Work It out or Walk Away: Relationship-Specific Optimism As a Mediator between Implicit Theories of Relationships and Conflict Management

This exploratory study tested how implicit theories of relationships relate to conflict management through optimism. Among 485 undergraduates, relationship-specific, but not global, optimism consistently mediated links between both mindsets and adaptive conflict behaviors, suggesting relationship-optimism in one’s relationship is associated with more constructive conflict resolution across implicit theories.