ABSTRACT
Problems in romantic relationships are inevitable and can be challenging to solve. This article details the (a) stages that couples typically go through to resolve their relationship problems and (b) intrapersonal (i.e., a occurring within a person) and interpersonal (i.e., occurring between two or more people) processes that facilitate movement through those stages and thus successful resolution of those problems. In particular, we posit that resolving a relationship problem requires that couples first identify the problem, evaluate and select potential solutions, implement the chosen strategy, and re-evaluate the problem and the effectiveness of the strategy to decide how to move forward. Movement through the stages of relationship problem solving is facilitated by intrapersonal factors such as affect, knowledge, relationship belief, self-regulatory capacity, and self-efficacy. Due to the dyadic nature of relationship problem solving, people affect their partners’ intrapersonal factors and thus influencing the problem solving process by engaging in cooperative and oppositional behaviours.
