Imagine we wanted to investigate the effects of three different conflict styles (avoiding, compromising and competing) on relationship satisfaction. We discover that relationship satisfaction is known to covary with self-esteem, so we conduct an ANCOVA with self-esteem as the covariate. What could be a potential issue with this study?
A)Self-esteem might also be related to relationship satisfaction.
B)Self-esteem might also be related to conflict style.
C)It is possible that there will be a linear relationship between self-esteem and relationship satisfaction.
D)There could be more than three conflict styles.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

By using self-esteem as a covariate, we are assuming that it is not related to conflict style, which may not be true. If self-esteem is related to conflict style and also affects relationship satisfaction, it could result in a spurious relationship between conflict style and relationship satisfaction. This means that the true effect of conflict style on relationship satisfaction may be distorted by the relationship between self-esteem and both conflict style and relationship satisfaction.

Imagine We Wanted to Investigate the Effects of Three Different