Carolina Couples Study (CC08): Observational Data on 80 Romantic Couples

80 romantic couples (160 individuals) from Chapel Hill, North Carolina participated in a two-week observational study in 2008. The study collected data through online questionnaires, lab-based structured video conversations on topics like personal disclosures and gratitude, nightly diaries, and physiological recordings. It was conducted by Sara B. Algoe at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Use Cases

• Modeling relationship satisfaction based on self-reported nightly diary data about personal well-being and partner interactions.
• Analyzing behavioral and physiological responses during structured conversations about negative and positive personal events.
• Studying the expression and reception of gratitude based on lab session video recordings and questionnaires.

Strengths

• Includes multi-modal data from 160 participants, combining self-reports, video recordings, and physiological measurements.
• Features a longitudinal component with nightly questionnaires over 14 days and a six-month follow-up survey for a subset of participants.
• Provides detailed demographic context, including relationship duration (average just over four years) and participant age range (18-57).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The sample is geographically limited to one U.S. region and predominantly identifies as White/Caucasian (74.4%), which may limit generalizability.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for specific modeling tasks.

Provenance

Source

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Sara B. Algoe

Collection Method

Observational study combining online questionnaires, in-lab video-recorded conversations, physiological recordings, and nightly diaries.

Time Range

2008

Geography

Chapel Hill, North Carolina and surrounding region (e.g., Durham, NC), U.S.A.