Most recent papers:

• What Should We Watch Today? The Role of Shared TV Watching in Couples' Daily Shared Reality.
  Ravid Haruvi, Yael Bar‐Shachar, Noam Shuv, Yahel Dan, Eran Bar‐Kalifa.
  Personal Relationships. 5 days ago
  ["Personal Relationships, Volume 33, Issue 2, June 2026. ", "\nABSTRACT\nShared reality, the experience of a perceived commonality of inner states, is hypothesized to play a central role in romantic relationships. Shared reality can be established within intimate relationships through engagement in shared practices. One common practice among romantic couples is watching TV together; however, how this activity relates to partners' shared reality has not been documented. The current study examined the effects of shared TV watching on daily shared reality construction among intimate partners, using dyadic daily diaries (Ndays = 21, Ncouples = 84). We found that daily shared TV watching was associated with a greater experience of shared reality. This association was stronger when couples communicated with each other after (but not during) watching. In contrast, shared reality was not associated with the extent to which the watching experience was reported as emotionally intensive.\n"]

  May 05, 2026   doi: 10.1111/pere.70070   open full text
• We Both Sacrifice in This Marriage! Sacrifice Experiences of Turkish Married Couples.
  Nazlı Busra Akcabozan Kayabol, Didem Aydogan, Ezgi Toplu Demirtas, Pınar Cag.
  Personal Relationships. 5 days ago
  ["Personal Relationships, Volume 33, Issue 2, June 2026. ", "\nABSTRACT\nThe aim of this study was to delve into the nuanced and subjective experiences of married couples at various family life cycles regarding relational sacrifices within the cultural landscape of Türkiye. To accomplish this, we conducted a qualitative study with 16 Turkish married couples, addressing three research questions: “How do married individuals perceive their and their spouses' relational sacrifices?”, “What are the sacrifice behaviors and motives of married couples?” and “What are the consequences of relational sacrifices for spouses and their marriage?” We conducted a thematic analysis using a codebook approach with MAXQDA. We identified seven themes: Assigning meaning to sacrifice, engaging in sacrifices across life domains, reflecting on the underlying motives for sacrifices, being seen or unseen in sacrifices, experiencing the benefits of sacrifices, experiencing the costs of sacrifices, and inheriting cultural and familial sacrifices. We concluded that personal attributions, inherited family values, societal norms, and cultural characteristics shape individuals' understanding and practice of relational sacrifices. We also highlighted that some sacrifices may go unrecognized and can be perceived as burdensome despite their benefits. This study contributes to the understanding of relationships in a non‐WEIRD context, offering a more inclusive and culturally informed perspective on relational sacrifices.\n\nÖZET\nBu çalışmanın amacı, Türkiye'nin kültürel bağlamında farklı aile yaşam dönemlerindeki evli çiftlerin ilişkisel fedakarlıklara ilişkin föznel deneyimlerini derinlemesine araştırmaktır. Bu amaçla, 16 evli çiftle nitel bir çalışma yürütülmüş ve üç araştırma sorusuna yanıt aranmıştır: “Evli bireyler kendilerinin ve eşlerinin ilişkisel fedakarlıklarını nasıl algılamaktadır?”; “Evli çiftlerin fedakarlık davranışları ve motivasyonları nelerdir?” ve “İlişkisel fedakarlıkların eşler ve evlilikleri için sonuçları nelerdir?” Veriler, MAXQDA programı kullanılarak kod kitabı yaklaşımına dayalı tematik analiz yöntemiyle analiz edilmiştir. Araştırmacılar 7 tema ortaya çıkarmıştır: fedakarlığa anlam atfetmek, yaşamın farklı alanlarında fedakarlık yapmak, fedakarlığın altında yatan motivasyonları sorgulamak, fedakarlıkta görülme ve görülmeme deneyimi, fedakarlıkların faydalarını deneyimlemek, fedakarlıkların zararlarını deneyimlemek, kültürel ve ailesel fedakarlıkların aktarımı. Araştırma bulgularına dayalı olarak kişisel atıfların, miras alınan aile değerlerinin, toplumsal normların ve kültürel özelliklerin, bireylerin ilişkisel fedakarlıkları anlama ve uygulama biçimlerini şekillendirdiği sonucuna varılmıştır. Ayrıca, bazı fedakarlıkların fark edilmediği ve sağladığı faydalara rağmen yük olarak algılanabildiği görülmüştür. Bu çalışma, Batı merkezli araştırma örneklemlerinin dışında kalan bir bağlamda ilişkileri anlamaya katkı sunarak ilişkisel fedakarlıklara dair daha kapsayıcı ve kültürel bir bakış açısı sağlamıştır.\n"]

  May 05, 2026   doi: 10.1111/pere.70067   open full text
• How Happy Are You With Your Relationship? Validation of the German Couple Satisfaction Index‐4.
  Robert Körner, Iris K. Gauglitz.
  Personal Relationships. 6 days ago
  ["Personal Relationships, Volume 33, Issue 2, June 2026. ", "\nABSTRACT\nAssessing relationship satisfaction—as an outcome, predictor, or control variable—is almost mandatory in studies on romantic relationships. This research was aimed at testing the psychometric properties of the German version of the Couple Satisfaction Index‐4 (GCSI‐4) by obtaining validity evidence based on internal structure, measurement invariance, and relationships with other variables. Data from five samples (Ntotal = 1526), including individuals and couples in romantic relationships of diverse sexual orientations, were analyzed. Across samples, we found excellent model fit in confirmatory factor analyses, high reliabilities, and good evidence for convergent and discriminant validity. Further, the scale scores were measurement invariant across gender and sexual orientation. Nomological validity was supported by examining intrapersonal and interpersonal links with 43 constructs, ranging from self‐related dispositions, relational beliefs, love and well‐being, influence and coercive decision‐making, as well as relationship behaviors. Criterion validity was demonstrated through negative links with conflict frequency and intentions to engage in infidelity. Altogether, these findings support the good psychometric properties of the GCSI‐4 and broaden the validity testing of the CSI in general. We encourage researchers to adopt the GCSI‐4 as a reliable and valid instrument for assessing relationship satisfaction in German‐speaking samples.\n\nZUSAMMENFASSUNG\nDie Erfassung von Beziehungszufriedenheit als Kriterium, Prädiktor oder Kontrollvariable ist in Studien zu romantischen Beziehungen nahezu unerlässlich. Ziel dieser Untersuchung war es, die psychometrischen Eigenschaften der deutschen Version des Couple Satisfaction Index‐4 (GCSI‐4) zu testen. Daten aus fünf Stichproben (Ntotal = 1526), darunter Einzelpersonen in romantischen Beziehungen und Paare unterschiedlicher sexueller Orientierung, wurden analysiert. In allen Stichproben fanden wir eine sehr gute Modellgüte mittels konfirmatorischer Faktorenanalysen, hohe Reliabilitäten und Evidenz für konvergente und diskriminante Validität. Die Skalenwerte waren messinvariant bzgl. Geschlecht und sexueller Orientierung. Nomologische Validität wurde durch die Untersuchung intrapersoneller und interpersoneller Zusammenhänge mit 43 Konstrukten gestützt, die von selbstbezogenen Dispositionen, Beziehungsüberzeugungen, Liebe und Wohlbefinden, Einfluss und Dominanz bis hin zu Coping, Kommunikation und Konflikt reichen. Kriteriumsvalidität wurde durch negative Zusammenhänge mit Konflikthäufigkeit und der Absicht, untreu zu werden, gezeigt. Insgesamt bestätigen die Ergebnisse die guten psychometrischen Eigenschaften des GCSI‐4 und erweitern die Validitätsprüfung des CSI im Allgemeinen. Wir empfehlen, den GCSI‐4 als zuverlässiges und valides Instrument zur Erfassung der Beziehungszufriedenheit in deutschsprachigen Stichproben einzusetzen.\n"]

  May 04, 2026   doi: 10.1111/pere.70066   open full text
• Family Functioning and Stress Among Palestinian Parents in Israel During the COVID‐19 Pandemic.
  Niveen Hassan, Anwar Khatib, Erga Kapulnik.
  Personal Relationships. 9 days ago
  ["Personal Relationships, Volume 33, Issue 2, June 2026. ", "\nABSTRACT\nThis study examined the effects of sociodemographic characteristics, risk factors (i.e., financial damage due to the pandemic, exposure to COVID‐19, and prior stressful life events), and family‐related protective factors (i.e., cohesion and flexibility) on marital, parental, and financial stress experienced by married heterosexual Palestinians in Israel during the COVID‐19 pandemic. A total of 480 participants completed self‐report questionnaires. A structural equation model examined the predictors of marital, parental, and financial stress. Notable differences were seen between predictors of marital and parental stress and those of financial stress. Marital and parental stress were primarily predicted by protective factors, mainly family coherence, whereas risk factors and sociodemographic characteristics predicted these outcomes only to a lesser extent. For financial stress, risk factors, particularly financial damage related to COVID‐19 and prior stressful life events, were the primary predictors. It therefore appears that during the COVID‐19 pandemic, and potentially in other crises, better family functioning reduced marital and parental stress. However, this effect did not extend to financial stress, although protective factors contributed to its reduction to some extent. Given that family cohesion plays a more significant role in resilience compared to flexibility in a collectivist society, culturally sensitive interventions focusing on strengthening family cohesion are essential.\n"]

  May 01, 2026   doi: 10.1111/pere.70068   open full text
• A Dyadic Score Analysis of How Romantic Partners' Self‐Control Relates to Personal and Relational Well‐Being in Daily Life.
  Tomasz Moschko, Lilly Buhr, Gertraud Stadler, Pia Schober, Caterina Gawrilow.
  Personal Relationships. 9 days ago
  ["Personal Relationships, Volume 33, Issue 2, June 2026. ", "\nABSTRACT\nSelf‐control determines well‐being in individuals, but also plays an important role in close relationships. However, only few studies investigated self‐control in dyads before. Therefore, from a dyadic perspective, our study aims at better understanding how average levels and differences in two relationship partners' self‐control are related to their personal and relational well‐being in daily life. We evaluate three competing accounts, positing that well‐being in couples might be highest when both partners exhibit (1) complementing (great partner differences), (2) similar (small partner differences), or (3) overall higher levels (high partner averages) of self‐control. To evaluate these hypotheses, 53 mixed‐gender couples (Mage = 24.29 years) individually completed daily diaries across 21 days. Multilevel dyadic score modeling largely showed evidence for Hypothesis 3 (totality): High partner averages in self‐control were related to more positive affect between and within couples, less negative affect and higher overall relationship quality between couples, and more life satisfaction within couples. However, similarity (i.e., Hypothesis 2) in self‐control was related to more closeness within couples. Together, our findings underline the importance of considering different levels of analyses (i.e., individual vs. dyad, between‐couple vs. within‐couple, global vs. specific assessments of psychosocial functioning) when studying self‐control in close relationships.\n"]

  May 01, 2026   doi: 10.1111/pere.70069   open full text
• From Shares to Social Ties: Social Media Self‐Disclosure, Self‐Presentation, and Social Benefits in a Collectivistic Cultural Setting.
  Carmen Șurariu, Katherine B. Carnelley, Claire M. Hart.
  Personal Relationships. 10 days ago
  ["Personal Relationships, Volume 33, Issue 2, June 2026. ", "\nABSTRACT\nDrawing on Uses and Gratifications Theory, this study investigates the link between social media self‐disclosure and self‐presentation and perceived interpersonal benefits. Whereas self‐disclosure involves communicating personal facts, self‐presentation describes selectively using self‐enhancing information to influence others' impressions. We conducted a cross‐sectional survey with participants from Brazil (n = 216) and Indonesia (n = 227), examining whether findings from predominantly individualistic samples generalize to collectivistic contexts. Taking the novel approach of considering self‐presentation and self‐disclosure simultaneously, we aimed to clarify their distinct contributions. Both were positively associated with perceived interpersonal outcomes: relationship maintenance, initiation, closeness, attention, validation, popularity, social support. An exploratory examination of behavioral dimensions (e.g., valence, honesty, intimacy) revealed further nuances and highlighted conceptual differences between the two. Our study extends previous literature by replicating findings in collectivistic contexts and furthers understanding of how social media behaviors support interpersonal goals.\n"]

  April 30, 2026   doi: 10.1111/pere.70064   open full text
• For Richer, for Poorer: Associations Among Financial Distress, Power Distribution, and Depressive Symptoms Amid Heightened Inequality Across the COVID‐19 Pandemic.
  Xiaomin Li, Dexia Kong, Muhammad Aamir Khan, Heather H. Kelley, Xiaohui Sophie Li, Erin K. Holmes, Jeremy B. Yorgason.
  Personal Relationships. April 20, 2026
  ["Personal Relationships, Volume 33, Issue 2, June 2026. ", "\nABSTRACT\nMoney, power, and mental health are highly interrelated in romantic unions. To further extend the literature, we integrated the family stress model and feminist perspective as theoretical frameworks. Three‐wave, dyadic data were collected from 1093 U.S. different‐gender couples before, during, and after the COVID‐19 pandemic (a period marked as heightened economic and social inequality). By conducting a Random‐Intercept, Actor‐Partner Interdependence, Cross‐lagged Panel Model (RI‐APIM‐CLPM), we first investigated how changes in husbands' and wives' financial distress, power distribution, and depressive symptoms beget future changes in one another across time. Then, we tested the moderating roles of income‐to‐need ratios. Two major patterns emerged. First, across the whole sample, husbands' increased depressive symptoms predicted wives' increased powerlessness. Second, only in financially disadvantaged families, husbands' increased power equity predicted wives' decreased depressive symptoms; husbands' increased depressive symptoms predicted wives' increased financial distress. Collectively, our analyses highlighted the necessity of addressing depressive symptoms and power distributions in preventing the downward spiral that was more often experienced in low‐income households. Such findings can be informative in the context of global economic adversity today.\n"]

  April 20, 2026   doi: 10.1111/pere.70061   open full text
• “Leftover” or Flourishing? Gender Differences in Well‐Being Among Chinese Singles.
  Elaine Hoan, Xin Shi, Julia Hu, Geoff MacDonald.
  Personal Relationships. April 09, 2026
  ["Personal Relationships, Volume 33, Issue 2, June 2026. ", "\nABSTRACT\nIndividuals not in romantic relationships (i.e., singles) represent an emerging focus in close relationship research. Gender has been recognized as an important demographic variable in understanding singles' experiences, with some existing Western literature suggesting that single women report higher levels of well‐being than single men. However, the cross‐cultural generalizability of these findings remains unclear, such as in Eastern contexts like China. China presents a compelling case for examining these gender differences due to its unique tension between traditional Confucian values that link female worth to marriage and an evolving societal shift toward individualism. As such, the present study recruited 1629 Chinese‐speaking never‐married singles (Mage = 29.41 years) via Credamo, a nationally representative data platform, and assessed multiple dimensions of well‐being. Results indicated that single women reported higher well‐being than single men, showing greater life satisfaction, relationship status satisfaction, lower desire for a partner, and fear of being single, but no differences in family satisfaction. Further analyses revealed that these gender differences remained largely robust across age, urbanization, and geographical regions. Overall, these data suggest the potential that there are culturally universal patterns in the relation between gender and singles' well‐being, whereby women are happier single than men.\n"]

  April 09, 2026   doi: 10.1111/pere.70063   open full text
• Partner Phubbing, Family Performance, and Employee Well‐Being: A Daily Contextual Examination.
  YuanJing Luo, Jing Du.
  Personal Relationships. April 08, 2026
  ["Personal Relationships, Volume 33, Issue 2, June 2026. ", "\nABSTRACT\nPrevious research has consistently identified a negative association between the experience of partner phubbing and individuals' life satisfaction. However, limited attention has been given to the contextual factors that may intensify or mitigate these impacts. Grounded in relative deprivation theory, this study examines how a partner's family performance moderates the effects of partner phubbing on focal employees' life satisfaction and proactive behavior at work. We hypothesize that personal relative deprivation mediates the impacts of partner phubbing on the deterioration of life satisfaction and proactive behavior at work. Furthermore, these negative effects are expected to be buffered when partners exhibit high levels of family performance. We tested our model using an experience sampling method with a daily diary design, collecting 728 within‐person data points from 84 employees. Results from hierarchical linear modeling revealed that partner phubbing indirectly impaired focal employees' life satisfaction and proactive behavior at work through relative deprivation. This negative indirect effect was less pronounced when partners' family performance was high compared to when it was low. These findings contribute to the literature by extending relative deprivation theory to the family–work interface and empirically demonstrating how positive family dynamics can mitigate the cross‐domain detriments of digital incivility.\n"]

  April 08, 2026   doi: 10.1111/pere.70062   open full text
• Parent–child relationships and Chinese children's social adaptations: Gender difference in parent–child dyads.
  Liangyuan Xu, Lisha Liu, Yanfang Li, Lijun Liu, Carol S. Huntsinger.
  Personal Relationships. October 24, 2018
  --- - |2 Based on data from 1,366 Chinese preschoolers aged 31–77 months from 62 preschools, this study compared differences among four parent–child dyads in parent–child relationships and the associations between parent–child relationships and children's social adaptations. According to the results, the same‐sex dyad and opposite‐sex dyad patterns were tested. The results showed the same‐sex dyad and opposite‐sex dyad patterns in parent–child closeness. Mother–daughter dyads had more closeness than mother–son dyads; father–daughter dyads had more closeness than father–son dyads. The results were more supportive of the same‐sex dyad pattern in the associations between parent–child relationships and social adaptations. Mother–child closeness predicted girls' greater social skills and fewer problem behaviors; father–child conflict predicted boys' worse social skills and greater problem behaviors. - Personal Relationships, EarlyView.
  

  October 24, 2018   doi: 10.1111/pere.12254   open full text
• Transmission of ideas about love: Filial piety, love attitudes, and romantic satisfaction.
  
  Personal Relationships. September 04, 2018
  --- - - Personal Relationships, Volume 25, Issue 3, Page 458-458, September 2018.
  

  September 04, 2018   doi: 10.1111/pere.12253   open full text
• Issue Information.
  
  Personal Relationships. September 04, 2018
  --- - - Personal Relationships, Volume 25, Issue 3, Page 299-301, September 2018.
  

  September 04, 2018   doi: 10.1111/pere.12209   open full text
• The role of attachment‐related individual differences in goal adoption for serial arguments.
  Kevin J. Carson, Robert A. Ackerman.
  Personal Relationships. August 20, 2018
  --- - |2 This study investigated the relations between attachment‐related individual differences and the adoption of interpersonal goals for conflict in romantic relationships. Additionally, it used the truth and bias model to examine how biased and accurate people are in judging their partner's endorsement of conflict goals, as well as how attachment‐related individual differences moderate this bias and accuracy. Ninety‐four romantic couples completed a measure of attachment‐related individual differences and self ‐ and informant reports of interpersonal conflict goals. Results revealed that individuals endorsed conflict goals consistent with their attachment orientations. Furthermore, they displayed biases when estimating their partner's goals, with some of these biases relating to attachment orientations. These results suggest that attachment‐related individual differences may partially guide conflict‐related goals and partner perceptions. - Personal Relationships, Volume 25, Issue 3, Page 411-432, September 2018.
  

  August 20, 2018   doi: 10.1111/pere.12251   open full text
• Parents‐in‐law's topic avoidance: Understanding the role of interaction goals and relational characteristics.
  Sylvia L. Mikucki‐Enyart.
  Personal Relationships. August 20, 2018
  --- - |2 Utilizing dual logic from a multiple goals and relational turbulence theory, this study examined parents‐in‐law's interaction goals for topic avoidance with their children‐in‐law. Data from 159 parents‐in‐law revealed that multiple and conflicting goals were associated with parents‐in‐law's topic avoidance. Furthermore, relational parameters (i.e., relational uncertainty and partner influence) were associated with the goals in‐laws pursued. Results augment theorizing on a multiple goals perspective, relational turbulence, and topic avoidance, as well as theoretically ground the study of in‐law communication. - Personal Relationships, Volume 25, Issue 3, Page 433-457, September 2018.
  

  August 20, 2018   doi: 10.1111/pere.12252   open full text
• Assumed similarity in personality within intimate relationships.
  Jie Liu, Steven Ludeke, Ingo Zettler.
  Personal Relationships. August 17, 2018
  --- - |2 Assumed similarity is the tendency to assume that another person is similar to oneself. The present studies examined assumed similarity in intimate relationships regarding the HEXACO personality traits in Denmark (N = 93) and China (N = 236). Specifically, these studies hypothesized that people assume higher similarity with their intimate partners in Honesty‐Humility and Openness to Experience compared to the other four HEXACO traits (Emotionality, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness). Results from both studies indicate that assumed similarity was higher in Honesty‐Humility compared to Emotionality, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. However, assumed similarity in Openness was higher compared to Emotionality and Conscientiousness only. Supplementary analyses indicate no cultural differences between Denmark and China in assumed similarity in Honesty‐Humility and Openness. - Personal Relationships, Volume 25, Issue 3, Page 316-329, September 2018.
  

  August 17, 2018   doi: 10.1111/pere.12246   open full text
• Support processes in same‐ and mixed‐sex relationships: Type and source matters.
  Karen L. Blair, Diane Holmberg, Caroline F. Pukall.
  Personal Relationships. August 14, 2018
  --- - |2 Research has established that social support for relationships is an important predictor of well‐being. However, the underlying assumption that social support specifically for relationships is a separate construct from general social support has not been properly tested empirically, nor has the question of whether support processes vary by source (friends vs. family). The current study (N = 1,281) used confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling to address these issues. Support was found for a theoretical model in which social support specifically for relationships predicts relationship well‐being and, in turn, mental and physical health, even while controlling for general social support. Somewhat different patterns were found by source of support (family vs. friends) and by relationship type (same sex vs. mixed sex). - Personal Relationships, Volume 25, Issue 3, Page 374-393, September 2018.
  

  August 14, 2018   doi: 10.1111/pere.12249   open full text
• Loneliness and inducing incremental theories of social interactions to produce adaptive change.
  Emiko Taniguchi.
  Personal Relationships. August 14, 2018
  --- - |2 College students (n = 388) participated in a two‐part online study (a survey and an experiment) examining the role of implicit theories in the experience of loneliness. Survey results revealed that lonely people tend to endorse entity theories of social competence and friendship. Experimental results showed that inducing an incremental theory of social competence reduced communication apprehension and increased social engagement among individuals regardless of their levels of loneliness. Inducing an incremental theory of friendship increased social engagement but did not influence the level of communication apprehension or social avoidance. Overall, the results suggest that an incremental theory of social interactions can reduce thoughts that are not conducive to fostering social connections among people in general, including lonely ones. - Personal Relationships, Volume 25, Issue 3, Page 394-410, September 2018.
  

  August 14, 2018   doi: 10.1111/pere.12250   open full text
• Coping concordance in couples.
  Rugile Tuskeviciute, Kenzie A. Snyder, Gertraud Stadler, Patrick E. Shrout.
  Personal Relationships. August 14, 2018
  --- - |2 Romantic partners' daily coping behavior can be viewed as a context for one's own coping. These three studies found that individuals were more likely to cope actively, seek support, or use alcohol, food, and drugs as means of coping when they perceived their partners doing so on a given occasion (Study 1, a cross‐sectional study) and when their partners reported using these strategies (Studies 2 and 3, longitudinal couples studies). These effects were evident regardless of whether or not one partner was dealing with an acute stressor (Study 2) or if both partners were dealing with day‐to‐day hassles (Study 3). Although these patterns are correlational, they raise important questions about how individuals choose to cope with acute stressors. - Personal Relationships, Volume 25, Issue 3, Page 351-373, September 2018.
  

  August 14, 2018   doi: 10.1111/pere.12248   open full text
• Mate preferences in Argentinean transgender people: An evolutionary perspective.
  Inés Arístegui, Alejandro Castro Solano, Abraham P. Buunk.
  Personal Relationships. August 01, 2018
  --- - |2 Transgender people provide a unique opportunity to examine the effect of biological sex versus gender identity on mating preferences. This study aimed at identifying the mate characteristics that are most and least valued by transgender people and at examining to what extent their biological sex or their gender identity determined their mate preferences. A convenience sample of 134 male‐to‐female (MTF) and 94 female‐to‐male (FTM) individuals from Argentina rated Buss's list of 18 mate attributes. Compared to FTM, MTF individuals placed significantly more emphasis on attractiveness and socioeconomic status, whereas FTM, more than MTF individuals, valued partners with a dependable character. Although biological sex differences were present in both groups, providing support to the evolutionary theory, MTF individuals valued the same characteristics as both biological male and female individuals do. - Personal Relationships, Volume 25, Issue 3, Page 330-350, September 2018.
  

  August 01, 2018   doi: 10.1111/pere.12247   open full text
• Rejection sensitivity, complaint‐related communication, and relational satisfaction: A mediation analysis.
  Timothy Worley, Jennifer Samp.
  Personal Relationships. July 26, 2018
  --- - |2 This study examines the links among rejection sensitivity (RS), communication about complaints, and relational satisfaction in intimate relationships. A total of 260 individuals completed an online survey through Amazon Mechanical Turk. RS was positively associated with complaint avoidance and negatively associated with positive politeness and negative politeness when voicing complaints. Furthermore, RS had indirect associations with relational satisfaction, partially mediated through complaint avoidance and positive politeness. The results of this study suggest that communicating complaints openly to one's partner, in concert with positive politeness (i.e., affirming the partner while voicing complaints), may help serve as a buffer against relational dissatisfaction associated with RS. - Personal Relationships, Volume 25, Issue 3, Page 302-315, September 2018.
  

  July 26, 2018   doi: 10.1111/pere.12245   open full text
• Fluctuation in on‐again/off‐again romantic relationships: Foreboding or functional?
  René M. Dailey, Brittani Crook, Nicholas Brody, Leah Lefebvre.
  Personal Relationships. October 18, 2017
  This study explored how fluctuations in satisfaction and perceived partner commitment were associated with stability measures (e.g., commitment, perceived stability, relational uncertainty, turbulence) in both on‐again/off‐again and noncyclical relationships. Participants completed an initial survey, 8 weekly surveys, and a final survey. Results suggest fluctuation in perceived partner commitment across the weekly surveys was associated with all measures of stability when moderated by relationship type; fluctuation was negatively associated with the stability measures for noncyclical relationships but positively for on–off relationships. For fluctuation in satisfaction, this same pattern was found for commitment only. Overall, fluctuation, particularly in perceived partner commitment, was not viewed as disruptive for on–off partners; rather, fluctuation appeared to foster more steady and viable views of the relationship.

  October 18, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12211   open full text
• Operationalizing relational turbulence theory: Measurement and construct validation.
  Denise Haunani Solomon, Kellie St. Cyr Brisini.
  Personal Relationships. October 17, 2017
  This study assessed measures operationalizing concepts in relational turbulence theory (Solomon, Knobloch, Theiss, & McLaren, 2016). Studies of relational turbulence in marriage have used measures developed in research on dating couples; therefore, one goal was evaluating these variables in a general population sample of married individuals (N = 1,469). A second goal addressed problems in measures of relational uncertainty by assessing alternative scales. Third, associations between relational turbulence theory variables and measures of cognitive, emotional, and communicative phenomena were estimated. Fourth, the distinctiveness of relational turbulence measures relative to measures of other relational qualities was assessed. The conclusions advance new, Likert relational uncertainty scales and highlight the validity of relational turbulence constructs as distinctive predictors of cognitions, emotions, and communication.

  October 17, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12212   open full text
• Emotion regulation dimensions and relationship satisfaction in clinical couples.
  Jennifer L. Rick, Mariana K. Falconier, Andrea K. Wittenborn.
  Personal Relationships. October 13, 2017
  The present study explored the relation between the multidimensional construct of emotion regulation and relationship satisfaction in 104 couples seeking couple or family therapy. Satisfaction was assessed via the Dyadic Satisfaction Subscale of the Dyadic Adjustment Scale, whereas the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale was used to assess the 6 dimensions of emotion regulation (acceptance, goals, impulse, awareness, strategies, clarity). Significant relations were found between relationship satisfaction and acceptance, impulse, awareness, and strategies. Relations were not always found in expected directions, and although actor effects were found for both genders, only women displayed partner effects. Findings point to the importance of considering context when studying emotion regulation and highlight the clinical importance of evaluating its specific dimensions.

  October 13, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12213   open full text
• Relationship quality influences attitudes toward and perceptions of infidelity.
  André Silva, Magda Saraiva, Pedro B. Albuquerque, Joana Arantes.
  Personal Relationships. October 10, 2017
  Do attitudes toward and perceptions of infidelity depend on perceived relationship quality? A prediction was made that there should be a positive correlation between perceived relationship quality and negative attitudes and perceptions of infidelity, and that these correlations should be stronger for males than for females. These predictions were confirmed. More specifically, strongly negative evaluations of infidelity were reported by females regardless of relationship quality, and for males with high relationship quality. Negative attitudes toward infidelity increased for both males and females in high‐quality committed relationships, but males who reported lower relationship quality had the most favorable attitudes toward infidelity. These results are consistent with an evolutionary rationale, which suggests that males' attitudes and perceptions of infidelity depend on their perceived risk of cuckoldry.

  October 10, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12205   open full text
• A longitudinal analysis of financial loss, anxiety, destructive conflict, and relational maintenance.
  Andy J. Merolla.
  Personal Relationships. August 11, 2017
  This study examined how destructive conflict behavior and relational maintenance behavior are linked to financial loss in adult romantic relationships. Based on conservation of resources (COR) theory, it was hypothesized that financial loss indirectly (through anxiety) predicts increased destructive conflict behavior and decreased relational maintenance behavior. Across three waves of data, results indicated that financial loss significantly predicted passive‐destructive conflict behavior (i.e., neglect) through anxiety. Financial loss did not, however, directly or indirectly predict active‐destructive conflict behavior (i.e., exit). Financial loss negatively predicted relational maintenance behavior, but that effect was found only from Wave 1 to Wave 2 and was not mediated by anxiety. Overall, results support COR theory and identify some of the specific relational consequences of financial difficulty.

  August 11, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12206   open full text
• A prototype matching model of satisfaction in same‐sex friendships.
  Beverley Fehr, Cheryl Harasymchuk.
  Personal Relationships. August 03, 2017
  The hypothesis that people experience greater friendship satisfaction when their friendship matches the prototype of intimacy interactions was tested. Consistent with this hypothesis, both women and men reported the greatest satisfaction when their “real‐world” friendship matched the prototype of intimacy interactions. This relation was even stronger when the friendship matched prototypical intimacy interaction patterns (e.g., self‐disclosure) than when it matched nonprototypical patterns (e.g., practical support). Thus, there is evidence that people rely on relational knowledge—in this case, complex knowledge of patterns of relating—when evaluating the quality of their friendships.

  August 03, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12204   open full text
• Predicting adaptation to parenthood: The role of responsiveness, gratitude, and trust.
  Hagar Ter Kuile, Esther S. Kluwer, Catrin Finkenauer, Tanja Van Der Lippe.
  Personal Relationships. July 24, 2017
  The influence of positive relationship processes, specifically perceived responsiveness, felt gratitude, and felt trust, on perceived adaptation to parenthood was investigated. It was hypothesized that both higher initial levels prior to pregnancy as well as increases over time in perceived responsiveness, felt gratitude, and felt trust predicted better adaptation to parenthood. Data from a five‐wave longitudinal study of 109 newlyweds who became parents during the course of the study were used. Results showed that baseline positive relationship processes before pregnancy positively predicted adaptation to parenthood up to 4 years later. Changes over time were even stronger predictors of adaptation. Positive relationship processes may buffer against stressors during challenging life transitions, improving one's own adaptation as well the adaptation of one's partner.

  July 24, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12202   open full text
• The world looks better together: How close others enhance our visual experiences.
  Erica J. Boothby, Leigh K. Smith, Margaret S. Clark, John A. Bargh.
  Personal Relationships. July 14, 2017
  People derive a number of benefits from sharing experiences with close others. However, most research on this topic has been restricted to forms of sharing involving explicit socializing, including verbal communication, emotion expression, and behavioral interaction. In two studies, these complexities were eliminated to find out whether merely experiencing visual stimuli (photographs) simultaneously with a close other—without communicating—enhances people's evaluations of those stimuli relative to coexperiencing the same stimuli with a stranger or alone. Compared to when viewers were alone, visual scenes were enhanced (better liked and seen as more real) when coexperienced with a close other and were liked less when coexperienced with a stranger. Implications for close relationships are discussed.

  July 14, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12201   open full text
• Attachment, trust, and satisfaction in relationships: Investigating actor, partner, and mediating effects.
  Josée Fitzpatrick, Marie‐France Lafontaine.
  Personal Relationships. July 14, 2017
  Romantic relationship dissatisfaction has been cited as a primary reason for seeking mental health services (H. M. Foran, M. A. Whisman, & S. R. H. Beach, 2015). An increasing number of studies have revealed the importance of romantic attachment in understanding relationship satisfaction (M. Mikulincer & P. R. Shaver, 2016). This study aims to assess dyadic trust as a possible mediator of the relation between insecure romantic attachment and relationship satisfaction within a Canadian community sample of 199 heterosexual couples. Results revealed significant actor and partner effects. Specifically, male and female attachment avoidance, as well as male attachment anxiety, predicted lower dyadic trust, which in turn predicted lower relationship satisfaction. These results add to the current literature, suggesting important gender differences in the effects attachment has on overall relationship satisfaction.

  July 14, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12203   open full text
• You deplete me: Impacts of providing positive and negative event support on self‐control.
  Courtney L. Gosnell, Shelly L. Gable.
  Personal Relationships. July 11, 2017
  We examined how providing social support may reduce self‐control. Participants who reported greater effectiveness concerns and emotion regulation while providing daily support showed greater behavioral and subjective depletion; moreover, supporting partners' negative events tended to involve greater concerns and emotion regulation than partners' positive events (Study 1). It was the act of providing support (and not just listening to events) that led to depletion (Study 2), and manipulating individuals to have greater concerns about support effectiveness caused them to show less self‐control (Study 3). Overall, the results suggest that support provision can reduce self‐control in a variety of ways (influencing persistence, focus, and feelings of exhaustion), particularly when there are concerns about effectiveness and the need to regulate emotions.

  July 11, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12200   open full text
• Work–family conflict, psychological availability, and child emotion regulation: Spillover and crossover in dual‐earner families.
  Marisa Matias, Tiago Ferreira, Joana Vieira, Joana Cadima, Teresa Leal, Paula M. Matos.
  Personal Relationships. July 11, 2017
  Work–family balance and child rearing are major social concerns. Few studies, however, have addressed how parents' work–family conflict (WFC) associates with children's emotion regulation. This study proposes the link to occur through parents' psychological availability (PA). In our model we tested both intraindividual and interindividual effects on a sample of 138 dual‐earner couples with preschool‐aged children. Our results showed that WFC related negatively to PA (actor and partner effects); fathers' and mothers' PA associated negatively with child lability and positively with child emotion regulation. Indirect effects were found for fathers' and mothers' WFC and children's emotion regulation and lability through partners' PA, controlling for child gender and temperament. These findings showed a dyadic pattern among couples' work–family balance, parenting, and children's emotion regulation.

  July 11, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12198   open full text
• Incorporating geographic distance into mate preference research: Necessities and luxuries, 2.0.
  Peter K. Jonason, Monique Nolland, Michael D. Tyler.
  Personal Relationships. July 06, 2017
  This study (N = 370) examined mate preferences in men and women using the budget allocation paradigm across traits typically studied and the value placed on geographic proximity or propinquity. Importantly, traditionally studied preferences (i.e., physical attractiveness and social status) were seen as priorities, whereas the novel trait of distance was a luxury, suggesting that people were willing to travel to find a partner who satisfies their more important mate preferences. Men valued a short‐term mate who was close to them more than women did. Prior work on mate preferences was replicated in their context‐specific nature as per evolutionary models of mate choice.

  July 06, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12199   open full text
• Staying friends with ex‐romantic partners: Predictors, reasons, and outcomes.
  Rebecca L. Griffith, Omri Gillath, Xian Zhao, Richard Martinez.
  Personal Relationships. June 30, 2017
  In two studies, we identified predictors of staying friends with an ex‐partner, developed and validated a measure for reasons to stay friends with exes, and examined the outcomes of staying friends. We identified four reasons to stay friends with exes: Security, Practical, Civility, and Unresolved Romantic Desires. Sex, sexual orientation, attachment styles, personality traits, time since breakup, and reasons for breakup all predicted staying friends. Staying friends due to Unresolved Romantic Desires resulted in negative outcomes, whereas staying friends due to Security and Practical reasons resulted in more positive outcomes. Staying friends due to Practical or Civility reasons resulted in the friendship being less likely to last in the long term. Implications for future research and clinical work are discussed.

  June 30, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12197   open full text
• Males benefit twice—The influence of equity on affective and physical attraction in couples.
  Janine Quittschalle, Philipp Y. Herzberg.
  Personal Relationships. June 21, 2017
  We examined whether relationship satisfaction mediates the association between perceptions of equity in central areas of a relationship (feelings and attractiveness) and the experience of sexuality in a sample of 93 couples. Results reveal that greater levels of an individual's own relationship satisfaction significantly predict greater levels of an individual's affective and physical sexual attraction. Furthermore, findings also provide some support for the mediating role of relationship satisfaction between an individual's own equity perceptions and an individual's own experience of sexuality within the dyad. Moreover, males benefit from the females' perception of equity in the sense that equity considerations among females significantly contribute to their partners' relationship satisfaction, which, in turn, intensifies their partners' experience of passionate and emotional sex.

  June 21, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12194   open full text
• Transferring connections: Friend and sibling attachments' importance in the lives of singles.
  Claudia Chloe Brumbaugh.
  Personal Relationships. June 21, 2017
  Broadly speaking, attachment theorists have argued that the unconscious, social–cognitive process of transference is one of the mechanisms underlying attachment stability and coherence. This study assessed the transference of friend and sibling attachments and examined differences between single and romantically coupled individuals. Attachment‐related feelings transferred to new individuals who resembled friends and siblings, and this process was especially true for single people. Having more siblings corresponded to greater attachment security for all participants, and larger friend networks buffered singles specifically from attachment insecurity. In general, friend and sibling relationships appeared to be more influential for single individuals, pointing to the importance of these significant others in singles' lives.

  June 21, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12195   open full text
• The process of family member marginalization: Turning points experienced by “black sheep”.
  Elizabeth Dorrance Hall.
  Personal Relationships. June 20, 2017
  Family member marginalization, or feeling different, not included, or not approved of by family, is a chronically stressful interpersonal process with negative mental and physical health consequences. Framed by hurtful communication, this study took an interpretive approach to understanding the process of marginalization in families. Across 30 marginalized family members, 184 turning points were reported, which were organized into 22 event categories and 4 supracategories. Communication events included disclosures, ceasing contact, and deception, among others. The most commonly reported turning points were “normative” life events such as weddings and having children. Five trajectories captured the process of marginalization. Ambivalent events and a new way of understanding the underlying motivations behind turning points are forwarded, with implications for interpersonal process scholars.

  June 20, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12196   open full text
• Resisting revenge: An investigation of reasons for foregoing revenge in romantic relationships.
  Susan D. Boon, Kyler R. Rasmussen, Vicki L. Deveau, Alishia M. Alibhai.
  Personal Relationships. May 12, 2017
  The reasons people offered to explain why they resisted the desire to retaliate when provoked by a romantic partner were investigated in two studies. Undergraduates recalled an instance when they wanted to get even with a romantic partner but chose not to and either explained their reasons for foregoing revenge (Study 1, N = 27) or selected reasons from a checklist (Study 2, N = 91). Results suggest people succumb to the temptation to take revenge when they (a) do not stop to question the morality of responding vengefully, (b) do not consider the costs of retaliating (or perceive its benefits to outweigh its costs), or (c) weigh the harm that vengeance might cause their avengee/relationship less heavily than its benefits.

  May 12, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12193   open full text
• The contemptuous separation: Facial expressions of emotion and breakups in young adulthood.
  Saeideh Heshmati, David A. Sbarra, Ashley E. Mason.
  Personal Relationships. April 24, 2017
  The importance of studying specific and expressed emotions after a stressful life event is well known, yet few studies have moved beyond assessing self‐reported emotional responses to a romantic breakup. This study examined associations between computer‐recognized facial expressions and self‐reported breakup‐related distress among recently separated college‐aged young adults (N = 135; 37 men) on four visits across 9 weeks. Participants' facial expressions were coded using the Computer Expression Recognition Toolbox while participants spoke about their breakups. Of the seven expressed emotions studied, only Contempt showed a unique association with breakup‐related distress over time. At baseline, greater Contempt was associated with less breakup‐related distress; however, over time, greater Contempt was associated with greater breakup‐related distress.

  April 24, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12192   open full text
• Impulsivity, communication, and marital satisfaction in newlywed couples.
  Kenneth Tan, Amber M. Jarnecke, Susan C. South.
  Personal Relationships. April 24, 2017
  The authors used a vulnerability–stress–adaptation framework to examine how and why impulsivity affects communication and marital satisfaction in a sample of 100 newlywed couples. We specifically examined the links between impulsivity and perceptions of conflict communication patterns and their associations with marital satisfaction. Using an actor–partner interdependence framework, the results demonstrated that impulsivity was negatively associated with one's own and partner's marital satisfaction. Impulsivity was also negatively associated with constructive communication and positively associated with destructive communication. Furthermore, mediation analyses showed that communication patterns mediated the impulsivity–satisfaction link. Taken together, these findings suggest that impulsivity is likely to lead to lower marital satisfaction, partly through its effect on communication between partners.

  April 24, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12190   open full text
• Transmission of ideas about love: Filial piety, love attitudes, and romantic satisfaction.
  Wei‐Wen Chen, Chih‐Wen Wu.
  Personal Relationships. April 24, 2017
  This study examined the relations between filial piety, attitudes about romantic relationships (love attitudes), and satisfaction in romantic relationships in the Chinese cultural context. The following research questions were investigated: How are adult children's filial piety beliefs connected to their love attitudes, and how do these contribute to their satisfaction in romantic relationships? A total of 412 college students in Taiwan who were currently involved or had been involved in romantic relationships participated in the study. Structural equation modeling showed that filial piety contributes to satisfaction in romantic relationships through the mediating effects of love attitudes. The findings advance our understanding of filial piety and its implications for young adults' romantic relationships.

  April 24, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12191   open full text
• Associations among relational values, support, health, and well‐being across the adult lifespan.
  William J. Chopik.
  Personal Relationships. April 19, 2017
  Is the link between close relationships and health and well‐being static across the lifespan, or are the benefits most evident in older adulthood, when concerns about physical health are greater? In Study 1, a cross‐sectional survey of 271,053 adults, valuing friendships was related to better functioning, particularly among older adults, whereas valuing familial relationships exerted a static influence on health and well‐being across the lifespan. In Study 2, a longitudinal study of 7,481 older adults, only strain from friendships predicted more chronic illnesses over a 6‐year period; support from spouses, children, and friends predicted higher subjective well‐being over an 8‐year period.

  April 19, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12187   open full text
• Lay perspectives on the costs and risks of forgiving.
  Peter Strelan, Shona Crabb, Debbie Chan, Laura Jones.
  Personal Relationships. April 11, 2017
  In this study, we directly investigated, for the first time, lay perspectives on the costs and risks of forgiveness (N = 130). Participants described previously experienced situations where forgiveness was costly, from the perspective of a grantor, a recipient, and as a third‐party observer. They also identified occasions when they thought it would be risky to forgive. We employed complementary quantitative and thematic analysis strategies to examine prevailing themes. The vast majority of participants believed forgiveness was risky, with approximately two thirds reporting both actual and vicarious experiences of costly forgiveness. An overarching theme was that power relations are particularly relevant to laypeople when they consider the costs and risks of forgiving.

  April 11, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12189   open full text
• What predicts first date success? A longitudinal study of modality switching in online dating.
  Liesel L. Sharabi, John P. Caughlin.
  Personal Relationships. April 11, 2017
  This study uses a longitudinal design to investigate the effects of online dating sites on first date success. Participants were surveyed before their first date with someone from an online dating site (N = 186) and again after meeting their partner in person (N = 94). As part of the survey, they also supplied the e‐mails they had sent to their partner through the dating site so their actual communication could be examined. Findings indicated that first date success was predictable from features of participants' online impressions and relational dynamics. The results are discussed in terms of their theoretical and methodological contributions to the literature on relationship development, as well as their practical implications for online dating sites and users.

  April 11, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12188   open full text
• Intimate partner support: A comparison of gay, lesbian, and heterosexual relationships.
  Lillian Ellis, Mark Davis.
  Personal Relationships. March 20, 2017
  In this investigation, intimate partner support, relationship satisfaction, and separation proneness were assessed for four types of people: men in a relationship with a woman (MRW), men in a relationship with a man (MRM), women in a relationship with a man (WRM), and women in a relationship with a woman (WRW). Men and women in same‐sex relationships received more support, were more satisfied, and reported fewer thoughts of separating than their counterparts in opposite‐sex relationships. The effect of relationship type on satisfaction was not significant once the amount of received support was controlled. The implications of these findings for understanding the support process in same‐sex relationships are discussed.

  March 20, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12186   open full text
• Seeking help from a female friend: Girls' competencies, friendship features, and intentions.
  Heather A. Sears, Susan M. Mcafee.
  Personal Relationships. March 10, 2017
  Adolescent girls frequently manage problems by seeking help from friends. We examined girls' intentions of seeking help from a female friend and whether these intentions were related to their competencies (emotional competence, self‐disclosure) directly and/or indirectly via specific friendship features (companionship, closeness). Participants included 222 Canadian girls (Grades 9–12) who completed an anonymous survey at school. Results showed that girls had high intentions of seeking help from a female friend and that higher self‐disclosure competence was linked directly to higher intentions. Both competencies were linked indirectly to higher intentions mediated by friendship features. These findings indicate that competencies make help seeking by girls from girls likely in multiple ways and suggest how coping programs can address help seeking in girl–girl friendships.

  March 10, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12180   open full text
• Stay away, but I may need your help! Mate choice and manipulation of prospective parents‐in‐law.
  Menelaos Apostolou.
  Personal Relationships. March 10, 2017
  Mate choice involves intense manipulation between the parties involved. This research investigates the manipulation tactics that individuals use in two different scenarios, namely, in order to keep a distance from their mates' parents and in order to secure their help in maintaining an intimate relationship with their children. Study 1 found 29 acts that individuals used to keep the parents of their mates at a distance and 22 acts that individuals used to secure the help of their mates' parents in maintaining a relationship with their children. Study 2 employed a sample of 352 individuals and classified the former in six and the latter in two distinct manipulation tactics. Study 3 employed a sample of 306 parents to assess the effectiveness of the different manipulation tactics.

  March 10, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12184   open full text
• Humor in romantic relationships: A meta‐analysis.
  Jeffrey A. Hall.
  Personal Relationships. March 10, 2017
  This manuscript reports a meta‐analysis of the correlation between humor and relationship satisfaction in romantic relationships, combining 43 distinct samples from 39 manuscripts and including 15,177 participants (54.7% female) with a mean age of 34.0 years. Drawing from 3 theoretical dimensions of humor (i.e., within‐person/relational, positive/negative, instrumental/content free), weighted mean effect sizes were estimated for 12 distinct subdimensions of humor. All 6 positive types of humor were positively associated with relationship satisfaction, and 4 of 5 negative types of humor were negatively associated with relationship satisfaction. Instrumental humor was unassociated with satisfaction. In support of the proposed relational dimension, self‐reported humor showed small associations with satisfaction, while partner‐perceived and relational humor showed medium and large effect sizes, respectively.

  March 10, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12183   open full text
• Situational precursors of revenge: Social exclusion, relationship type, and opportunity.
  Maartje Elshout, Rob M. A. Nelissen, Ilja Van Beest, Suzan Elshout, Wilco W. Van Dijk.
  Personal Relationships. March 10, 2017
  Little is known about the situational factors that turn feelings of revenge into actual acts of revenge. Addressing this gap in the literature, this study selected a representative sample of people who acted on their feelings of revenge (avengers) and of people who did not (nonavengers), obtaining a reflection of typical antecedents of revenge. Results revealed that avengers did not report more severe offenses. Neither did avengers report less closeness to offenders nor a larger number of audience members toward whom they might want to prove something. Results did reveal that revenge was more prevalent (a) among young, male friends and acquaintances; (b) in contexts involving social exclusion; and (c) if there was a possibility to take revenge.

  March 10, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12185   open full text
• Walking the walk, talking the talk: Love languages, self‐regulation, and relationship satisfaction.
  Selena Bunt, Zoe J. Hazelwood.
  Personal Relationships. February 24, 2017
  Much clinical work has utilized G. Chapman's (1995) “love languages” model to promote relationship satisfaction, yet the model remains untested. This study addressed this issue by testing the hypothesis that couples with aligned love languages would report higher relationship satisfaction; we also explored the role that self‐regulation played in promoting satisfaction. A total of 67 heterosexual couples were assessed on love language preference, self‐regulation, and relationship satisfaction. Results provided limited evidence that love language alignment promotes satisfaction; self‐regulation contributed greater variance in satisfaction. Dyadic analyses identified that female self‐regulation positively impacted both male and female relationship satisfaction when couples had dissimilar primary love languages, although significant actor effects were also important predictors for both genders. The outcomes of this study suggest that the effectiveness of Chapman's model may be dependent on both spouses exhibiting appropriate self‐regulatory behaviors and that female self‐regulation plays an important role in predicting relationship satisfaction for both partners when they have different preferred love languages.

  February 24, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12182   open full text
• Machiavellian flexibility in negative mate retention.
  Daniel N. Jones, Melissa S. De Roos.
  Personal Relationships. February 22, 2017
  Among the Dark Triad traits (psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism), Machiavellianism is uniquely associated with flexibility. This flexibility should result in the use of aggressive short‐term tactics only when they do not interfere with long‐term goals. Study 1 found that individuals high in Machiavellianism differed from those high in psychopathy with respect to retrospective accounts of negative mate retention tactics. Study 2 found an interaction between Machiavellianism and relationship type such that individuals high in Machiavellianism tempered the use of negative tactics for long‐term (but not short‐term) relationships. The findings highlight the flexibility of the Machiavellianism construct and its relevance to mating strategies among the Dark Triad.

  February 22, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12181   open full text
• The Communicated Perspective‐Taking Rating System and links to well‐being in marital conflict.
  Jody Koenig Kellas, Kristen Carr, Haley Kranstuber Horstman, David Dilillo.
  Personal Relationships. February 17, 2017
  Research highlights the importance of perspective taking as a cognitive ability. A growing body of research also suggests that communicated perspective taking (CPT)—or how interactional partners acknowledge, attend to, and confirm each others' perspectives during interactions—enables collaborative sense‐making of shared difficulties with significant links to individual and relational health. The purpose of the current study was to further operationalize the construct and to test the relation between CPT and well‐being in married couples' (n = 80) conversations about conflict. The Communicated Perspective‐Taking Rating System (CPTRS) was developed and tested as a reliable observational system. Findings indicate that husbands' CPT predicted wives' relational satisfaction, and wives' CPT predicted husbands' relational satisfaction. Implications and future applications of the CPTRS are discussed.

  February 17, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12177   open full text
• Attitude similarity and attraction: Validation, positive affect, and trust as sequential mediators.
  Ramadhar Singh, Duane T. Wegener, Krithiga Sankaran, Naureen Bhullar, Karen Q. P. Ang, Pauline J. L. Chia, Xinyi Cheong, Fuwei Chen.
  Personal Relationships. February 17, 2017
  Effectance motivation—an urge for certainty and a feeling of being able to know, predict, and control one's environment—was initially proposed as the mechanism underlying attitude similarity effects on attraction. However, this motivation was discarded as an explanation when positive affect was identified. The presence of alternative mechanisms did not deny a role for the validation of attitudes in attraction. Therefore, we investigated the validation of one's views by those of peers as an additional mediator and its relation with two previously known mediators of positive affect and trust. As hypothesized, validation mediated attitude similarity effects when measured alone (Experiment 1) and within sequential mediation patterns involving positive affect (Experiment 2A) and trust (Experiments 2B and 2C).

  February 17, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12178   open full text
• Analysis of group composition in multimember multigroup data.
  Thomas Ledermann, Myriam Rudaz, Alexander Grob.
  Personal Relationships. February 14, 2017
  Data from groups often have a multimember multigroup (MMMG) structure. Examples are two‐parent families with a female or male child (three members, two groups), two same‐gender and opposite‐gender peers of different status (two members, four groups), or gay, lesbian, and heterosexual couples (two members, three groups). To analyze such data, a framework called MMMG actor–partner interdependence model (MMMG APIM) is presented considering group composition. Three models are discussed in detail: the three‐member two‐group APIM, the two‐member four‐group APIM, and the two‐member three‐group APIM. Structural equation modeling and cross‐sectional and longitudinal data are used to illustrate the approach. To ease the interpretation of APIM findings, a proposal of a general classification scheme is made.

  February 14, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12176   open full text
• Testing the impact of sliding versus deciding in cyclical and noncyclical relationships.
  Charity E. Clifford, Amber Vennum, Michelle Busk, Frank D. Fincham.
  Personal Relationships. February 09, 2017
  This study investigates longitudinally predictors and outcomes of sliding (a desire to avoid clarifying the status of a romantic relationship; measured as relationship talk avoidance) among emerging adults (N = 244) in cyclical (ending and renewing a relationship) and noncyclical romantic relationships. Avoidance of relationship talk was positively associated with relationship uncertainty 7 weeks earlier and negatively related to dedication and satisfaction 7 weeks later, through decreased relationship maintenance (measured by constructive communication). We hypothesized that sliding would both predict and be predicted by lower dedication. Dedication did not predict later sliding for cyclical partners, but was associated with lower sliding for noncyclical partners, suggesting dedication may buffer the negative impact of uncertainty for noncycling partners.

  February 09, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12179   open full text
• Romantic competence, healthy relationship functioning, and well‐being in emerging adults.
  Joanne Davila, Jonathan Mattanah, Vickie Bhatia, Jessica A. Latack, Brian A. Feinstein, Nicholas R. Eaton, Jennifer S. Daks, Shaina A. Kumar, Edward F. Lomash, Melody Mccormick, Jiaqi Zhou.
  Personal Relationships. February 07, 2017
  A skills‐based model of healthy relationship functioning—romantic competence (RC)—is described. Its association with relationship and individual well‐being was examined in three studies of emerging adults using the Romantic Competence Interview for Emerging Adults (RCI–EA), which measures competence as the interplay of three skill domains. Across studies (women [n = 102], women and men [n = 187], romantic couples [n = 89]), RC was associated with greater security, healthier decision making, greater satisfaction, and fewer internalizing symptoms. The RCI–EA skill domains formed a latent factor and were associated with self‐reports reflective of RC, supporting the construct's validity. The RC construct may thus provide a theory‐driven, overarching way to characterize healthy romantic functioning that can reduce negative outcomes.

  February 07, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12175   open full text
• Attractiveness and relationship longevity: Beauty is not what it is cracked up to be.
  Christine Ma‐Kellams, Margaret C. Wang, Hannah Cardiel.
  Personal Relationships. February 03, 2017
  Across four studies, we examined the relational repercussions of physical attractiveness (PA). Study 1 (n = 238) found that those rated as more attractive in high school yearbooks were married for shorter durations and more likely to divorce. Study 2 (n = 130) replicated these effects using a different sample (high‐profile celebrities). Study 3 (n = 134) examined the link between PA and the derogation of attractive alternatives, a relationship maintenance strategy. Study 4 (n = 156) experimentally manipulated perceived PA and examined its relation with both derogation of attractive alternatives and current relationship satisfaction. PA predicted likelihood of relationship dissolution and decreased derogation of attractive alternatives. Furthermore, PA predicted greater vulnerability to relationship threats—in this case, relationship alternatives—resulting from poor relationship satisfaction.

  February 03, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12173   open full text
• Keeping calm when riding the rapids: Optimism and perceived partner withdrawal.
  Miriam Parise, Silvia Donato, Ariela F. Pagani, Dominik Schoebi.
  Personal Relationships. February 03, 2017
  Partners often encounter situations in which their needs and preferences diverge. Partners sometimes prefer to be on their own and withdraw from interactions, and these situations can cause distress. We hypothesized that optimists may navigate such situations more adaptively. Using momentary assessment and questionnaire data from 103 couples, we examined how spouses responded to perceived partner withdrawal and whether optimism moderated these responses. When spouses perceived the partner to withdraw, they reported less positive and more negative behaviors. Optimism moderated this effect beyond the effects of positive expectations, suggesting that optimists are less reactive to withdrawal. Partners with more positive expectations reported more benevolent behaviors, although they reported less benevolent behaviors on days of partner withdrawal than on other days.

  February 03, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12172   open full text
• Relational mobility and close relationships: A socioecological approach to explain cross‐cultural differences.
  Mie Kito, Masaki Yuki, Robert Thomson.
  Personal Relationships. January 26, 2017
  This article reviews how behaviors and psychological tendencies in close relationships differ between cultures, and proposes a socioecological framework to understand those differences. Our review of the literature finds that paradoxically, people in individualistic cultures are more actively engaged in close relationships (e.g., higher levels of social support, self‐disclosure, intimacy, and love) than those in collectivistic cultures. From an adaptationist perspective, we argue that one reason for these differences is higher levels of relational mobility in individualistic cultures. In societies with high relational mobility, where relationships are relatively more fragile, more active engagement in close relationships helps individuals to impress potential, and retain current, partners. We emphasize the importance of examining socioecologies to better understand close relationships.

  January 26, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12174   open full text
• Dishonest individuals request more frequent mate retention from friends.
  Michael N. Pham, Nicole Barbaro, Amy E. Noser, Yael Sela, Todd K. Shackelford, Virgil Zeigler‐Hill, Bettina Weege, Bernhard Fink.
  Personal Relationships. January 24, 2017
  Coalitional mate retention (CMR) occurs when individuals request assistance from a friend to minimize the risk of partner infidelity. We secured reports from men and women in a committed, heterosexual relationship to investigate associations between CMR requests and the sex and personality traits of individuals who request CMR and the sex of their friends. Consistent with our hypothesis, individuals scoring higher in Honesty–Humility requested CMR less frequently. We also documented that individuals higher in Extraversion and lower in Conscientiousness requested CMR more frequently. We address limitations of the research and future research directions, including tests of the hypothesis that CMR involves duplicitous behaviors that are less typical of individual mate retention.

  January 24, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12170   open full text
• Married Black men's observations of fathers' teachings about husbandhood.
  Tera R. Hurt, Jeffrey K. Shears, Margaret C. O'connor, Sharon B. Hodge.
  Personal Relationships. January 10, 2017
  It is important to investigate the ways in which sons learn about marriage from men, including biological fathers, male relatives, and social fathers. This study's purpose is to explore Black sons' observations of fathers' teachings about husbandhood. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 52 married Black men who participated in the Pathways to Marriage project in 2010. Findings highlighted developmental pathways and family processes related to modeling husbandhood, demonstrating trust and commitment, managing conflict, protecting and providing, displaying teamwork and partnership, showing love and affection, and imparting beliefs and values. Implications and recommendations for future studies are also discussed.

  January 10, 2017   doi: 10.1111/pere.12171   open full text
• Assortative mating for Dark Triad: Evidence of positive, initial, and active assortment.
  Igor Kardum, Jasna Hudek‐Knezevic, David P. Schmitt, Melane Covic.
  Personal Relationships. November 28, 2016
  Hypotheses regarding positive versus negative assortment, initial assortment versus convergence, and active assortment versus social homogamy were tested on a sample of 100 heterosexual dating couples using variable‐ and couple‐centered approaches. A modest to moderate degree of positive assortment was found for all Dark Triad measures, the highest for Machiavellianism, followed by psychopathy and narcissism. Structural modeling also showed a moderate degree of positive assortment for men's and women's latent Dark Triad constructs. Results supported the initial assortment hypothesis, meaning that couples were already similar in the Dark Triad traits at the beginning of the relationship and did not converge over time. Additionally, similarity was not due to background variables such as age and education (i.e., social homogamy), thus supporting the active assortment hypothesis.

  November 28, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12168   open full text
• Adult attachment and transportation into narrative worlds.
  Marina Rain, Elena Cilento, Geoff Macdonald, Raymond A. Mar.
  Personal Relationships. November 28, 2016
  Adult attachment affects close bonds, including bonds with fictional characters, but does it also influence the level of engagement with fictional worlds? This article aims to build on previous research on how attachment relates to narrative transportation. In Study 1, attachment anxiety, but not attachment avoidance, predicted a greater tendency to become transported into narratives, even after controlling for broader personality traits related to attachment. In Study 2, attachment anxiety again predicted a greater tendency to engage in narratives but only at high levels of attachment avoidance. In Study 3, this interaction between attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance in predicting narrative transportation was again observed when transportation was measured immediately after viewing a specific narrative.

  November 28, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12167   open full text
• Everyday emotion word and personal pronoun use reflects dyadic adjustment among couples coping with breast cancer.
  Alexander Karan, Robert C. Wright, Megan L. Robbins.
  Personal Relationships. November 24, 2016
  Dyadic adjustment is integral for couples facing breast cancer; therefore, it is important to identify its everyday indicators. A total of 52 couples coping with breast cancer wore the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) for one weekend and completed the Dyadic Adjustment Scale to investigate how dyadic adjustment manifests in noncancer‐related word use. Multilevel models revealed that partners', rather than one's own, positive emotion words positively related to dyadic adjustment. Conversely, spouses' negative emotion words and patients' anger words were negatively related to dyadic adjustment. Furthermore, focus on spouses rather than patients (spouses “I” and patients “you”) positively related to dyadic adjustment. Results revealed that dyadic adjustment can be reflected in couples' everyday word use, serving as an objective indicator of marital quality.

  November 24, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12165   open full text
• The association between conditional regard and relationship quality: A daily diary study.
  Yaniv Kanat‐Maymon, Yiftach Argaman, Guy Roth.
  Personal Relationships. November 22, 2016
  Research on conditional positive regard (CPR) and conditional negative regard (CNR) has shown that these practices are associated with some maladaptive qualities of romantic relationships. The current study investigated the associations between CPR and CNR and romantic relationship satisfaction using a daily diary methodology. A multilevel analysis of a sample of 80 individuals revealed that both CPR and CNR were negatively linked to relationship satisfaction at the between‐person level. However, at the within‐level, CPR was positively linked to relationship satisfaction, whereas CNR showed a negative association. The findings are discussed within self‐determination theory (E. L. Deci & R. M. Ryan, 2000) and highlight how motivating one's partner by providing positive regard may be satisfying in the short term but controlling in the long run.

  November 22, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12164   open full text
• Adult attachment and perceptions of closeness.
  Nathan W. Hudson, R. Chris Fraley.
  Personal Relationships. November 22, 2016
  An online sample of more than 150,000 participants was used to examine whether—in addition to predicting how much intimacy people want—attachment styles also predict how people define and perceive intimacy. Results indicated that, as compared with relatively secure individuals, people with high levels of attachment anxiety required more time, affection, and self‐disclosure to construe a relationship as “close.” Additionally, anxious individuals perceived less intimacy in relationship vignettes than did their less anxious peers. In contrast, highly avoidant individuals required less time, affection, and self‐disclosure to define a relationship as “close,” and they perceived more intimacy in vignettes than did their more secure peers. These findings indicate that people who are relatively anxious not only want more intimacy in their relationships, but they are also less likely to perceive intimacy, as compared with their less anxious peers. Conversely, people high in avoidance not only want less intimacy, but they are also more sensitive to its presence, as compared with their less avoidant peers.

  November 22, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12166   open full text
• Perceived parent and friend support for romantic relationships in emerging adults.
  DAVID RODRIGUES, DINIZ LOPES, LĺGIA MONTEIRO, MARĺLIA PRADA.
  Personal Relationships. November 22, 2016
  Positive close relationships with immediate close network members are associated with healthy adjustment among emerging adults (EA). These influence the initiation and maintenance of romantic relationships. A cross‐sectional study (N = 630) explored the role of perceived parental and friend support for the current romantic relationship in relationship quality among early EA (EEA; 18–21 years) and middle EA (MEA; 22–25 years) heterosexuals. Structural equation modeling results showed that in EEA, greater friend support was associated with greater commitment, satisfaction, and investments, and less quality of alternatives. Greater parental support was associated with greater commitment, satisfaction, and investments in MEA. This research advances literature by showing different associations between sources of social support and relationship quality in two EA age groups.

  November 22, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12163   open full text
• The association between grandparental investment and grandparents' happiness in Finland.
  Mirkka Danielsbacka, Antti O. Tanskanen.
  Personal Relationships. November 09, 2016
  There is a lack of studies analyzing the association between grandparental investment and grandparents' happiness. Using nationally representative data from the Generational Transmissions in Finland project (sample n = 2,152 older adults), this study explores (a) whether grandparenthood is associated with self‐evaluated happiness, (b) whether there is an association between grandparental investment (measured by contact frequencies with grandchildren) and a grandparent's self‐perceived happiness, and (c) whether differences in the associations between grandparental investment and happiness vary according to the gender and lineage of a grandparent. Our results show that just being a grandparent is not associated with self‐evaluated happiness among older Finns. However, a positive association was found in the case of maternal grandmothers' investment and happiness.

  November 09, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12160   open full text
• Shared and unique prototype features of relationship quality concepts.
  Mie Kito.
  Personal Relationships. November 09, 2016
  Previous research on relationship quality concepts suggests they are not as distinct as expected. What aspects are similar and distinct across these concepts? Using a prototype approach, this research identified the commonalities and uniqueness of 7 relationship quality concepts: commitment, intimacy, love, passion, satisfaction, trust, and relationship quality. The results indicated that (a) 4 features were shared across all 7 concepts, and some were exclusive to each concept, and (b) shared features were rated as more important for romantic relationship functioning than unique features both explicitly and implicitly. This research provides a framework to understand overarching and distinct aspects of relationship quality concepts and how this is reflected in people's evaluation of what is important in romantic relationships.

  November 09, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12156   open full text
• Parental attachment, romantic competence, relationship satisfaction, and psychosocial adjustment in emerging adulthood.
  Shaina A. Kumar, Jonathan F. Mattanah.
  Personal Relationships. November 09, 2016
  Research has found significant relations between attachment to parents and psychosocial adjustment. This study explored parental attachment and psychosocial adjustment during emerging adulthood with romantic competence and relationship satisfaction as mediators. In a sample of 188 emerging adult college students, results revealed that mother and father attachment uniquely predicted greater life satisfaction and less distress. Regression analyses showed that romantic competence predicted better psychosocial adjustment, controlling for attachment style and mutuality, and significantly mediated, along with relationship satisfaction, the link between mother attachment and psychosocial adjustment. Additionally, patterns of secure parental attachment, when compared with avoidant or ambivalent attachment, were associated with better psychosocial adjustment. Clearly, secure attachment provides a template for successful romantic relationship development and thereby contributes to greater psychosocial adjustment.

  November 09, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12161   open full text
• Unforgiving motivations among divorced parents: Moderation of contact intention and contact frequency.
  Esther S. Kluwer.
  Personal Relationships. November 09, 2016
  This research tests the prediction that unforgiving motivations (feelings of revenge and distance) toward the ex‐spouse are associated with less reported well‐being of divorced parents and their children when the intent to maintain contact with the ex‐partner is high rather than low. It is also predicted that unforgiving motivations are associated with more reported conflict with the ex‐partner and subsequently with less reported well‐being of their children when the actual contact frequency with the ex‐partner is high rather than low. Results from an Internet sample of Dutch divorced parents (N = 108) largely support these predictions. It is concluded that unforgiving motivations can have both intrapersonal and interpersonal negative effects for divorced parents, but only when contact is frequent or intended.

  November 09, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12162   open full text
• Childbirth pain, attachment orientations, and romantic partner support during labor and delivery.
  Carol L. Wilson, Jeffry A. Simpson.
  Personal Relationships. October 28, 2016
  Attachment anxiety is associated with greater perceived physical pain, whereas social support is associated with lower pain perceptions. Few studies, however, have examined the joint effects of attachment and support on acute physical pain in a dyadic context. In this study, first‐time expectant mothers (N = 140) and their male partners completed romantic attachment measures (prenatally) and postnatal assessments of women's pain and men's emotional support during labor and delivery. More securely attached women benefited from emotional support in terms of reduced pain, more avoidantly attached women reported greater pain when given more support, and more anxiously attached women reported greater pain, regardless of their partners' support. These results advance our understanding of which women are most vulnerable to painful childbirth.

  October 28, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12157   open full text
• Online dating system design and relational decision making: Choice, algorithms, and control.
  Stephanie T. Tong, Jeffrey T. Hancock, Richard B. Slatcher.
  Personal Relationships. October 26, 2016
  One of the most popular ways to initiate romantic relationships today is through online dating. Typical dating systems follow one of three formats, see‐and‐screen (e.g., Match.com), algorithm (e.g., eHarmony.com), and blended (e.g., OkCupid.com), which differ in the amount of individual control and algorithmic involvement they offer users. Do different features affect daters' decisions and expectations regarding relational development with selected partners? Study 1 indicated that although daters appreciated the personal control over mate selection afforded by see‐and‐screen systems, they also enjoyed using algorithmic systems. Study 2 found that blended systems provided “the best of both worlds” by offering dual benefits of control and algorithmic validation during mate selection. Findings shed light on self‐determination theory, decision making, and relationship formation more broadly.

  October 26, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12158   open full text
• The theory of resilience and relational load.
  Tamara D. Afifi, Anne F. Merrill, Sharde Davis.
  Personal Relationships. October 26, 2016
  Resilience is one of the most profound constructs across disciplines. Yet, the largely atheoretical nature of the research on resilience continues to make it elusive. A new theory of stress and resilience in close relationships—the theory of resilience and relational load (TRRL)—is advanced to fill this void in the literature. The theory bridges communicative, perceptual, and physiological aspects of stress within the context of social relationships to explain personal/relational risk, resilience, and thriving. The TRRL examines how relational partners' and family members' communal orientation and maintenance of their relationships on a daily basis influence their communication during stressful moments, as well as their appraisals of the stress. The theory also details how these communication patterns and appraisals influence personal and relational health and adaptation. Finally, the concept of relational load is set forth, which is the wear and tear that chronic stress and depletion of one's emotional, psychological, and relational resources through repeated, stress‐related conversations can have on relationships. Ultimately, people need to continually invest in their relationships to prevent relational load and foster resilience and possible thriving.

  October 26, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12159   open full text
• Capitalization in distressed couples: A pilot study and outline for future research.
  Rachel Hershenberg, Shahrzad Mavandadi, Jenna Baddeley, Julian Libet.
  Personal Relationships. September 19, 2016
  Capitalization—seeking “support” when good things happen—is linked to healthy couple functioning but has never been studied in distressed couples. We examined whether perceptions of capitalization and traditional social support related to couples' satisfaction prior to, and following, couples' therapy at a Veteran Affairs Medical Center. Perceptions of capitalization and traditional social support were associated yet distinct. Not all distressed couples had poor perceptions of support, and greater perceived support related to greater satisfaction at treatment entry. Relationship satisfaction was higher posttreatment for individuals whose partners reported providing them with greater capitalization support prior to treatment. We focus our discussion on the development of systematic research to investigate how capitalization may promote adaptive processes in vulnerable couples.

  September 19, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12154   open full text
• Outcomes of emotional support in dating relationships: Relational turbulence or sentiment override?
  Denise Haunani Solomon, Jennifer S. Priem.
  Personal Relationships. September 15, 2016
  This study tests the relational turbulence model by considering how qualities of dating relationships may polarize positive evaluations of partner supportiveness and emotional improvement following an interaction about a stressful experience. Sentiment override, which is the tendency for negative relationship qualities to attenuate positive evaluations of a partner, was evaluated as a competing hypothesis. Using a laboratory‐based observation method, participants completed stressful activities and talked with a dating partner. Results supported the relational turbulence model, such that the positive association between observer ratings of enacted support and emotional improvement increased when turbulence was high. All results for perceived supportiveness were nonsignificant. Relationship satisfaction did not predict either outcome; therefore, the sentiment override hypothesis was not supported.

  September 15, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12155   open full text
• Effects of relationship education on emerging adults' relationship beliefs and behaviors.
  Laura J. Holt, Jonathan F. Mattanah, Christa K. Schmidt, Jennifer S. Daks, Erin N. Brophy, Pauline Y. Minnaar, Katherine Rorer.
  Personal Relationships. August 31, 2016
  In this multisite study, we used a randomized controlled trial to examine how a relationship education intervention affected emerging adults' maladaptive relationship beliefs, mutuality, relationship decision making, relationship quality, and psychological distress. In addition, we explored whether one intervention modality (i.e., facilitated group discussion) was more/less effective than another (i.e., self‐facilitated online) and whether there were differential effects for participants in a relationship. We found that the facilitated group evidenced a decline in maladaptive relationship beliefs and an improvement in deliberate decision making. Moreover, facilitated group participants in a relationship reported higher levels of mutuality. Contrary to our hypothesis, there were no changes in relationship quality or psychological distress. Implications for the content and delivery of relationship education for emerging adults are discussed.

  August 31, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12147   open full text
• Relational turbulence among military couples after reunion following deployment.
  Leanne K. Knobloch, Kelly G. Mcaninch, Bryan Abendschein, Aaron T. Ebata, Patricia C. Mcglaughlin.
  Personal Relationships. August 30, 2016
  Reintegration following deployment is a pivotal time for returning service members and at‐home partners. We test logic derived from the relational turbulence model about depressive symptoms, relational uncertainty, and interference from a partner as predictors of people's appraisals of turmoil during the post‐deployment transition. Participants were 118 military couples who completed an online questionnaire once per month for the first 3 months after homecoming. Multilevel models predicting people's appraisals of turmoil revealed (a) actor and partner effects of depressive symptoms, (b) actor effects of relational uncertainty, and (c) actor effects of interference from a partner that were apparent beyond people's appraisals of turmoil during the previous month. These findings advance both theory and practice.

  August 30, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12148   open full text
• Insecure romantic attachment dimensions and frequency of mate retention behaviors.
  Nicole Barbaro, Michael N. Pham, Todd K. Shackelford, Virgil Zeigler‐Hill.
  Personal Relationships. August 19, 2016
  Individual differences in attachment bonds may influence the performance of mate retention behaviors. Because anxiously attached individuals are hypervigilant to partner rejection cues, we hypothesize that individuals higher in anxious attachment will perform more frequent mate retention behaviors. Because avoidantly attached individuals evade intimacy with their partners, we hypothesize that individuals higher in avoidant attachment will perform less frequent mate retention behaviors. Participants (N = 469) in a romantic relationship completed measures of romantic attachment and mate retention behaviors. The results provide support for the study hypotheses but also reveal that avoidantly attached women perform more frequent mate retention behaviors that deter intrasexual rivals. We discuss limitations of this research and highlight directions for research on romantic attachment, mate retention behaviors, and infidelity.

  August 19, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12146   open full text
• Remaining in a situationally aggressive relationship: The role of relationship self‐efficacy.
  Levi R. Baker, Rebecca A. Cobb, James K. Mcnulty, Nathaniel M. Lambert, Frank D. Fincham.
  Personal Relationships. August 19, 2016
  Relationship self‐efficacy (RSE) is the belief that one can resolve relationship conflicts, and it may lead victims of situational violence to remain in their relationships because they expect to minimize subsequent violence. Indeed, a longitudinal study of two samples of college students demonstrated that RSE moderates the effects of victimization on relationship dissolution; intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization was positively associated with dissolution among intimates low in RSE but was unassociated with dissolution among intimates high in RSE. Interestingly, although RSE was negatively associated with dissolution among victims, it was associated with experiencing less subsequent IPV in one sample. Ultimately, whether victims' RSE is adaptive may depend on the extent to which any minimization of conflicts eliminates violence.

  August 19, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12145   open full text
• Depressive symptoms and attribute type moderate effects of partner feedback among college couples.
  Karen Wu, Chuansheng Chen, Ellen Greenberger.
  Personal Relationships. August 19, 2016
  Previous findings on the effects of partner feedback (about the self) have been mixed, potentially due to moderating roles of individuals' prior well‐being and the type of attributes appraised. This experimental study of 118 college‐student couples examined whether depressive symptoms moderated responses to partner feedback that was either enhancing or verifying of either social (communion‐related) or personal (agency‐related) attributes. Results showed that individuals with fewer depressive symptoms reported higher relationship quality after receiving partner feedback (particularly when it was enhancing) on their personal (vs. social) attributes. Conversely, individuals with more depressive symptoms reported higher relationship quality after receiving social partner feedback (particularly when it was enhancing). Thus, individuals' prior well‐being and communion‐related versus agency‐related attributes should be considered in studies of interpersonal feedback.

  August 19, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12144   open full text
• Relationship social comparison interpretations and dating relationship quality, behaviors, and mood.
  Marian M. Morry, Tamara A. Sucharyna.
  Personal Relationships. August 10, 2016
  Social comparisons are common in dating relationships. We examined individuals' cognitive interpretations (e.g., hope for the future or one's own relationship is not doing well) after an upward, downward, or lateral social comparison to a friend's dating relationship. Exploratory factor analyses indicated three factors in the Relationship Social Comparison Interpretation scale (RSCI): negative interpretations, positive upward interpretations, and positive downward interpretations (Studies 1 and 2). Hierarchical regressions controlling for comparison direction and individual differences in relationship social comparison orientation indicated that the RSCI was associated with relationship satisfaction, commitment, and positive and negative affect (Studies 1 and 2). There were also direct and indirect effects (through relationship quality) of the RSCI, with attention to alternatives and accommodation behaviors (Study 2).

  August 10, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12143   open full text
• Tough love: The behavior control justice motive facilitates forgiveness in valued relationships.
  Peter Strelan, Jan‐Willem Van Prooijen.
  Personal Relationships. July 13, 2016
  When individuals in valued relationships are transgressed against, how are they able to protect the relationship while at the same time restore justice for themselves? Study 1 (N = 137) employed a recall design to demonstrate that when victims restore justice, the well‐established association between relationship value and forgiveness can be explained indirectly through a motivation to control future behavior. Studies 2 (N = 122) and 3 (N = 115) replicated this finding using experimental designs, manipulating two distinct facets of valued relationships: the fact that they are continuing and close. There were no indirect effects for two alternative justice motives, just deserts and revenge. We discuss implications for relations between justice and forgiveness in the context of interpersonal relationships.

  July 13, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12142   open full text
• Shifting expectations of partners' responsiveness changes outcomes of conflict discussions.
  Denise C. Marigold, Joanna E. Anderson.
  Personal Relationships. July 13, 2016
  Expecting responsiveness from a partner may increase the chance of successful conflict resolution through a self‐fulfilling prophecy. Such expectations derive in part from people's history of receiving responsiveness and from their belief that their partner values them (S. L. Murray, J. G. Holmes, & N. L. Collins, 2006). This belief can be fostered by having individuals reframe a partner's compliment in an abstract way (D. C. Marigold, J. G. Holmes, & M. Ross, 2007). In this study, 96 dating couples were randomly assigned to complete a compliment reframing intervention (or not) prior to discussing a conflict. Without intervention, couples who typically had a lot of conflict reported less positive expectations of their partner for the upcoming discussion and subsequently worse outcomes than low‐conflict couples; these differences were eliminated in the compliment reframing condition. This research demonstrates the importance of perceived value and expectations of responsiveness in shaping the outcomes of conflict discussions, suggesting additional points of intervention beyond communication skills for high‐conflict couples.

  July 13, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12141   open full text
• How work spills over into the relationship: Self‐control matters.
  Gerdientje Danner‐Vlaardingerbroek, Esther S. Kluwer, Elianne F. Van Steenbergen, Tanja Van Der Lippe.
  Personal Relationships. July 08, 2016
  This research investigated how and for whom experiences of the workday spill over into relationship functioning at home. Two correlational studies and one experimental study were conducted among Dutch dual‐earners with children. Moderated mediation analyses showed that work demands spill over into relationship behavior through the depletion of temporary self‐regulatory resources and subsequently a decrease in psychological availability for the partner. Whether work demands spill over into relationship behavior was dependent on dispositional self‐control in that evidence for negative spillover was only found for individuals low in dispositional self‐control. The experimental study showed that the induction of gratitude for the partner after the workday helped individuals low in dispositional control to prevent negative spillover into the partner relationship.

  July 08, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12136   open full text
• The green‐eyed monster: Mate value, relational uncertainty, and jealousy in romantic relationships.
  Madeleine Redlick.
  Personal Relationships. July 05, 2016
  This study drew on theories of evolutionary psychology to explore whether mate value discrepancy (MVD) would be associated with relational uncertainty (and its subconstructs) and if relative mate value (RMV) would moderate these associations, such that they would only be significant for lower value mates. Additionally, this article sought to examine whether relational uncertainty would partially mediate an association between MVD and jealousy, also moderated by RMV. Participants recruited from a large Southwestern university (N = 334) completed a survey containing measures to establish MVD, relational uncertainty, and jealousy. MVD was significantly positively associated with relational uncertainty and each of its subconstructs. Relational uncertainty partially mediated the association between MVD and jealousy, although moderation was not supported in any hypotheses.

  July 05, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12140   open full text
• Romantic and dating behaviors among single parents in the United States.
  Peter B. Gray, Carol Y. Franco, Justin R. Garcia, Amanda N. Gesselman, Helen E. Fisher.
  Personal Relationships. July 05, 2016
  Little research has focused on the dating attitudes and behaviors of singles with dependent‐age children. Using data collected from a nationally representative U.S. probability sample of single adults, we provide findings on dating attitudes and behaviors among 747 single parents in the United States, aged 21 years and older, who had one or more children under the age of 18 years. Findings show gender differences between single men and single women concerning how they balance being a single parent and make time for dating. Both single fathers and single mothers considered their child's opinion about their dating life, and most parents involved their child(ren) once they knew they wanted or had established a committed romantic relationship with a new partner.

  July 05, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12139   open full text
• Behavioral and emotional responses to diet‐related support and control among same‐sex couples.
  Kristin J. August, John M. Abbamonte, Charlotte N. Markey, Christopher S. Nave, Patrick M. Markey.
  Personal Relationships. June 23, 2016
  Members of 63 lesbian and 72 gay couples reported how frequently their partners engaged in diet‐related social support and control (persuasion and pressure) and how they responded behaviorally and emotionally to such attempts. Although lesbian women received more frequent diet‐related social support than gay men, there were no gender differences in the receipt of diet‐related social control. Results of multilevel models that controlled for body mass index revealed that all participants responded to all types of involvement with guilt and to support and persuasion with appreciation. Responses to pressure differed for lesbian women and gay men and acted as a function of relationship quality. Findings from this study may increase awareness of the importance of same‐sex partners' involvement in eating behaviors.

  June 23, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12134   open full text
• Spousal conflict resolution strategies and marital relations in late adulthood.
  Liat Kulik, Shulamith Walfisch, Gabriel Liberman.
  Personal Relationships. June 23, 2016
  In this study, we examined differences in the spousal conflict resolution strategies of husbands and wives in late adulthood among a sample of 76 married Israeli couples (N = 152). Using dyadic analysis (the actor–partner interdependence model), we examined the impacts of the strategies adopted by each spouse as well as their partner on evaluations of marital life as reflected in their assessments of positive and negative dimensions of marital life. The findings revealed that integration was the most prevalent strategy used by both spouses, whereas dominance and avoidance were the least prevalent strategies. Moreover, integration contributed most significantly to explaining assessments of marital life.

  June 23, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12137   open full text
• Avengees' perspectives on revenge: Commitment as a predictor and relationship type differences.
  Susan D. Boon, Stephen M. Yoshimura.
  Personal Relationships. June 23, 2016
  This study investigated how people respond emotionally to and make sense of the experience of being on the receiving end of an angry relationship partner's attempted revenge. Using an interdependence theory framework, we tested hypotheses concerning the role of commitment and investigated differences due to relationship type. We asked participants (N = 439) if they had experienced revenge at the hands of either a romantic partner, family member, or associate. Among those who had (N = 254), we found support for hypotheses linking commitment with avengees' affective and evaluative responses to being the target of revenge, but little evidence that these associations vary by relationship type. Possible routes by which commitment may influence people's experiences as avengees are discussed.

  June 23, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12138   open full text
• Communication with former romantic partners and current relationship outcomes among college students.
  Lindsey M. Rodriguez, Camilla S. øverup, Robert E. Wickham, C. Raymond Knee, Amber B. Amspoker.
  Personal Relationships. June 09, 2016
  This research investigates individual and contextual differences underlying postdissolution friendships by considering communication with former romantic partners among individuals in new romantic relationships. Two studies demonstrate the prevalence, determinants, and implications of former partner communication for the current relationship. Study 1 showed that approximately 40% of individuals in relationships communicate with a former partner and highlighted differences between those who communicate and those who do not. Study 2 factor analyzed reasons why people communicate with former partners and examined how the reasons are differentially associated with current relationship functioning. In general, results support the notion that under certain circumstances and for certain individuals, communication with former partners can have deleterious influences on one's current relationship.

  June 09, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12133   open full text
• The impact of social constraints on adjustment following a romantic breakup.
  Abby B. Harvey, Andrew Karpinski.
  Personal Relationships. May 25, 2016
  Following a romantic breakup, people often seek opportunities to talk with close others. Although talking with others may prove helpful for some, the social‐cognitive processing (SCP) model posits that interpersonal interactions can hinder adjustment if disclosers perceive social constraints. The current research marked the first time the SCP model was explored with regard to the dissolution of romantic relationships (N = 217). Consistent with the SCP model, social constraints were associated with greater psychological distress, and avoidance of dissolution‐related thoughts and discussion partially mediated the relation between social constraints and psychological distress as levels of social support decreased. Social support may provide a buffer against engaging in avoidance behaviors in response to feeling socially constrained.

  May 25, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12132   open full text
• It's my partner, deal with it: Rejection sensitivity, normative beliefs, and commitment.
  Ezgi Besikci, Christopher R. Agnew, Asiye Yildirim.
  Personal Relationships. May 25, 2016
  Past research has shown that normative beliefs, or perceptions of (dis)approval from social network members regarding one's romance, significantly predict relationship commitment. We investigated sensitivity to rejection as a moderator of the normative beliefs–commitment association. We tested and found support for the moderating effect of rejection sensitivity (RS; Study 1) and sensitivity specific to rejection of one's current romantic partner (Study 2) on the normative beliefs–commitment link. The link was significantly stronger for people with lower levels of RS: People who were less sensitive to rejection indicated lower levels of commitment when they perceived less network approval for their relationship. In contrast, people with higher levels of RS indicated higher levels of commitment in the face of less perceived network approval.

  May 25, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12131   open full text
• Seeking support in response to social and achievement stressors: A multivenue analysis.
  Sean C. Rife, Kathryn A. Kerns, John A. Updegraff.
  Personal Relationships. May 04, 2016
  Social support is the subject of much research, but comparatively little attention has been paid to support seeking. Moreover, what research exists on support seeking has primarily addressed in‐person support seeking, despite the proliferation of new support venues (e.g., Facebook, websites, etc.). This article uses a daily diary methodology to examine the support‐seeking behavior men (N = 41) and women (N = 97) exhibit in response to various types of stressors. Results indicate that (a) in‐person support seeking remains the most popular form; (b) compared to achievement stressors, social stressors are more likely to result in emotional support seeking rather than instrumental support seeking; and (c) men may engage in more support seeking than has been previously suggested by the literature, particularly in electronic venues.

  May 04, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12130   open full text
• The action model of relationship security: How one's own behavior shapes confidence in partners' care, regard, and commitment.
  Edward P. Lemay, Heather J. Muir.
  Personal Relationships. April 29, 2016
  The authors present and test the action model of relationship security, which predicts that people's behavior toward a relationship partner shapes their security regarding that partner's care, regard, and commitment. Specifically, actors who enact prosocial or antisocial behavior develop corresponding prosocial or antisocial metaperceptions (i.e., they believe they are viewed as prosocial or antisocial by their partner). In turn, these metaperceptions have a strong influence on actors' security in their partner's care, regard, and commitment due to lay theories positing that prosocial and antisocial behavior impacts others' sentiments. Four studies supported this model. Moreover, findings suggest that prosocial metaperceptions buffer the harmful effects of attachment anxiety on relationship security. This research suggests the relevance of own behavior for relationship security.

  April 29, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12129   open full text
• Attachment insecurity and inducing guilt to produce desired change in romantic partners.
  Shanuki D. Jayamaha, Christian Antonellis, Nickola C. Overall.
  Personal Relationships. April 13, 2016
  Three studies examined the links between attachment insecurity and the use and effectiveness of inducing guilt to produce change in romantic partners (negative‐indirect partner regulation strategies). Individuals higher in attachment anxiety engaged in more negative‐indirect partner regulation strategies (Studies 1–3), but the effectiveness of negative‐indirect strategies depended on targeted partners' attachment avoidance. Targets higher in attachment avoidance reported regulation agents were less successful (Study 1) and reported less motivation to change across time (Study 2) when agents used more negative‐indirect regulation strategies. Negative‐indirect strategies during couples' conflict discussions were also associated with lower problem resolution when targets were higher in avoidance (Study 3). These results provide the first demonstration that target characteristics moderate the effectiveness of negative‐indirect regulation strategies.

  April 13, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12128   open full text
• Peer victimization and depression in Greek preadolescents: Personality and attachment as moderators.
  Constantinos M. Kokkinos, Ioanna P. Voulgaridou, Nikolaos D. Koukoutsis, Angelos Markos.
  Personal Relationships. April 13, 2016
  The study examined 2 plausible models of the predictive association between depressive symptoms and peer victimization, both physical and relational, with personality (Big Five), attachment style, and gender as moderators in a nonclinical sample of 282 Greek preadolescents. Results indicated that depressive symptoms, victimization, and Big Five traits were significantly associated. Moderation analyses indicated that only extraversion and perceived secure attachment moderated the relationship between victimization and depression. Preadolescents low on extraversion and those insecurely attached were more vulnerable to the negative effects of victimization on depression. High levels of conscientiousness moderated the negative influences of depression on victimization. Results are discussed in terms of their practical implications.

  April 13, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12126   open full text
• A paradox of support seeking and support response among gays and lesbians.
  Stacey L. Williams, Sheri L. Laduke, Kathleen A. Klik, David W. Hutsell.
  Personal Relationships. April 13, 2016
  Individuals that perceive stigma surrounding their identity and fear rejection of support requests may experience a paradox whereby they seek support indirectly from support networks (friends and family) to avoid rejection and are met with unsupportive responses. This study extended this paradox to sexual minorities using survey data from a sample of 133 individuals self‐identified as gay and lesbian. Results of structural equation modeling showed self‐stigma and fear of support rejection linked to increased indirect support seeking, which in turn explained unsupportive network responses, providing support for a paradox among gays and lesbians. Findings may have implications for interventions to improve support exchanges in the lives of sexual minorities.

  April 13, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12127   open full text
• Mexican American emerging adults' relationships with siblings and dimensions of familism values.
  Sarah E. Killoren, Edna C. Alfaro, Gabrielle Kline.
  Personal Relationships. April 13, 2016
  We used a person‐oriented approach to describe the profiles of Mexican American emerging adults' relationships with siblings using affective/behavioral qualities (e.g., positivity) and relationship maintenance strategies (e.g., communication frequency) and to examine how profiles of sibling relationships were related to dimensions of Mexican American emerging adults' familism values. Using data from 186 Mexican American emerging adults (Mage = 21.56), we conducted latent profile analyses and identified three profiles of emerging adults' relationships with siblings: moderate (n = 106), positive/involved (n = 64), and negative/distant (n = 16). Our findings suggest that the majority of emerging adults in our study reported close relationships with siblings and dimensions of familism values were differentially associated with profiles of sibling relationship qualities.

  April 13, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12125   open full text
• Predictors of motivation to comply with social referents regarding one's romantic relationship.
  Paul E. Etcheverry, Christopher R. Agnew.
  Personal Relationships. March 25, 2016
  This research examined predictors of motivation to comply with social referents regarding one's romantic relationship. Two variables are argued to predict motivation to comply with the opinions of social network members: (a) social consequences of compliance and (b) perceived relationship expertise. Three studies examined the association of these variables with motivation to comply. Study 1 used survey research to demonstrate that these variables predict motivation to comply. Studies 2 and 3 experimentally manipulated social consequences of compliance and perceived relationship expertise, respectively, providing evidence of a causal connection between these variables and motivation to comply. Across three studies, the results support the role of social consequences of compliance and perceived relationship expertise in understanding social influences on romantic decision making.

  March 25, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12121   open full text
• Maternal values and parenting and Estonian, German, and Russian adolescents' friendship satisfaction.
  Anni Tamm, Kairi Kasearu, Tiia Tulviste, Gisela Trommsdorff.
  Personal Relationships. March 18, 2016
  The study examined the extent to which the sociocultural context shapes mothers' values and parenting patterns and moderates associations between adolescents' perceptions of mothers' acceptance and control and adolescents' friendship satisfaction. Questionnaire data were collected from a total of 834 Estonian, German, and Russian middle adolescents and their mothers. The findings indicated culture‐specific patterns and meanings of parenting. In all cultures, mothers who valued interdependence more highly considered children's social‐oriented characteristics more important. German and Russian maternal behavior was linked to their parenting goals. For instance, German mothers who considered adolescents' obedience more important were more controlling. Although boys and girls perceived mothers' behavior somewhat differently, maternal acceptance (but not control) predicted both boys' and girls' friendship satisfaction in all cultures.

  March 18, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12123   open full text
• Dual trajectories of maternal parenting stress and marital intimacy during toddlerhood.
  Charlene E. Chester, Alysia Y. Blandon.
  Personal Relationships. March 17, 2016
  Parenting stress disrupts both parenting and child adjustment. Marital intimacy is often conceptualized as a source of support that may reduce parenting stress. We examined the association between mothers' trajectories of parenting stress and marital intimacy when their children were 15–36 month old. We also explored whether maternal depressive symptoms at 15 months accounted for individual differences concurrently or in the trajectories of parenting stress and marital intimacy. Mothers' marital intimacy was negatively associated with their concurrent levels of parenting stress and declines in parenting stress over time. Depressive symptoms were associated with 15‐month parenting stress and marital intimacy. Overall, intimacy within the marriage appears to be a resource that reduces mothers' parenting stress during the toddler years

  March 17, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12122   open full text
• A good story: Men's storytelling ability affects their attractiveness and perceived status.
  John K. Donahue, Melanie C. Green.
  Personal Relationships. March 09, 2016
  Three studies examined gender differences in the effect of storytelling ability on perceptions of a person's attractiveness as a short‐term and long‐term romantic partner. In Study 1, information about a potential partner's storytelling ability was provided. Study 2 participants read a good or poor story supposedly written by a potential partner. Results suggested that only women's attractiveness assessments of men as a long‐term date increased for good storytellers. Storytelling ability did not affect men's ratings of women nor did it affect ratings of short‐term partners. Study 3 suggested that the effect of storytelling ability on long‐term attractiveness for male targets may be mediated by perceived status. Storytelling ability appears to increase perceived status and thus helps men attract long‐term partners.

  March 09, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12120   open full text
• Generalizing disposability: Residential mobility and the willingness to dissolve social ties.
  Omri Gillath, Lucas A. Keefer.
  Personal Relationships. February 22, 2016
  Four studies examined whether residential mobility (RM) leads people to view objects as disposable and, in turn, view social ties as disposable. Study 1 showed that tendencies to dispose of objects and social ties are related. Study 2 demonstrated that a history of RM increases the willingness to dispose of objects and, through that, dispose of social ties. Study 3 showed that increasing the sense of RM increases the willingness to dispose of objects and, through this, dispose of social ties. Study 4 showed that the relational aspect of RM is crucial in affecting relational disposability. Our findings extend research on RM and support Lewin's (1936) conceptualization of mobility being associated with ease of disposing social ties.

  February 22, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12119   open full text
• Long‐term partners' relationship satisfaction and their perceptions of each other's attachment insecurities.
  Fernando Molero, Phillip R. Shaver, Itziar Fernández, Itziar Alonso‐Arbiol, Patricia Recio.
  Personal Relationships. February 19, 2016
  In this research, we examined actors' and partners' perceptions of each other's attachment insecurities and the associations of these perceptions with relationship satisfaction. A sample of 148 heterosexual couples completed measures of self and partner attachment insecurities and relationship satisfaction. Results indicate that partners agree in their perceptions of their own and each other's attachment insecurities (anxiety and avoidance). Based on the actor–partner interdependence model (APIM), we also found that both actors' scores on avoidance and their perceptions of their partner's degree of avoidanc are associated with lower relationship satisfaction. Finally, we found that the way an actor perceives his or her partner's avoidance plays a mediational role in the association between partner's self‐reported avoidance and actor's relationship satisfaction.

  February 19, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12117   open full text
• Men's sociosexuality is sensitive to changes in mate availability.
  Steven Arnocky, Nathan Woodruff, David P. Schmitt.
  Personal Relationships. February 19, 2016
  Correlational research has linked mate availability to human sexual behavior, whereby unrestricted sociosexuality seems to be most common under conditions of female abundance. In this study, 71 heterosexual men were randomly assigned to one of two mate availability priming conditions, mate scarcity or mate abundance, and subsequently completed measures of sociosexuality as well as infidelity intentions. Results indicated that men in the mate abundance condition reported stronger sociosexual attitudes and desires, and among those currently in relationships, stronger infidelity intentions. These findings were contrasted with those from a separate sample of 66 heterosexual undergraduate women. Mate scarcity had no effects on women's sociosexuality or infidelity intentions. Findings suggest that when mates are scarce, men will adopt a sociosexual orientation aimed at maintaining a single partner.

  February 19, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12118   open full text
• Predictors of alcohol consumption on dates and sense of intimacy.
  Sonia H. L. Ip, Bernd G. Heubeck.
  Personal Relationships. February 10, 2016
  The drinking culture in Western societies infiltrates many aspects of life, including early romantic relationships. This study investigated factors that predict drinking on dates and the impact of date drinking on feelings of intimacy. Regression analyses of questionnaire data revealed that expectancies, general drinking tendencies, and partner's drinking as well as their interactions with gender and ethnicity contributed to explaining alcohol consumption on dates. Intimacy was significantly predicted by alcohol usage on dates, but the effects of drinking by self and partner varied by gender. Women's own drinking positively predicted their sense of intimacy, but their partner's drinking was linked to decreased intimacy. Men's reports showed significant effects but in the opposite direction. The Discussion section considers implications for dating and future research.

  February 10, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12115   open full text
• Four‐model approach to adolescent–parent attachment relationships and adolescents' loneliness, school belonging, and teacher appraisal.
  Michal Al‐Yagon, Daphne Kopelman‐Rubin, Anat Brunstein Klomek, Mario Mikulincer.
  Personal Relationships. February 10, 2016
  This study tested monotropy, hierarchy, independence, and integration conceptual models of adolescent–mother and adolescent–father attachment to explain adolescents' perceived social interrelationships with extrafamilial attachment figures (peers, teachers). Participants included 356 Israeli adolescents (12–15 years). More adolescents were significantly classified as securely attached to mothers than to fathers, but high concordances emerged. Results supported two of the attachment models, hierarchy and integration, as explaining variation in adolescents' perceived extrafamilial interrelationships. As per the hierarchy attachment model, adolescent–mother attachment outweighed adolescent–father attachment to some extent in predicting adolescents' perceived social interrelationship measures. As per the integration attachment model, significant differences emerged on most social interrelationship measures between the 4 distinct subgroups: secure attachment to both parents, neither, only father, only mother. The Discussion section focuses on the unique importance of attachment to each parent for typically developing junior high students.

  February 10, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12116   open full text
• Self‐esteem and caregiving in romantic relationships: Self‐ and partner perceptions.
  Darin J. Knapp, Jared A. Durtschi, Charity E. Clifford, Jonathan G. Kimmes, Patricia Barros‐Gomes, Jonathan Sandberg.
  Personal Relationships. February 05, 2016
  Self‐esteem may be associated with romantic partners' experience of emotional support and caregiving. Using a sample of 6,385 heterosexual couples in committed relationships gathered from the RELATionship Evaluation (RELATE) data set (see www.relate‐institute.org), structural equation modeling was used to compare two actor–partner interdependence models examining the associations between both partners' self‐esteem and perceptions of partner caregiving responsiveness (i.e., accessibility, responsiveness, and engagement). Male and female self‐esteem was significantly related to partners' caregiving responsiveness while controlling for family‐of‐origin attachment experiences and relationship stability. Female self‐esteem was also significantly associated with females' caregiving responsiveness. These findings yield important implications, demonstrating that higher self‐esteem may be associated with improved caregiving behaviors between romantic partners. Relevant implications and future research directions are discussed.

  February 05, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12114   open full text
• Truth and bias in daily judgments of support receipt between romantic partners.
  Eran Bar‐Kalifa, Eshkol Rafaeli, Haran Sened.
  Personal Relationships. January 14, 2016
  The perception that a partner is supportive, tied to beneficial relational and personal outcomes, may be shaped by reality (the partner's actual support) but is often also biased. Using T. V. West and D. A. Kenny's (2011) truth‐and‐bias model, the balance between truth and one bias type—the tendency to maintain perceived mutuality by projecting one's own supportiveness onto one's partner—was examined. It was hypothesized that this balance will be altered by the behavior's psychological significance and by the scope of the behavior being judged. In a 35‐day diary, 80 couples reported perceived and provided emotional/practical support. Participants' judgments included less biased projection when they addressed behaviors of lower emotional significance or greater contextual specificity.

  January 14, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12110   open full text
• Dynamics of perceived social network support for same‐sex versus mixed‐sex relationships.
  Diane Holmberg, Karen L. Blair.
  Personal Relationships. January 14, 2016
  Individuals in mixed‐sex (n = 248) and same‐sex (n = 159) romantic relationships completed several online questions for each member of their social network, including the member's perceived support for their romantic relationship. Those in same‐sex relationships perceived less support for their relationship, but only from family members, not from friends. Levels of relationship support were lower among subjectively more distant network members than among closer network members. As hypothesized, associations between perceived support for the relationship and relationship, mental, and physical well‐being were weaker for those in same‐sex compared to mixed‐sex relationships. Principles of social network management and attributional ambiguity were used to explain the findings.

  January 14, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12111   open full text
• Love styles, coping, and relationship satisfaction: A dyadic approach.
  Ana Vedes, Peter Hilpert, Fridtjof W. Nussbeck, Ashley K. Randall, Guy Bodenmann, Wolfgang R. Lind.
  Personal Relationships. January 14, 2016
  Romantic partners have different attitudes on what love is and what it means to be in a romantic relationship. These attitudes are conceptualized as love styles that relate to relationship‐maintenance behaviors and relationship satisfaction. Specifically, love styles could be associated with how partners cope with stress (dyadic coping), which in turn may be associated with relationship satisfaction. Using self‐report data from 92 heterosexual couples, findings showed that: (a) eros and agape love styles have positive direct effects on dyadic coping and relationship satisfaction, whereas ludus has a negative direct effect on dyadic coping and relationship satisfaction and (b) dyadic coping partially mediated the association between love styles and relationship satisfaction. Overall, associations were stronger for women than for men.

  January 14, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12112   open full text
• Discussion of care, contribution, and perceived (in)gratitude in the family caregiver and sibling relationship.
  L. M. Amaro, K. I. Miller.
  Personal Relationships. January 14, 2016
  This qualitative analysis focuses on the discussion of care, division of labor, and perceptions of gratitude and ingratitude between an adult primary caregiver of an elderly parent and his or her sibling(s). Interviews with 20 caregivers addressed the following questions: When do caregivers feel appreciated or unappreciated by siblings? How do siblings communicate that appreciation? How does gratitude influence the experience of caregiving and family relationships during caregiving? Findings revealed that gratitude was manifested through verbal and behavioral expressions, with antithetical communication that left the caregiver feeling unappreciated. Verbal expressions of gratitude included a simple “thank you,” thanks for what the caregiver does, and for who the caregiver is. The inverse of these expressions included neglecting to say “thank you,” failing to identify the extent of the caregiver's work, and communicating criticism. Behavioral expressions took the form of following through on promises, and failing to do so presented as ingratitude.

  January 14, 2016   doi: 10.1111/pere.12113   open full text
• Family process: Early child emotionality, parenting stress, and couple relationship quality.
  M. Blake Berryhill, Kristy L. Soloski, Jared A. Durtschi, Rebekah Reyes Adams.
  Personal Relationships. November 30, 2015
  Guided by family systems theory, we used couple data (N = 1,778) from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine the link between perceived infant negative emotionality, parenting stress, and couple relationship quality when the child was 1, 3, and 5 years. Using a latent actor–partner interdependence model, we tested dyadic direct and indirect effects for married and cohabiting couples. Parents who reported higher levels of perceived infant negative emotionality at age 1 had higher parenting stress at age 3. Mothers' and fathers' parenting stress at age 3 predicted lower levels of their own couple relationship quality and their partner's relationship quality at age 5. Parenting stress mediated the relation between perceived infant emotionality and couple relationship quality.

  November 30, 2015   doi: 10.1111/pere.12109   open full text
• Measuring what counts: Development of a new four‐category measure of adult attachment.
  Elaine Scharfe.
  Personal Relationships. November 20, 2015
  Measurement issues have plagued attachment research over the past 30 years. Concerns range from limitations of the original paragraph measure (C. Hazan & P. R. Shaver, 1987), low reliability of continuous scales of Bartholomew's 4‐category measure, limited interpretation of the 2 dimensions of the Experience of Close Relationships and the Experience of Close Relationships‐Revised (ECR/ECR‐R; K. A. Brennan, C. L. Clark, & P. R. Shaver, 1998; R. C. Fraley, N. G. Waller, & K. A. Brennan, 2000), and time‐consuming coding of attachment interviews. In this article, a revision of the Relationship Scales Questionnaire (RSQ) is introduced. The new 4‐category scales were found to have improved internal consistency when compared with the original RSQ scales as well as moderate to high test–retest reliability and good construct validity, thereby providing an alternative measure for researchers who are interested in assessing the effects of the 4‐category model of attachment.

  November 20, 2015   doi: 10.1111/pere.12105   open full text
• Reducing social pain: Sex differences in the impact of physical pain relievers.
  Anita L. Vangelisti, James W. Pennebaker, Nicholas Brody, Trey D. Guinn.
  Personal Relationships. May 11, 2014
  There is evidence that social pain or “hurt feelings” and physical pain share the same neural system. Although researchers have found that a physical pain reliever can reduce social pain, studies suggest that sex differences may influence these findings. Our results indicate that women who took ibuprofen felt less hurt or social pain when they were excluded from a game and when they relived a painful experience than did women who took a placebo. Men who took the pain reliever, by contrast, felt more hurt in both situations than did those who took the placebo. Further, the sex difference revealed in men's and women's ratings of their social pain was reflected in their open‐ended verbal descriptions of social and physical pain.

  May 11, 2014   doi: 10.1111/pere.12036   open full text
• The role of hope in conflict management and relational maintenance.
  Andy J. Merolla.
  Personal Relationships. May 08, 2014
  Rooted in hope theory, this study examined how dispositional and relationship‐specific hope influence communication in romantic relationships. In Study 1a, dispositional hope was positively associated with active and constructive conflict responses and negatively associated with passive and destructive conflict responses. In Study 1b, dispositional hope was mainly a positive predictor of active and constructive responses. Hope was also found to predict certain relational maintenance behaviors. Study 2 then examined the influence of hope in specific relational conflict episodes. Dispositional and relationship‐specific hope predicted unique variance in conflict goals and styles. High‐ relative to low‐hope individuals reported more prorelationship goals and fewer hostility‐domination goals. They also reported greater integrative problem solving and less personal attacking, withdrawal, and third‐party assistance.

  May 08, 2014   doi: 10.1111/pere.12037   open full text
• Romantic relationship status biases the processing of an attractive alternative's behavior.
  Mariko L. Visserman, Johan C. Karremans.
  Personal Relationships. May 07, 2014
  The present research examines whether romantically involved individuals process behavioral information of attractive alternatives in a biased manner. When presented with behavioral information of an attractive mate, in Study 1 involved (vs. uninvolved) participants tended to recall fewer positive behaviors of an attractive alternative. Study 2 demonstrated that involved participants recalled more negative behaviors, and also evaluated these behaviors more negatively, compared to uninvolved participants. Study 3 demonstrated that romantically involved participants recalled more negative (but also neutral) behaviors when it concerned behaviors displayed by an attractive alternative as compared to a same‐sex other. These findings provide initial evidence for biased processing of behavioral information of an alternative mate, which may serve an important relationship protection function.

  May 07, 2014   doi: 10.1111/pere.12035   open full text
• Touch attitudes in cross‐sex friendships: We're just friends.
  Michael J. Miller, Amanda Denes, Brianna Diaz, Yerina Ranjit.
  Personal Relationships. April 26, 2014
  Results from this survey indicated that within heterosexual cross‐sex friendships, perceptions of friendship intimacy for females were more strongly tied to their positive attitudes toward: enacting and receiving more touch, enacting and receiving more safe haven (e.g., caretaking) touch, and perceiving touch as more sexually arousing, when compared to males. Females were more motivated not to touch their cross‐sex friends in public regardless of intimacy perceptions and did not positively perceive safe haven touch if they did not have a romantic partner. It is argued that males' and females' attitudes toward touch in cross‐sex friendships diverge due to evolved differences related to parental investment and the manner in which they are socialized to perceive their roles in cross‐sex friendships.

  April 26, 2014   doi: 10.1111/pere.12033   open full text
• Explicit thoughts of security activate implicit self‐doubt in anxiously attached participants.
  Julie L. Peterson.
  Personal Relationships. April 13, 2014
  People high in attachment‐related anxiety experience greater anxieties and ambivalence (e.g., M. Mikulincer, P. R. Shaver, N. Bar‐On, & T. Ein‐Dor, ) when feelings of relationship security are activated. The current research suggests that anxiously attached people also experience a decrease in implicit feelings of self‐worth. Across two studies participants high (vs. low) in attachment anxiety reported more negative implicit self‐evaluations after thinking about a time they felt loved and cared for by a close other. Study 2 further revealed that more negative implicit self‐evaluations are not a function of differences in the type of events recalled by high anxiety participants. These latter results suggest that security‐enhancing thoughts automatically activate a negative association with the self that is not consciously reflected in participants' written responses.

  April 13, 2014   doi: 10.1111/pere.12027   open full text
• Relationship status moderates avoidant attachment differences in positive emotion decoding accuracy.
  Konstantinos Kafetsios, Panoraia Andriopoulos, Aspasia Papachiou.
  Personal Relationships. April 11, 2014
  We investigated attachment differences in the perception of facial emotion expressions. Participants completed a dimensional assessment of adult attachment and recognition accuracy tasks for positive and negative facial emotion expressions. Consistently, avoidant participants who were in romantic relationships, in comparison to singles, had lower decoding accuracy for facial expressions of positive emotions. The results were in line with the hypothesis that being in relationship functions as a naturalistic prime of avoidant persons' defensive tendency to ignore affiliative signals, facial expressions of positive emotion in this instance. The results inform emerging research on attachment and emotion perception by highlighting the role of perceivers' motivated social cognitions.

  April 11, 2014   doi: 10.1111/pere.12026   open full text
• The actor–partner interdependence model for categorical dyadic data: A user‐friendly guide to GEE.
  Tom Loeys, William Cook, Olivia De Smet, Anne Wietzker, Ann Buysse.
  Personal Relationships. April 11, 2014
  The actor–partner interdependence model (APIM) has been widely used for the analysis of pairs of individuals who interact with each other. The goal of this article is to detail in a nontechnical way how the APIM for binary or count outcomes can be implemented and how actor and partner effects can be estimated using generalized estimating equations (GEE) methodology. Both SPSS‐ and SAS‐syntax needed to estimate the model and the interpretation of the output are illustrated using data from a study exploring the effect of satisfaction with the relationship before the breakup on unwanted pursuit behavior after the breakup in formerly married partners. The use of this GEE method will allow researchers to test a wide array of research hypotheses.

  April 11, 2014   doi: 10.1111/pere.12028   open full text
• Support marshaling for romantic relationships: Empirical validation of a support marshaling typology.
  John P. Crowley, Meara H. Faw.
  Personal Relationships. April 11, 2014
  Research has demonstrated that network support for a romantic relationship often plays a crucial role in the relationship's success. Despite this knowledge, it is not uncommon for romantic couples to encounter network opposition for their relationship, and little research has evaluated what the romantic partners do in this situation. Using “social contextual theory” as its foundation (M. R. Parks, , ), this study evaluates a previously proposed typology (J. P. Crowley, ) explicating the variety of strategies an individual can use to marshal support for his or her romantic relationship. In addition, the study examines different variables that can influence an individual's decision to use certain support marshaling strategies. Future applications of the typology and its implications are also explored.

  April 11, 2014   doi: 10.1111/pere.12029   open full text
• Attraction to attachment insecurity: Flattery, appearance, and status's role in mate preferences.
  Claudia Chloe Brumbaugh, Alison Baren, Peryl Agishtein.
  Personal Relationships. April 11, 2014
  Research has shown that people select securely attached individuals as their first choice when asked to choose among secure or insecure partner prototypes. Despite this pattern, not everyone chooses a secure partner in real life. The goal of the reported studies was to examine factors that lead people to select insecure mates. Specifically, the roles of flattery, appearance, and status were assessed. In the first study, we found that flattery increased attraction to insecure partners. Study 2 showed that men preferred physical beauty over security. In Study 3, anxious women were attracted to high‐status insecure men. These findings help explain why people may sometimes end up with insecure partners despite their professed preference for secure companions.

  April 11, 2014   doi: 10.1111/pere.12032   open full text
• Adolescent reactions to maternal responsiveness and internalizing symptomatology: A daily diary investigation.
  Lisa Jobe‐Shields, Kelly E. Buckholdt, Gilbert R. Parra, Rachel N. Tillery.
  Personal Relationships. April 08, 2014
  A daily diary methodology was employed to gather teens' perceptions of maternal responsiveness to daily stressful events and teens' reactions to maternal responsiveness in a diverse sample (792 entries from 104 teens; 81% African American, mean age = 13.7 years). Additionally, parents and teens completed baseline reports of internalizing symptoms. Diary findings were congruent with prior studies employing self‐report measures of global maternal responses to emotion (e.g., higher probability of Accepting reactions to supportive responses, higher probabilities of Attack, Avoid‐Withdraw reactions to nonsupportive responses). Elevated baseline internalizing symptoms were related to perception of elevated Punish and Magnify responses during the week, and more Avoidant (Avoid‐Withdraw and Avoid‐Protect) reactions to responsiveness. Results are discussed in the context of reciprocal emotion socialization processes.

  April 08, 2014   doi: 10.1111/pere.12034   open full text
• Endorsing benevolent sexism magnifies willingness to dissolve relationships when facing partner‐ideal discrepancies.
  Matthew D. Hammond, Nickola C. Overall.
  Personal Relationships. April 08, 2014
  Benevolent sexism (BS) contains prescriptive partner expectations that should foster an intolerance of discrepancies between partners and warmth/trustworthiness ideal standards. This longitudinal study tested whether endorsing BS magnifies the degree to which warmth/trustworthiness partner‐ideal discrepancies are associated with willingness to dissolve relationships. Heterosexual couples (N = 88) reported their partner‐ideal discrepancies, willingness to dissolve the relationship, and their partner's willingness to dissolve the relationship every 3 months for 1 year. Greater partner‐ideal discrepancies were associated with subsequent increases in willingness to dissolve the relationship, but this was stronger for people who endorsed BS. Partners of women who endorsed BS also perceived this greater willingness to dissolve the relationship. These results demonstrate that the prescriptions within BS undermine the stability of ongoing relationships.

  April 08, 2014   doi: 10.1111/pere.12031   open full text
• Pluralistic ignorance in revenge attitudes and behavior in interpersonal relationships.
  Susan D. Boon, Stephen M. Yoshimura.
  Personal Relationships. April 08, 2014
  We investigated whether people's perceptions of social norms concerning interpersonal revenge reflect a tendency for individuals to believe that others' revenge attitudes and behavior differ from their own (i.e., pluralistic ignorance). As part of a survey on revenge experiences in relationships with romantic partners, family members, and associates (e.g., friends), participants (N = 534) judged the acceptability and frequency of revenge in significant personal relationships. As expected, participants believed that others (a) saw revenge as more acceptable and (b) engaged in revenge more frequently than they did themselves. They did not, however, perceive others' revenge attitudes and behaviors to be any more variable than their own attitudes and behaviors actually were. Explanations for and implications of these findings are discussed.

  April 08, 2014   doi: 10.1111/pere.12030   open full text
• “You make me a better/worse person”: A two‐dimensional model of relationship self‐change.
  BRENT A. MATTINGLY, GARY W. LEWANDOWSKI, KEVIN P. McINTYRE.
  Personal Relationships. March 20, 2014
  For better or worse, relationships have the potential to affect individuals' self‐concepts; however, currently no integrative model exists to explain the variety of these self‐concept changes. We propose that self‐concept changes occur along two independent dimensions: direction (increase vs. decrease in content) and valence (positivity vs. negativity of content). These two dimensions combine to create four processes of relationship‐induced self‐concept change: self‐expansion (increasing positive content), self‐contraction (decreasing positive content), self‐pruning (decreasing negative content), and self‐adulteration (increasing negative content). Using community and university samples, we developed a measure of self‐concept change (Study 1) and examined how the four self‐processes were associated with love (Study 1), relationship quality (Studies 2 and 3), and infidelity (Study 3). The self‐concept improvement processes (i.e., self‐expansion and self‐pruning) were associated with greater love and relationship quality, whereas in Study 3 self‐concept degradation processes (i.e., self‐contraction and self‐adulteration) predicted infidelity.

  March 20, 2014   doi: 10.1111/pere.12025   open full text
• A longitudinal study of conflict in new parents: The role of attachment.
  W. Steven Rholes, Jamie L. Kohn, Jeffry A. Simpson.
  Personal Relationships. March 20, 2014
  In this longitudinal study of the transition to parenthood, couples reported on their own conflict resolution tactics and their perceptions of their partners' tactics. Their reports were analyzed in terms of their own and their partners' attachment styles. The results showed that more anxious and more avoidant persons used less effective conflict resolution styles. They showed that both actor and partner attachment styles were related to conflict resolution tactics. They also showed that in some cases less avoidant and less anxious persons showed improvement over time, using fewer ineffective and more effective resolution tactics. More avoidant and more anxious individuals, in contrast, showed little improvement and in some cases even showed decline over time.

  March 20, 2014   doi: 10.1111/pere.12023   open full text
• Does executive control relate to sacrificial behavior during conflicts of interests?
  Tila M. Pronk, Johan C. Karremans.
  Personal Relationships. March 20, 2014
  Why is it that some people are better able to sacrifice their own immediate interest for the sake of their partner than others? We conducted two studies to test whether an individual's level of executive control plays a role in answering this question. Study 1 demonstrated that executive control is related to the tendency to continue a frustrating task to benefit one's partner. Study 2 replicated this effect by using two different indicators of sacrifice: a behavioral sacrifice measure and a questionnaire on the intention to make major sacrifices for one's partner. Together, our findings suggest that higher levels of executive control facilitate prorelational behavior when facing various conflicts of interests in a romantic relationship.

  March 20, 2014   doi: 10.1111/pere.12024   open full text
• “Date nights” take two: The maintenance function of shared relationship activities.
  Yuthika U. Girme, Nickola C. Overall, Sivailele Faingataa.
  Personal Relationships. November 21, 2013
  One‐hundred and ninety‐six individuals (Study 1) and 83 couples (Study 2) reported on their shared relationship activities—activities that individuals engage in with their partner to facilitate closeness in their romantic relationships. Couples also reported on the quality of their shared activities and relationships 3 months later (Study 2). Results indicated that shared activities help to sustain relationships, and do so beyond threat‐based maintenance strategies (i.e., accommodation). Activities that were satisfying, stress‐free, and increased closeness predicted greater relationship quality concurrently and longitudinally. However, positive activity and relationship outcomes depended on the degree to which partners were dedicated to the activity, indicating that shared activities sustain relationship quality only when partners are responsive and want to share relationship activities.

  November 21, 2013   doi: 10.1111/pere.12020   open full text
• Partner preferences across sexual orientations and biological sex.
  Jarryd T. Willis.
  Personal Relationships. November 21, 2013
  This study examined how partner preferences differ across interpersonal contexts (romantic attachment and relationship expectations) based on sexuality and biological sex. Participants completed measures of attachment and behavioral expectations for their romantic partners, cross‐sex friends, and same‐sex friends. The attachment anxiety results revealed an effect of sexuality: Single heterosexuals scored higher for their cross‐sex friends than same‐sex friends, single lesbian/gay individuals scored higher for same‐sex friends than cross‐sex friends, and bisexuals' attachment anxiety was equal regardless of friends' biological sex. The behavioral expectation results revealed an effect of biological sex indicating that, regardless of sexuality, women are preferred over men for emotional/social needs. Finally, an interaction revealed that lesbians have higher expectations for their girlfriends/wives than straight men have for theirs.

  November 21, 2013   doi: 10.1111/pere.12021   open full text
• Friendship characteristics, psychosocial development, and adolescent identity formation.
  Randall M. Jones, John M. Vaterlaus, Mark A. Jackson, Torrey B. Morrill.
  Personal Relationships. August 24, 2013
  Young adults (n = 702; 18–23 years old) completed measures of psychosocial development, identity status, and friendship. Friendship conflict and support were related with psychosocial development, and with the identity statuses. As per Erikson's prescription, early psychosocial stages were relevant to the identity statuses. After statistically controlling for the predictive variability contributed by trust, autonomy, initiative, and industry with the identity status measures, conflict and support within friendships contributed predictive variability to identity achievement (3.2%), moratorium (2.4%), and diffusion (2.5%), but neither conflict nor support within friendships was related to foreclosure scores. Conflict within friendships was positively related with moratorium and diffusion, and support within friendships was negatively related with diffusion.

  August 24, 2013   doi: 10.1111/pere.12017   open full text
• “Tell me I'm sexy . . . and otherwise valuable”: Body valuation and relationship satisfaction.
  ANDREA L. MELTZER, JAMES K. McNULTY.
  Personal Relationships. August 24, 2013
  Although extant research demonstrates that body valuation by strangers has negative implications for women, Studies 1 and 2 demonstrate that body valuation by a committed male partner is positively associated with women's relationship satisfaction when that partner also values them for their nonphysical qualities, but negatively associated with women's relationship satisfaction when that partner is not committed or does not value them for their nonphysical qualities. Study 3 demonstrates that body valuation by a committed female partner is negatively associated with men's relationship satisfaction when that partner does not also value them for their nonphysical qualities but unassociated with men's satisfaction otherwise. These findings join others demonstrating that fully understanding the implications of interpersonal processes requires considering the interpersonal context.

  August 24, 2013   doi: 10.1111/pere.12018   open full text
• Married Black men's opinions as to why Black women are disproportionately single: A qualitative study.
  TERA R. HURT, STACEY E. McELROY, KAMERON J. SHEATS, ANTOINETTE M. LANDOR, CHALANDRA M. BRYANT.
  Personal Relationships. August 24, 2013
  This study's purpose was to explore the reasons Black women are disproportionately single according to the unique viewpoint of married Black men. The sample comprises 52 married Black men who resided in northeast Georgia (mean age = 43). Qualitative interviews were conducted in 2010 as part of the Pathways to Marriage study. The authors analyzed the data in a collaborative fashion and utilized content analyses to explore the relationships in the data, which were derived from qualitative interviews with the men. Findings on the reasons for the disproportionality of singlehood among Black women reflected these four themes: gender relations, marriage education and socialization, individual development, and a preference for gay/lesbian relationships. Recommendations for future research are discussed.

  August 24, 2013   doi: 10.1111/pere.12019   open full text
• Spanish version of the Investment Model Scale.
  Laura E. Vanderdrift, Christopher R. Agnew, Juan E. Wilson.
  Personal Relationships. August 24, 2013
  Voluminous work has catalogued the utility of Rusbult's (1980) investment model of commitment processes in understanding why some relationships persist whereas others fail. To date this work has been conducted almost exclusively with samples of English‐speaking individuals. To facilitate testing novel hypotheses among Spanish‐speaking populations as well examining various cross‐cultural questions, we present a Spanish version of the Investment Model Scale (Rusbult, Martz, & Agnew, 1998). With a sample of Spanish‐speaking individuals from Chile, we demonstrate that our translation has the same structural properties as the English version (Study 1) and has good predictive validity (Study 2). The Spanish version of the Investment Model Scale will enable researchers to sample a larger subset of the population and allow for the examination of cultural influences on relationship processes.

  August 24, 2013   doi: 10.1111/pere.12016   open full text
• Relationship quality promotes the desire for closeness among distressed avoidantly attached individuals.
  Erica B. Slotter, Laura B. Luchies.
  Personal Relationships. July 29, 2013
  Individuals who experience attachment avoidance tend to desire less closeness in their romantic relationships than others, especially when experiencing distress. However, emerging research suggests that avoidant individuals value social closeness and are more comfortable with it when they perceive that seeking closeness is welcomed. Thus, this research examined the relationship characteristics that might predict avoidant individuals seeking more closeness than they would otherwise. We investigated whether perceiving their relationship to be high quality would predict avoidant individuals desiring more closeness when distressed. We hypothesized that avoidant individuals who perceived their relationship to be high quality would desire greater closeness with their partners when distressed—counteracting their tendency to eschew relational closeness. A study of dating couples supported this hypothesis.

  July 29, 2013   doi: 10.1111/pere.12015   open full text
• “Creeping” or just information seeking? Gender differences in partner monitoring in response to jealousy on Facebook.
  Amy Muise, Emily Christofides, Serge Desmarais.
  Personal Relationships. July 29, 2013
  New media, such as Facebook, has implications for romantic relationships, including easing the ability to monitor a partner's activities. Across two studies we demonstrate that in response to feelings of jealousy, women are more likely than men to monitor their partner's activities on Facebook. In Study 1, participants were exposed to one of three experimental conditions meant to provoke jealousy, and their search time on a simulated Facebook environment was recorded. Jealousy predicted more time searching for women, but less for men. In Study 2, a dyadic daily experience study, on days when women (but not men) reported greater jealousy they spent more time monitoring their partner on Facebook, and anxious attachment was one mechanism that explained this association. The results are discussed in terms of gender differences in attachment and response to feelings of jealousy.

  July 29, 2013   doi: 10.1111/pere.12014   open full text
• Prospective associations between marital adjustment and life satisfaction.
  Daniel Be, Mark A. Whisman, Lisa A. Uebelacker.
  Personal Relationships. July 22, 2013
  Actor and partner effects for the 2‐year longitudinal associations between marital adjustment and life satisfaction were evaluated in a population‐based sample of middle‐aged and older adults (N = 1,385 couples). Results showed that (a) higher marital adjustment at baseline predicted higher life satisfaction at follow‐up, (b) higher life satisfaction at baseline predicted higher marital adjustment at follow‐up, (c) marital adjustment more strongly predicted life satisfaction than life satisfaction predicted marital adjustment for women, and (d) higher partner marital adjustment at baseline predicted higher life satisfaction at follow‐up. Results suggest that marital adjustment and life satisfaction influence one another in a bidirectional fashion and that the direction is predominantly from marital adjustment to life satisfaction in women.

  July 22, 2013   doi: 10.1111/pere.12011   open full text
• Till death do us part: Terror management and forgiveness in close relationships.
  Daryl R. Van Tongeren, Jeffrey D. Green, Don E. Davis, Everett L. Worthington, Chelsea A. Reid.
  Personal Relationships. July 22, 2013
  Two experiments extended terror management theory to investigate forgiveness in close relationships. We hypothesized that mortality salience would elicit less forgiveness in less committed relationships. In Experiment 1, participants were primed with either mortality salience or a physical pain control condition, recalled a recent hurtful interpersonal offense, and reported their degree of forgiveness. Mortality salience evoked less forgiveness in less committed relationships. In Experiment 2, participants were assigned to recall an offense that occurred in a low‐commitment or high‐commitment relationship. Again, mortality salience elicited less forgiveness in less committed relationships; it elicited more forgiveness in more committed relationships. Moreover, this interaction was mediated by empathy. Existential considerations may play an important role in the functioning of close relationships.

  July 22, 2013   doi: 10.1111/pere.12013   open full text
• The joys of genuine giving: Approach and avoidance sacrifice motivation and authenticity.
  Emily A. Impett, Leyla Javam, Bonnie M. Le, Behzad Asyabi‐Eshghi, Aleksandr Kogan.
  Personal Relationships. July 22, 2013
  Why do sacrifices undertaken in pursuit of approach and avoidance goals differentially influence well‐being and relationship quality? A cross‐sectional study (Study 1), an experiment (Study 2), and a 2‐week daily experience study (Study 3) demonstrate that the personal and interpersonal outcomes of approach and avoidance sacrifice goals in dating and married relationships are mediated by felt authenticity. When people sacrificed for approach goals such as to make their partner happy, they felt more authentic, in turn contributing to greater personal and relationship well‐being. However, when they sacrificed for avoidance goals such as to avoid conflict, they felt less authentic, in turn detracting from personal and relationship well‐being. Implications for research and theory on motivational processes in close relationships are discussed.

  July 22, 2013   doi: 10.1111/pere.12012   open full text
• Mothers' and fathers' negative responsibility attributions and perceptions of children's problem behavior.
  Jackie A. Nelson, Marion O'brien, Susan D. Calkins, Susan P. Keane.
  Personal Relationships. June 13, 2013
  Parents' negative responsibility attributions about their child's misbehavior are related to a perception that the child has more behavior problems. This study used a dyadic framework to explore how mothers' and fathers' attributions relate to their own perceptions and to their partner's perceptions of the child's externalizing problems. Participants included 102 couples interviewed when children were 7 years old. Results confirmed that mothers reported more externalizing behavior problems in their children than did fathers, and fathers of boys reported more child behavior problems than fathers of girls. Dyadic analyses suggested that parents' negative responsibility attributions of the child's behavior were associated with greater perceptions of child externalizing problems on behalf of parents and their partners.

  June 13, 2013   doi: 10.1111/pere.12010   open full text
• Sowing wild oats: Valuable experience or a field full of weeds?
  Dean M. Busby, Brian J. Willoughby, Jason S. Carroll.
  Personal Relationships. April 18, 2013
  In this study, the association was explored between the number of sexual partners individuals had in their lifetimes and martial outcomes. The research objective was to test whether the number of sexual partners was associated with sexual quality, communication, relationship satisfaction, and relationship stability, while controlling for relationship length, education, race, income, age, and religiosity, using the two competing theories of sexual compatibility and sexual restraint. The results, with a sample of 2,654 married individuals, indicated that the number of sexual partners was associated with lower levels of sexual quality, communication, and relationship stability, providing support for the sexual restraint theory. Gender was not significantly associated with the patterns in the model but age cohorts did have different patterns.

  April 18, 2013   doi: 10.1111/pere.12009   open full text
• Perceiving low self‐esteem in close others impedes capitalization and undermines the relationship.
  JENNIFER C. D. MACGREGOR, GRáINNE M. FITZSIMONS, JOHN G. HOLMES.
  Personal Relationships. April 18, 2013
  Disclosing positive experiences to others (i.e., “capitalization”) is associated with personal and interpersonal benefits (Gable & Reis, 2010). Unfortunately, people who perceive low self‐esteem (LSE) in close others are reluctant to capitalize, holding back from those they expect will be unsupportive (MacGregor & Holmes, 2011). In Study 1, we extend previous findings by demonstrating the importance of the type of experience disclosed; participants capitalized less positively with an (ostensibly) LSE friend when disclosing an accomplishment, not a positive experience attributed to happenstance. In Study 2, we demonstrate the external validity of the phenomenon by examining real discussions between romantic partners. Participants capitalized less positively with their LSE partner, behavior associated with lower relationship satisfaction 6 weeks later (particularly for women).

  April 18, 2013   doi: 10.1111/pere.12008   open full text
• Concealing negative evaluations of a romantic partner's physical attractiveness.
  Edward P. Lemay, Margarite A. Bechis, Jessamine Martin, Angela M. Neal, Christine Coyne.
  Personal Relationships. March 13, 2013
  Two studies provided evidence that people hide their negative evaluations of their romantic partner's physical attractiveness. This pattern was found using self‐reports of concealment (Study 1) and a behavioral observation measure (Study 2). Participants who engaged in this deception also exhibited elevated speech disfluencies, which is a deception cue. Moderators of concealment were examined. Concealment was especially pronounced for participants high in care for the partner's welfare (Studies 1 and 2), low in commitment (Studies 1 and 2), and high in attractiveness ideals (Study 2). Results suggest that people use deception to regulate their romantic partner's feelings, but that long‐term orientation or desire to maintain closeness may curtail use of this strategy.

  March 13, 2013   doi: 10.1111/pere.12007   open full text
• Indirect support seeking and perceptions of spousal support: An examination of a reciprocal relationship.
  Brian P. Don, Kristin D. Mickelson, Anita P. Barbee.
  Personal Relationships. March 13, 2013
  Indirect support seeking has been theoretically identified as a support seeking strategy that may backfire and elicit negative responses or decreases in positive support. Moreover, past support responses that are either inadequate or negative have been theoretically linked to the use of indirect support seeking. Yet, no empirical studies have examined the potential reciprocal relation between indirect support seeking and perceived support in intimate relationships. Utilizing data from 204 new parents, we tested longitudinal cross‐lagged path models to examine the reciprocal relation between indirect support seeking and support perceptions. Results provided partial support for a reciprocal relation between indirect support seeking and perceived negative support responses. Furthermore, indirect support seeking negatively predicted relationship satisfaction across time, through perceived negative support responses.

  March 13, 2013   doi: 10.1111/pere.12006   open full text
• A multimethod investigation of depressive symptoms, perceived understanding, and relationship quality.
  Amie M. Gordon, Rugile Tuskeviciute, Serena Chen.
  Personal Relationships. February 01, 2013
  This research examines whether people who are experiencing more depressive symptoms perceive their partners as less able to understand their thoughts and feelings. Results showed that depressive symptoms (Studies 1 and 3) and depressive mood (Study 2) were negatively associated with perceived understanding in general (Study 1), in daily life (Study 2), and during a conflict conversation (Study 3). Partners of people who were more depressed actually were less empathically accurate during the conflict conversation in Study 3, although they did not recognize that they were being less understanding. Moreover, perceived understanding helped explain the link between depressive symptoms and relationship quality in all three studies, and these effects held when controlling for self‐reported understanding and perceived partner hostility.

  February 01, 2013   doi: 10.1111/pere.12005   open full text
• Gender behaviors as predictors of peer acceptance and victimization.
  Tyson C. Kreiger, Becky Kochenderfer‐Ladd.
  Personal Relationships. January 03, 2013
  Children's peer relationships are important to their socioemotional and cognitive development; thus, understanding the determinants of such relationships is of ongoing interest. It was hypothesized that gender behaviors and affiliations would predict peer acceptance and victimization. Path analyses using data from 192 fourth graders showed that for both genders, engaging in feminine activities predicted less peer‐reported acceptance and greater victimization, and engaging in masculine activities predicted greater peer acceptance. Affiliating with male peers was associated with greater peer‐reported acceptance for both genders, and greater self‐reported peer acceptance for boys. Indirect effects showed that the link between gender behaviors and victimization is mediated by peer acceptance. These findings support the contention that gender behaviors relate to the quality of children's relationships.

  January 03, 2013   doi: 10.1111/pere.12003   open full text
• Relational coping during deployment: Managing communication and connection in relationships.
  Kelly R. Rossetto.
  Personal Relationships. December 29, 2012
  Wartime deployment involves prolonged separation and creates uncertainty, fear, and disorganization in families (M. J. Peebles‐Kleiger & J. H. Kleiger, 1994). This study examined how military wives/fiancées reported coping with the demands they associated with spousal deployment. Twenty‐six in‐depth interviews were conducted with wives and fiancées whose partners were currently deployed. Through qualitative analysis, 2 main coping themes emerged: (a) maintaining a mediated interpersonal connection and (b) choosing open versus restricted communication. Further analyses revealed that the former theme promoted 2 relationship functions (e.g., intimacy and positivity, confronting realities and fears) and the latter 4 functions (e.g., closeness, smooth reunion, outlet, and protection). On the basis of these coping strategies and functions, a conceptual framework for understanding relational coping communication patterns is proposed. Themes, practical applications, and theoretical implications are discussed.

  December 29, 2012   doi: 10.1111/pere.12000   open full text
• Assessing relationship quality across cultures: An examination of measurement equivalence.
  Judith Gere, Geoff Macdonald.
  Personal Relationships. December 29, 2012
  Researchers are increasingly studying close relationships across cultural contexts. One issue that arises when applying scales originally developed in Western countries to a different cultural context is measurement invariance. Researchers often do not examine whether scales show invariance across cultures and thus can be used with confidence. The goal of this article is to discuss the importance of measurement invariance, to discuss what testing invariance involves, and to test the measurement properties of scales of relationship satisfaction, commitment, intimacy, and trust across 4 samples (United States, Canada, Indonesia, and China). Analyses indicated that weak measurement invariance was met for all 4 scales, and assumptions of strong measurement invariance had to be relaxed for only a few items in each scale. Findings are discussed and recommendations are made regarding using these or other scales that have been shown to meet assumptions of invariance across different cultural groups.

  December 29, 2012   doi: 10.1111/pere.12001   open full text
• Predicting change in relationship insecurity: The roles of compassionate and self‐image goals.
  AMY CANEVELLO, M. Teresa GRANILLO, JENNIFER CROCKER.
  Personal Relationships. December 29, 2012
  It was hypothesized that self‐image goals to construct, defend, and maintain desired images of the self enhance relationship insecurity, whereas compassionate goals to support others diminish relationship insecurity. Study 1 followed 115 new college roommates for 3 weeks; Study 2 followed 230 new college roommates across a semester. Both studies assessed self‐image and compassionate goals for and anxiety and avoidance in the roommate relationship. Self‐image goals predicted increased relationship anxiety and avoidance across 3 weeks (Study 1) and within weeks, from week to week, and across 3 months (Study 2). Compassionate goals consistently predicted decreased relationship anxiety and avoidance across studies and analyses. These results suggest that through their interpersonal goals, people contribute directly to their own relationship insecurity.

  December 29, 2012   doi: 10.1111/pere.12002   open full text
• Attachment and the investment model: Predictors of relationship commitment, maintenance, and persistence.
  Paul E. Etcheverry, Benjamin Le, Tsui‐Feng Wu, Meifen Wei.
  Personal Relationships. November 15, 2012
  This research examines adult attachment and the investment model. Study 1 tests anxiety and avoidance predicting romantic relationship commitment, mediated by satisfaction, alternatives, and investments. Additional studies added outcomes of relationship maintenance (Study 2) and persistence (Study 3). In all 3 studies, satisfaction, alternatives, and investments mediated the associations between anxiety and avoidance and relationship commitment. A direct effect of avoidance on commitment remained. The investment model variables mediated the effect of anxiety and avoidance on accommodation and willingness to sacrifice (Study 2) and relationship persistence (Study 3). Direct effects remained for avoidance on accommodation and anxiety on persistence. The mediated model was supported for men and women, proximal and long‐distance relationships, and college student and community samples.

  November 15, 2012   doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2012.01423.x   open full text
• Schadenfreude as a mate‐value‐tracking mechanism.
  Leisha A. Colyn, Anne K. Gordon.
  Personal Relationships. November 15, 2012
  This study proposed a new theoretical formulation of schadenfreude as a psychological mechanism that responds to misfortunes that lower competitors' mate value. In Study 1, participants reported schadenfreude in response to their friends' naturally occurring and hypothetical misfortunes. In Study 2, participants reported schadenfreude in response to an envied friend experiencing a hypothetical misfortune linked with female or male mate value. As predicted, females in both studies reported more schadenfreude when a same‐gender friend experienced a misfortune that lowered her physical attractiveness versus social status. Less consistent support was found for the prediction that males would report more schadenfreude when a same‐gender friend experienced a misfortune that lowered his social status versus physical attractiveness. This study suggests several directions for future research.

  November 15, 2012   doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2012.01422.x   open full text
• The virtue of problem‐solving: Perceived partner virtues as predictors of problem‐solving efficacy.
  Amanda Veldorale‐Brogan, Nathaniel M. Lambert, Frank D. Fincham, C. Nathan Dewall.
  Personal Relationships. November 15, 2012
  Three studies involving dating relationships and friendships tested the hypothesis that higher perceived partner virtues (or personal strengths enacted in the context of relationships) are related to greater relationship problem‐solving efficacy. Studies 1 and 2 showed that higher perceived partner virtues were related to more relationship problem‐solving efficacy concurrently and longitudinally. Study 3 showed that perceiving one's partner as more virtuous predicted increased turning toward one's partner for assistance, which, in turn, predicted increased problem‐solving efficacy. All 3 studies showed that higher perceived partner virtues were related to greater relationship problem‐solving efficacy.

  November 15, 2012   doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2012.01421.x   open full text
• The relation between implicit theories of personality and forgiveness.
  Audrey S. Ng, Eddie M. W. Tong.
  Personal Relationships. November 01, 2012
  This research examined the effect of implicit theories of personality on interpersonal forgiveness and the mediating mechanism underlying this effect. Two experiments show that incremental personality theorists are less forgiving than entity personality theorists and that this difference can be explained by the incremental theorists' stronger tendency to appraise the transgressor as responsible for causing the hurtful event. The same findings were obtained regardless of whether forgiveness was measured by self‐report or assessed as responses to anger words in a latency response task.

  November 01, 2012   doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2012.01419.x   open full text
• Tie strength and family formation: Which personal relationships are influential?
  Sylvia Keim, Andreas Klärner, Laura Bernardi.
  Personal Relationships. November 01, 2012
  On the basis of the analysis of qualitative interviews in Western Germany, it has been argued that personal relationships have a strong impact on individuals' family formation processes and childbearing intentions. Persons who influence individuals' childbearing choices were identified. Strong ties, such as among core family members (i.e., parents and siblings), are an important contributing factor, but the authors are also able to show that weak ties, such as those among colleagues and acquaintances, need to be considered when examining social influence on family formation processes. Apart from single network partners, influential groups of persons have been identified. Such groups serve as a comparative standard regarding the timing of having one's first child and subsequent children.

  November 01, 2012   doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2012.01418.x   open full text
• The influence of parent conflict style on children.
  Stephenson J. Beck, Andrew M. Ledbetter.
  Personal Relationships. November 01, 2012
  Families constantly manage tension between autonomy from and connection to family members (T. C. Sabourin, 2003). Family conflict is an important maintenance behavior where this tension often plays out. Specifically, we hypothesized that the negotiation of family conflict between parents and children will be an important factor in the willingness of a young adult child to identify with family. Using a sample of young adults from 2 U.S. locations, regression analysis indicated that conflict styles mediated the association between family communication patterns and shared family identity. Specifically, the level of conformity orientation within the family emerged as moderator of the pattern of mediation. Additionally, findings suggested the avoiding conflict style may be particularly detrimental to shared family identity.

  November 01, 2012   doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2012.01420.x   open full text
• Effects of similarity of life goals, values, and personality on relationship satisfaction and stability: Findings from a two‐wave panel study.
  Oliver Arránz Becker.
  Personal Relationships. September 21, 2012
  Using data from the German Family Panel (pairfam; n = 3,674 heterosexual couples), this study examines the impact of partners' individual levels and dyadic similarity concerning life goals, values, and personality traits on relationship satisfaction and union dissolution. Controlling for partners' individual characteristics and for relationship duration, it was found that similarity on specific dimensions and stereotype‐adjusted profile correlations exerted significant yet small positive effects on both partners' relationship satisfaction. These effects largely translated into beneficial indirect effects on union dissolution 1 year later (Wave 2, n = 2,820). Moderator analyses indicated the existence of some effect heterogeneity across relationship duration and types. Generally, partners' respective individual characteristics appeared to predict relationship outcomes better than dyadic similarity measures.

  September 21, 2012   doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2012.01417.x   open full text
• Romantic relationships in early adulthood: Influences of family, personality, and relationship cognitions.
  April S. Masarik, Rand D. Conger, Monica J. Martin, M. Brent Donnellan, Katherine E. Masyn, Frederick O. Lorenz.
  Personal Relationships. September 03, 2012
  Two hundred and sixty‐five participants and their romantic partners were involved in a prospective, longitudinal, and multimethod study during the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Guided by the development of the early adult romantic relationships (DEARR) model (Bryant & Conger, 2002), the research (a) investigated mid‐adolescent family experiences and individual differences in personality as predictors of qualities in the early adult romantic union and (b) evaluated the degree to which marital beliefs mediated these associations. Structural equation modeling partially supported the mediating effects of marital beliefs. The findings were generally consistent with the DEARR model, suggesting that it is informative to study early adult romantic relationship functioning within a developmental‐contextual framework, while simultaneously considering the unique effects of personality and relationship cognitions.

  September 03, 2012   doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2012.01416.x   open full text
• Low intimacy as a mediator between depression and clinic couple relationship satisfaction.
  Nicole M. Finkbeiner, Norman B. Epstein, Mariana K. Falconier.
  Personal Relationships. July 26, 2012
  This study examined low intimacy as a mediator between partners' depression symptoms and low relationship satisfaction in a sample of 82 heterosexual couples who sought therapy at an outpatient clinic. Both the amount of intimate behavior that partners enact and the level of pleasure they experience from each other's intimate acts were assessed. Using an actor–partner interdependence model approach, path model analysis simultaneously included both partners' scores on measures of depression, intimate behavior, pleasure from partner's intimate behavior, and relationship satisfaction. Overall, female depression symptoms had a greater impact than male depression symptoms on the couple relationship. Male depression had little effect on intimacy, whereas the female partner's depression affected her pleasure from the male's intimate behavior and both partners' enactment of intimate behavior. The results indicate the importance of examining reciprocal influences between partners' functioning to understand and treat intimacy problems.

  July 26, 2012   doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2012.01415.x   open full text
• A qualitative analysis of power‐based entrainment and interactional synchrony in couples.
  Norah E. Dunbar, Robert Mejia.
  Personal Relationships. July 26, 2012
  Interpersonal synchrony is a communicative lubricant that is associated with harmonious communication among conversational participants and is believed to be evidence of like‐mindedness and interpersonal solidarity. In this secondary analysis of an existing data set of both power‐equal and power‐unequal couples working through a discussion task, the content and form of their conversations were qualitatively examined for evidence of synchrony and dissynchrony. It was found that power‐equal couples tended toward synchronous communication and their conversations were represented by strategies that appeared either collaborative or competitive but generally respectful and problem oriented. The power‐unequal couples used one‐sided marginalization or withdrawal strategies that were characterized largely by dissynchrony. The theoretical implications for these findings are discussed.

  July 26, 2012   doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2012.01414.x   open full text
• The positive and negative semantic dimensions of relationship satisfaction.
  Richard E. Mattson, Ronald D. Rogge, Matthew D. Johnson, Elizabeth K. B. Davidson, Frank D. Fincham.
  Personal Relationships. July 10, 2012
  Semantic differential items were reconfigured to assess relationship satisfaction across separate positive and negative attitude dimensions. Study 1 (N = 1,656) supported a 2‐factor model for the Positive and Negative Semantic Differential (PN–SMD), as well as its convergent, criterion‐related, and incremental validity over the 16‐item Couples Satisfaction Index (CSI; J. L. Funk & R. D. Rogge, 2007) using known correlates of relationship satisfaction as criteria. Study 2 (N = 89) replicated the convergent, criterion‐related, and incremental validity findings of Study 1 using different criterion measures, the CSI, a bipolar semantic differential measure designed for assessing relationship satisfaction, and an existing 2‐dimensional measure of relationship satisfaction. The authors demonstrated across studies that the PN–SMD captures criterion‐relevant information about ambivalence versus indifference toward the relationship—associations that are only detectable when using a 2‐dimensional satisfaction measure.

  July 10, 2012   doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2012.01412.x   open full text
• A fiery conflict: Attachment orientations and the effects of relational conflict on sexual motivation.
  Gurit E. Birnbaum, Mario Mikulincer, Michal Austerlitz.
  Personal Relationships. July 05, 2012
  This study examined the effects of relational conflict on sexual motivation. Sixty‐one couples were videotaped while discussing either a major relationship problem or their daily routine. Both partners then completed measures of sexual motives and rated their romantic partner's sexual attractiveness. Results showed that conflict discussion inhibited relationship‐based motives and had an adverse effect on women's perceptions of partner's attractiveness, but a beneficial effect on men's perceptions. Conflict discussion also inhibited self‐serving sexual motives such as having sex to obtain relief from stress among people with avoidant partners, suggesting that people are unlikely to turn to avoidant partners for sexual consolation. Implications for understanding the role of the sexual system in regulating reactions to relationship distressful events are discussed.

  July 05, 2012   doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2012.01413.x   open full text
• Experimental examination of women's selection criteria for sperm donors versus life partners.
  Debra M. Zeifman, Jennifer E. Ma.
  Personal Relationships. July 05, 2012
  To evaluate factors shaping mate‐selection decisions, 2 age groups of women were randomly assigned to hypothetical scenarios wherein they sought a sperm donor or life partner. Respondents were asked to (a) construct an ideal man and (b) rate and rank the importance of traits associated with good genes, parenting ability, partner potential, and economic resources. Women seeking donors valued good genes more and partner potential less than women seeking partners. Younger women sought greater degree of physical resemblance to donors than to partners. Older women showed greater desire to be similar to partners than donors on sociocultural characteristics. The findings suggest women adjust their selection criteria as a function of context and that mate preferences may change as women mature.

  July 05, 2012   doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2012.01409.x   open full text
• My funny valentine: How humor styles affect romantic interest.
  Theresa E. DiDonato, Mellisha C. Bedminster, Joanna J. Machel.
  Personal Relationships. July 05, 2012
  Humor tends to predict romantic attraction, but does the style in which it is communicated matter? This study uses experimental methods to test the effects of positive and negative humor styles on short‐term and long‐term romantic interest. The authors randomly assigned 251 participants to read 1 of 4 relationship initiation vignettes depicting either an affiliative or aggressive humor style. Participants reported their short‐term and long‐term interest and made judgments of the relationship initiator's competence and warmth. Results support a fitness indicator model of humor style's role in relationship initiation; positive styles were preferred for long‐term relationships while competence and warmth inferences predicted long‐term attraction. The findings are discussed within the broader context of mate selection goals and challenges.

  July 05, 2012   doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2012.01410.x   open full text
• A longitudinal assessment of relationship characteristics that predict new parents' relationship satisfaction.
  Jennifer A. Theiss, Roi Estlein, Kirsten M. Weber.
  Personal Relationships. June 01, 2012
  Drawing on the relational turbulence model, this study queries whether it is the amount of relational uncertainty and partner interference in a relationship, or the magnitude of an increase in these mechanisms over time, that accounts for decreased relationship satisfaction for new parents. To test these competing hypotheses, a longitudinal study of 78 couples was conducted in which both partners completed surveys about their relationship at 4 time points during the transition to parenthood. Multilevel modeling revealed that the amount and the increase of relational uncertainty and partner interference were negatively associated with relationship satisfaction when considered separately, but when evaluated in combination, the magnitude of an increase in these variables was the stronger predictor of relationship satisfaction.

  June 01, 2012   doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2012.01406.x   open full text
• Trajectories of relationship satisfaction: Independent contributions of capitalization and support perceptions.
  Jill M. Logan, Rebecca J. Cobb.
  Personal Relationships. June 01, 2012
  Associations among perceptions of partner responses to disclosures about capitalization and support experiences and relationship satisfaction were examined over 1 year in 268 individuals in romantic relationships. Multilevel modeling indicated that capitalization and support perceptions covaried over 1 year, but they independently predicted contemporaneous relationship satisfaction and appeared to be compensatory processes. However, with increasing relationship duration, support perceptions became more strongly associated with relationship satisfaction, whereas capitalization perceptions became less strongly associated with relationship satisfaction, suggesting that capitalization perceptions may play less of a buffering role with time. Results suggested that perceiving partners as interested and enthusiastic in the face of triumph, and as caring and supportive in the face of difficulties, serve important and independent relationship maintenance functions.

  June 01, 2012   doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2012.01408.x   open full text
• Perceived, not actual, similarity predicts initial attraction in a live romantic context: Evidence from the speed‐dating paradigm.
  Natasha D. Tidwell, Paul W. Eastwick, Eli J. Finkel.
  Personal Relationships. May 18, 2012
  The “similarity‐attraction” effect stands as one of the most well‐known findings in social psychology. However, some research contends that perceived but not actual similarity influences attraction. The current study is the first to examine the effects of actual and perceived similarity simultaneously during a face‐to‐face initial romantic encounter. Participants attending a speed‐dating event interacted with ∼12 members of the opposite sex for 4 min each. Actual and perceived similarity for each pair were calculated from questionnaire responses assessed before the event and after each date. Data revealed that perceived, but not actual, similarity significantly predicted romantic liking in this speed‐dating context. Furthermore, perceived similarity was a far weaker predictor of attraction when assessed using specific traits rather than generally.

  May 18, 2012   doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2012.01405.x   open full text
• A prototype approach to understanding sexual intimacy through its relationship to intimacy.
  Carolyn Birnie‐Porter, John E. Lydon.
  Personal Relationships. April 23, 2012
  The nature of sexual intimacy using lay conceptions (i.e., prototypes) of intimacy and sexual intimacy has been explored. In Study 1, participants listed the features of sexual intimacy and intimacy. In Study 2, centrality ratings of these features were obtained. Although the 2 prototypes were very similar, they each had unique central attributes. In Study 3, central features of both concepts were found to be more salient in memory than peripheral features. Finally, in Study 4, the endorsement of central intimacy and sexual intimacy attributes in real romantic relationships were associated with relationship quality and sexual well‐being, respectively. The nature and function of sexual intimacy is discussed, and it has been concluded that sexual intimacy is best conceptualized as a subtype of intimacy.

  April 23, 2012   doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2012.01402.x   open full text
• Adult attachment, sexual satisfaction, and relationship satisfaction: A study of married couples.
  Bethany Butzer, Lorne Campbell.
  Personal Relationships. February 20, 2008
  --- - |2 Abstract The goal of this research was to extend prior work on adult attachment and sexuality, which has tended to focus on samples of adolescents and undergraduate students. A Canadian sample of 116 married couples aged 21–75 years completed self‐report measures of adult attachment, marital, and sexual satisfaction. Results revealed that participants with higher levels of anxiety and avoidance reported lower levels of sexual satisfaction at the individual level. Individuals with more avoidant spouses also reported lower levels of sexual satisfaction. Furthermore, the relationship between sexual and marital satisfaction was stronger for more anxiously attached individuals and those with more anxiously attached spouses. These results suggest that attachment is linked in theoretically predictable ways to marital and sexual satisfaction. - Personal Relationships, Page 141-154, October 2018.
  

  February 20, 2008   doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2007.00189.x@10.1111/(ISSN)1475-6811.sex_and_love_in_romantic_relationships   open full text
• Stress, sex, and satisfaction in marriage.
  GUY BODENMANN, a THOMAS LEDERMANN, a THOMAS N. BRADBURY b.
  Personal Relationships. November 21, 2007
  --- - |2 Abstract Using data from 198 couples, this study examines whether associations between stress occurring outside of the dyad and key indicators of relationship functioning are mediated by stress arising within the dyad. Findings suggest that relationship satisfaction and sexual activity are governed by hassles and problems experienced within the dyad that are in turn related to stress arising outside the dyad. Associations between external stress and relationship functioning are stronger for daily hassles than for critical life events. Higher levels of daily stress predicted less sexual activity for maritally dissatisfied women and more sexual activity for maritally dissatisfied men. Self‐reports of stress covaried with self‐reported indexes of satisfaction and sexuality, suggesting that contextual influences are broadly influential in intimate relationships. - Personal Relationships, Page 551-569, October 2018.
  

  November 21, 2007   doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2007.00171.x@10.1111/(ISSN)1475-6811.sex_and_love_in_romantic_relationships   open full text
• Is it all about intimacy? Age, menopausal status, and women’s sexuality.
  GURIT E. BIRNBAUM, a OHAD COHEN, b VERED WERTHEIMER a.
  Personal Relationships. April 19, 2007
  --- - |2 Abstract Two studies examined the contribution of aging to various aspects of sexual functioning. Study 1 examined the association between age and sexual response among 289 women. Results showed that aging and relationship length were associated with relatively low sexual desire, excitement, and intimacy, with sexual intimacy mediating the association between relationship length and sexual excitement. Furthermore, the negative association between aging and sexual desire was particularly pronounced among women experiencing lower sexual intimacy. In Study 2, 93 women were classified according to menopausal status. Findings paralleled those of Study 1, indicating that postmenopausal state was negatively associated with sexual desire, mainly among women who experienced low sexual intimacy. Implications for the understanding of sexuality of women at midlife are discussed. - Personal Relationships, Page 167-185, October 2018.
  

  April 19, 2007   doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2006.00147.x@10.1111/(ISSN)1475-6811.sex_and_love_in_romantic_relationships   open full text
• Approach and avoidance sexual motives: Implications for personal and interpersonal well‐being.
  EMILY A. IMPETT, a LETITIA A. PEPLAU, b SHELLY L. GABLE b.
  Personal Relationships. October 19, 2005
  --- - |2 Abstract This research provides the first empirical investigation of how approach and avoidance motives for engaging in sex in intimate relationships are associated with personal well‐being and relationship quality. A 2‐week daily experience study of college student dating couples tested specific predictions from the theoretical model and included both longitudinal and dyadic components. Whereas approach sex motives were positively associated with personal and interpersonal well‐being, avoidance sex motives were negatively associated with well‐being. Engaging in sex for avoidance motives was particularly detrimental to the maintenance of relationships over time. Perceptions of a partner's motives for sex were also associated with well‐being. Implications for the conceptualization of sexuality in relationships along these two dimensions are discussed. - Personal Relationships, Page 465-482, October 2018.
  

  October 19, 2005   doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2005.00126.x@10.1111/(ISSN)1475-6811.sex_and_love_in_romantic_relationships   open full text
• Gender differences and similarities in sex and love.
  Susan S. Hendrick, Clyde Hendrick.
  Personal Relationships. May 20, 2005
  --- - |2 Abstract One's attitudes toward love and sexuality are influenced by many factors, including gender. To explore the role of gender (and other variables) in participants' attitudinal orientations toward love and sexuality, data were collected in the United States at three time points (1988, 1992, 1993), resulting in a total sample of 1,090 participants. Data analyses showed gender differences in both sexual attitudes and love. Men were more sexually permissive than women (consistent with previous research), although women and men similarly endorsed other aspects of sexuality, including sex as an emotional experience. Men and women differed on several relationship variables (e.g., women were more oriented to friendship‐based love, and men to game‐playing love). However, correlational analyses showed many similar patterns for women and men. These findings underline the need to consider both gender differences and similarities in sex and love within intimate relationships. - Personal Relationships, Page 55-65, October 2018.
  

  May 20, 2005   doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.1995.tb00077.x@10.1111/(ISSN)1475-6811.sex_and_love_in_romantic_relationships   open full text
• DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR ARTICLE Rethinking women's sexual orientation: An interdisciplinary, relationship‐focused approach.
  Letitia Anne Peplau.
  Personal Relationships. May 20, 2005
  --- - |2 Abstract What leads some women to form romantic and sexual relationships with men, and other women to form intimate relationships with women? This article presents a new conceptual paradigm for understanding women's sexual orientation that is emerging from research in such diverse fields as social psychology, sex research, evolutionary psychology, attachment theory, and neuroscience. This approach acknowledges the potential plasticity of women's sexuality and the emphasis that women place on close relationships as a context for sexuality. Research also raises the possibility that for women the biological determinants of sexual desire, attraction, and attachment are not inherently linked to a partner's gender. This article begins with a brief survey of research on women's same‐sex romantic and sexual relationships not only in the United States today but also in other cultures and historical periods. These and other findings are used to critique prevailing conceptual models of women's sexual orientation. Finally, key elements in an alternative paradigm are described. - Personal Relationships, Page 1-19, October 2018.
  

  May 20, 2005   doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2001.tb00025.x@10.1111/(ISSN)1475-6811.sex_and_love_in_romantic_relationships   open full text
• What's sex got to do with it? Attachment, love schemas, and sexuality.
  Cookie White Stephan, Guy F. Bachman.
  Personal Relationships. May 20, 2005
  --- - |2 Abstract This study measured the effects of adult attachment styles on sexual behavior using Hatfield and Rapson's unified love schema theory. According to this theory, there are six love schemas, or adult attachment types. Four types parallel other four‐category adult attachment schemas, and two types not measured in previous research are uninterested in romantic relationships. Clear differences were found in sexual desires and behaviors of people possessing five of the love schemas. The results suggest the importance of pursuing the effects of attachment style on sexual behavior, as well as the utility of an attachment schema that allows individuals to classify themselves as disinterested in romantic relationships. - Personal Relationships, Page 111-123, October 2018.
  

  May 20, 2005   doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.1999.tb00214.x@10.1111/(ISSN)1475-6811.sex_and_love_in_romantic_relationships   open full text
• Sexual jealousy in the relationships of homosexual and heterosexual men: 1980 and 1992.
  Robert G. Bringle.
  Personal Relationships. May 20, 2005
  --- - |2 Abstract Relationship characteristics, levels of anticipated sexual jealousy, and correlates of anticipated sexual jealousy were compared for heterosexual and homosexual men sampled from 1980 and 1992. Homosexual and heterosexual relationships were similar on relationship involvement, but homosexual (vs. heterosexual) respondents indicated lower levels of experiencing and expressing sexual jealousy, less exclusive relationships, higher levels of extradyadic sexual relations by their partners, larger number of relationships, and relationships of shorter duration. Cohort comparisons indicated that both groups of men in 1992 (vs. 1980) had higher levels of experiencing and expressing jealousy caused by the partner's extradyadic sexual behavior, more exclusive romantic relationships, fewer relationships, and relationships of longer duration. These changes suggest a transition in men's relationships that may be related to the increase in sexually transmitted diseases in general and AIDS in particular. - Personal Relationships, Page 313-325, October 2018.
  

  May 20, 2005   doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6811.1995.tb00095.x@10.1111/(ISSN)1475-6811.sex_and_love_in_romantic_relationships   open full text
• Dimensions of Relationship Quality.
  Manfred Hassebrauck, Beverley Fehr.
  Personal Relationships. December 17, 2002
  --- - |2 Four studies examined the dimensions of relationship quality. In Study 1, based on a principal components analysis, four dimensions underlying the prototype of relationship quality were identified: intimacy, agreement, independence, and sexuality. The four–factorial structure was replicated both with a German sample (Study 2) and a Canadian sample (Study 3). Study 4 tested the validity of scales based on the four–factorial structure of relationship quality with German and Canadian samples. Relationship satisfaction was predicted well by the four scales, with intimacy contributing most, and sexuality least, to overall relationship satisfaction. The four scales correlated as predicted with other constructs relevant to close relationships, such as commitment, trust, love, and the like. Consequences for the measurement of relationship quality are discussed. - Personal Relationships, Page 253-270, October 2018.
  

  December 17, 2002   doi: 10.1111/1475-6811.00017@10.1111/(ISSN)1475-6811.sex_and_love_in_romantic_relationships   open full text
• Adult attachment and sexual behavior.
  Anthony F. Bogaert, Stan Sadava.
  Personal Relationships. December 17, 2002
  --- - |2 The relations between adult attachment processes and sexuality were examined in a community sample of 792 young adults (327 men and 465 women) from the Niagara region of Canada. Participants completed questionnaires that included Simpson’s (1990) measure of adult attachment, self‐reported physical attractiveness, erotophilia, and a variety of sexual behavior measures (e.g., number of sexual partners, age of first sexual experience, frequency of sexual behaviors in the past year, whether an affair had occurred in the past year, and consistent condom usage). The sexuality measures were factor analyzed to extract common factors. The results were modest, but a number of significant relationships between sexuality and attachment were observed. For example, people scoring higher on a secure attachment index perceived themselves as more physically attractive, whereas people scoring higher on an anxious attachment index perceived themselves as less physically attractive, had an early first intercourse (and more lifetime partners), more infidelity, and took more sexual precautions (e.g., condom usage). The results were generally stronger in women, with most of the attachment/sexuality associations in the full sample being driven by the results in women. Implications for understanding sexual variability, including high‐risk sexual behavior, are discussed. - Personal Relationships, Page 191-204, October 2018.
  

  December 17, 2002   doi: 10.1111/1475-6811.00012@10.1111/(ISSN)1475-6811.sex_and_love_in_romantic_relationships   open full text
• Sexual Peak: Socially Shared Cognitions About Desire, Frequency, and Satisfaction in Men and Women.
  Alicia Barr, Angela Bryan, Douglas T. Kenrick.
  Personal Relationships. December 17, 2002
  --- - |2 Is a man’s sexual peak earlier than a woman’s? Three studies were conducted to examine (a) whether the perception that men achieve their sexual peak at a younger age than do women is shared across individuals of different ages and sexes, (b) whether sexual peak is defined differently for men and women, and (c) whether differences between definitions contribute to differences in the age at which men and women are perceived to reach sexual peak. Study 1 suggested that participants believed that females reach their sexual peak at an older age than do males. Study 2 indicated that the defining feature of sexual peak for males was sexual desire and for females was sexual satisfaction. Study 3 suggested that predictions of male sexual peak coincided with participants’ predictions of male age of highest desire and frequency, but not satisfaction, and that female sexual peak coincided with participants' predictions of female age of highest satisfaction but not frequency or desire. Discussion focuses on potential reasons for differences between the perception of male and female sexuality, as well as the social and evolutionary importance of each of the dimensions of sexuality for both males and females. - Personal Relationships, Page 287-299, October 2018.
  

  December 17, 2002   doi: 10.1111/1475-6811.09305@10.1111/(ISSN)1475-6811.sex_and_love_in_romantic_relationships   open full text