Does My Friend Like My Romantic Partner? Links Among Relationship Work With Partners and Friends and Physiological Implications.

Informed by the theoretical foundation of social exchange theory and polyvagal theory, we examined romantic, social, and psychophysiological functioning among a sample of 284 heterosexual, emerging adult romantic partners and their friends. Actor-partner interdependence model results revealed that both women and men reported greater romantic adjustment when also speaking frequently with their partner about romantic challenges. Additionally, men were found to have more favorable psychophysiological functioning, as captured by heart rate variability (HRV) during conversations with their partner, when men also spoke frequently to friends about romantic challenges. Moreover, men's HRV scores when talking to partners and to friends were more favorable if men perceived that friends' approval of their relationship was high. Clinical implications are presented, and social, romantic, and psychophysiological implications for emerging adult partners are discussed.