The Impact of Relational Depth on Subjective Well-being in Close Relationships in the Community

Abstract

Relational depth (RD)—moments of profound connection and engagement between two people—is a humanistic–existential construct, showing preliminary association with psychological growth in psychotherapy. This research investigates the impact of RD, alongside relationship satisfaction and emotional intimacy, on subjective well-being in close relationships in the community. Psychometric properties of latent variables were assessed in a stratified online sample of 497 participants in the United Kingdom (47.1% male, 52.1% female, 1% other; mean age 45.7 [SD = 15.9]; 86.5% white, 7.8% Asian, 3.2% Black, 1.4% mixed and 1% other), followed by lagged regressions, and moderation analyses to assess the role of RD on Personal Well-being Score (PWS). Data were collected at two further time points at 3-month intervals on a stratified subset of participants (n = 297 and n = 267). RD emerged as a significant predictor of subjective well-being in close relationships in the community and was moderated by emotional intimacy and relationship satisfaction. This study provides the first robust evidence of the relevance and impact of the humanistic–existential construct of RD on well-being beyond a psychotherapy context. This points to the value of practices that can facilitate RD experiences in the community.