ord i uppsatsskrivande-uppgiften. Resultaten tyder på att olika perfektionismdimensioner och self-compassion blir mer framträdande samt påverkar prestation på olika sätt beroende på om situationen är positiv eller negativ.