The first experimental study of relationship talk (N = 42 couples) showed that when couples read stories about spouses who talked to each other about their relationships, such talk had different outcomes for the spouses, depending on the context and which partner was speaking. We replicated and improved upon this study in a number of ways (e.g. sample size and composition, new dependent variable, more standardized materials, more sophisticated and appropriate statistical techniques). Findings were almost identical to those of the earlier study including three-way interactions. Results (N = 238 couples) showed that when spouses talked about their relationship with each other, they were seen to have more positive outcomes, including closeness, than when they did not talk about their relationship. Further, relationship talk appeared to be especially positive in conflictive situations, but the effects of such talk were much weaker in pleasant situations. These findings were conceptualized as evidence of share...
#1W. Kim Halford(UQ: University of Queensland)H-Index: 29
#2Guy Bodenmann(UZH: University of Zurich)H-Index: 52
Couple relationship education (RE) is the provision of structured education intended to promote healthy couple relationships, and prevent future relationship distress. There is a well-replicated finding that 9–20 hours of curriculum-based RE produces short-term improvements in couple communication and relationship satisfaction, but that established finding does not test whether RE helps couples maintain high relationship satisfaction. The current paper summarizes 17 published studies evaluating ...
Previous research has shown that receiving social support in the face of negative events (i.e., enacted support) is sometimes correlated with positive outcomes, sometimes unrelated to outcomes, and sometimes associated with negative outcomes. However, people's perception that they have high-quality support available to them when they have a stressor (i.e., perceived support) is consistently and strongly associated with better health, well-being, and relationship functioning. However, both enacte...
Abstract Stress and coping are important constructs in understanding the dynamics of close relationships. Couple therapy and marital distress prevention approaches have become increasingly focused on these variables to gain knowledge of how stress and coping may impact the quality and stability of close relationships. In this paper, we outline couple's coping enhancement training (CCET) and the coping-oriented couple's therapy (COCT); both, couple interventions derived from stress and coping res...
Do avoidantly attached individuals, with fears of closeness and dependency, expect their relationships to fail? Moreover, do they expect specific events that will lead to failure? Canadian students outlined their expectations for a new romantic relationship by ordering a series of dating events using a card sorting procedure. Avoidance was associated with both expectations of relationship failure and commitment aversion (the absence of positive commitment-enhancing events and presence of negativ...
Last. Sanae Nakagawa(SFSU: San Francisco State University)H-Index: 2
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This article reports differences across 23 countries on 2 processes of emotion regulation-reappraisal and suppression. Cultural dimensions were correlated with country means on both and the relationship between them. Cultures that emphasized the maintenance of social order-that is, those that were long-term oriented and valued embeddedness and hierarchy-tended to have higher scores on suppression, and reappraisal and suppression tended to be positively correlated. In contrast, cultures that mini...
Part 1. Introduction and Basic Principles. J.P. Forgas, J. Fitness, Introductory Remarks, History Background and Issues of Research on Personal Relationships. E. Hatfield, R. Rapson, Passionate Love and Sexual Desire: Multicultural Perspectives. M. Haselton, G. Gonzaga, The Evolution of Love. P. Shaver, M. Mikulincer, Augmenting the Sense of Security in Romantic, Leader-Follower, Therapeutic, and Group Relations: A Relational Model of Personality Change. D.P. Schmitt, Attachment Matters: The Per...
The authors define relationship talk as content messages that reference the nature of the relationship between people. They seek to contribute to the literature by (a) conceptualizing relationship talk in ways that attend to its nuances, and (b) evaluating how intimacy predicts the production and perception of relationship talk. They conducted an observational study of conversations between 120 dating couples. Length of romantic interest, compared to intimacy, was the more proximal predictor of ...
1. Basic Definitions and Overview Nonindependence Basic Definitions Data Organization A Database of Dyadic Studies 2. The Measurement of Nonindependence Interval Level of Measurement Categorical Measures Consequences of Ignoring Nonindependence What Not to Do Power Considerations 3. Analyzing Between- and Within-Dyads Independent Variables Interval Outcome Measures and Categorical Independent Variables Interval Outcome Measures and Interval Independent Variables Categorical Outcome Variables 4. ...
Abstract The forensic psychology and psychotherapy field recognises offence-supportive cognition as a major dynamic risk factor for reoffending, meaning it is one focus of risk assessment instruments and offender treatment programs. Despite the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV), the cognitive characteristics of IPV offenders have received little theoretical and research attention in comparison to those who engage in violent or sexual offending outside the context of a relationship. T...
Abstract Intimates form stable impressions of their romantic partner’s conflict style, which may influence interactions during conflicts and shape expectancies regarding future disagreements. Despite a large body of work comparing relationship outcomes among heterosexual and same-sex couples, research has yet to examine how the validity of these perceptions vary as a function of gender and sexual orientation. The present study examines perceptual accuracy and bias in perceptions of conflict styl...
#1Silvio Donato(UCSC: Catholic University of the Sacred Heart)H-Index: 112
#1Silvia Donato(UCSC: Catholic University of the Sacred Heart)
Last. Miriam Parise(UCSC: Catholic University of the Sacred Heart)H-Index: 9
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Partners in couple relationships inevitably encounter positive and negative events in their everyday lives: the ways they respond to such events have relevant effects on their personal and relational well-being. Within partners’ responses to positive and negative events, this special section focuses on partners’ pro-relationship processes regarded as those processes aimed at promoting partners’ relational well-being. Such a focus responds to recent calls to examine the ‘bright side’ of the coupl...