Romantic involvement, self-discrepancy, and psychological well-being: A preliminary investigation

In this study, we explored the relation between romantic involvement status, actual/ideal self-discrepancy, and psychological well-being. We hypothesized that romantically involved individuals would report being closer to their ideal selves than would romantically uninvolved individuals. We also hypothesized that the reduced self-discrepancy reported by romantically involved individuals would be related to their experiencing higher levels of psychological well-being in comparison to romantically uninvolved individuals. Romantically involved and romantically uninvolved subjects rated their actual selves, closeness to their ideal selves, and psychological well-being. Results were consistent with both hypotheses. Although romantically involved and romantically uninvolved subjects did not differ in ratings of their actual selves, romantically involved subjects reported being significantly closer to their ideal selves. Furthermore, romantically involved subjects tended to report higher psychological wellbeing.