Locus of Control in Relationships
Research-Informed
Not a relationship-specific framework, but highly relevant. People with an internal locus tend to take responsibility for their own emotional states and…
Not a relationship-specific framework, but highly relevant. People with an internal locus tend to take responsibility for their own emotional states and relationship outcomes. People with an external locus tend to attribute everything to their partner's behavior. Internal locus is associated with better relationship outcomes. Also applies to the question of whose job it is to make you happy.
Evidence
Research-Informed
Locus of control in relationships, whether you see a relationship's course as something you can influence or as down to luck and your partner, earns Research-Informed. It extends Rotter's well-established locus-of-control construct (1966) into the couple context, with a dedicated, validated measure (the Miller Marital Locus of Control Scale; Miller, Lefcourt and Ware, 1983). Correlational research links a more internal orientation to higher marital satisfaction, with some evidence that more external husbands see satisfaction decline over time. The rating stops short of peer-reviewed because the evidence is largely cross-sectional and self-report, so causal direction is not pinned down.
Origin
Julian Rotter, 1954