Sunday, June 5, 2011
Relationship Status
The association between romantic relationships and delinquency in adolescence and young adulthood
Ming Cui et al.
Personal Relationships, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study examined the association between romantic relationships and delinquency in adolescence and young adulthood. Using a large, longitudinal, and nationally representative sample, results from negative binomial regressions showed a positive association between romantic involvement and delinquency in adolescence. Furthermore, the cumulative number of romantic relationships from adolescence to young adulthood was positively related to delinquency in young adulthood even after controlling for earlier delinquency in adolescence. These analyses also controlled for the effects of participants' gender, age at initial assessment, puberty, race/ethnicity, and other demographic characteristics (e.g., family structure and parents' education). Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for understanding the role of romantic relationships in the development of young people and for stimulating future research questions.
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House Prices and Marital Stability
Martin Farnham, Lucie Schmidt & Purvi Sevak
American Economic Review, May 2011, Pages 615-619
Abstract:
We investigate the effect of house price changes on divorce using data for 1991-2010 from the Current Population Survey and the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Our findings suggest that changing house prices significantly affect the share of a cohort that is divorced, and that these effects are asymmetric with respect to housing gains versus losses. In addition, we find differential effects for groups that are more likely to be homeowners versus renters. Some of this evidence is consistent with homeowners being locked into their homes - and hence marriages - by increased transactions costs in down markets.
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Ann Caldwell Hooper et al.
American Journal of Human Biology, July/August 2011, Pages 553-555
Objectives: The current study extends previous research on testosterone (T) and mating effort by examining whether relationship commitment and satisfaction explain variance in T beyond relationship status alone.
Methods: Salivary testosterone and self-reported assessments of relationship commitment and satisfaction were assessed among 90 heterosexual men and women (age M = 23.57) in a cross-sectional community sample.
Results: Relationship commitment was significantly related to T among men (P < 0.01), with increasing levels of commitment predicting lower T, even among paired men (P < 0.05). In contrast, relationship commitment was not related to women's T (P > 0.05). Controlling for relationship commitment, satisfaction did not predict T levels in men or women (P's > 0.18).
Conclusions: The association of increasing relationship commitment with reduced T levels in men confirms and extends prior research linking T with mating effort. Together with previous research, this study suggests that T does not vary with relationship commitment or quality in monogamous, heterosexual women.
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Gabriel Schlomer, Marco Del Giudice & Bruce Ellis
Psychological Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
Decades of research demonstrate that conflict shapes and permeates a broad range of family processes. In the current article, we argue that greater insight, integration of knowledge, and empirical achievement in the study of family conflict can be realized by utilizing a powerful theory from evolutionary biology that is barely known within psychology: parent-offspring conflict theory (POCT). In the current article, we articulate POCT for psychological scientists, extend its scope by connecting it to the broader framework of life history theory, and draw out its implications for understanding conflict within human families. We specifically apply POCT to 2 instances of early mother-offspring interaction (prenatal conflict and weaning conflict); discuss the effects of genetic relatedness on behavioral conflict between parents, children, and their siblings; review the emerging literature on parent-offspring conflict over the choice of mates and spouses; and examine parent-offspring conflict from the perspective of imprinted genes. This review demonstrates the utility of POCT, not only for explaining what is known about conflict within families but also for generating novel hypotheses, suggesting new lines of research, and moving us toward the "big picture" by integrating across biological and psychological domains of knowledge.
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Nonmarital Childbearing, Union History, and Women's Health at Midlife
Kristi Williams et al.
American Sociological Review, June 2011, Pages 465-486
Abstract:
Despite high rates of nonmarital childbearing in the United States, little is known about the health of women who have nonmarital births. We use data from the NLSY79 to examine differences in age 40 self-assessed health between women who had a premarital birth and those whose first birth occurred within marriage. We then differentiate women with a premarital first birth according to their subsequent union histories and estimate the effect of marrying or cohabiting versus remaining never-married on midlife self-assessed health. We pay particular attention to the paternity status of a mother's partner and the stability of marital unions. To partially address selection bias, we employ multivariate propensity score techniques. Results suggest that premarital childbearing is negatively associated with midlife health for white and black women, but not for Hispanic women. We find no evidence that the negative health consequences of nonmarital childbearing are mitigated by either marriage or cohabitation for black women. For other women, only enduring marriage to the child's biological father is associated with better health than remaining unpartnered.
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Vivian Zayas et al.
Social Psychological and Personality Science, May 2011, Pages 289-297
Abstract:
It is widely assumed that, within the context of a stable developmental environment, relationship experiences in early life influence later ones. To date, however, there has been no longitudinal empirical evidence for the hypothesis that early maternal caregiving predicts adult attachment dynamics with peers and partners. The present longitudinal study shows that quality of maternal caregiving experienced at 18 months of age predicted the extent to which the same participants more than 20 years later (age M = 22) were uncomfortable relying on partners and peers (avoidance) and experienced relational worries with partners (anxiety). These findings provide new empirical support that early maternal caregiving predicts later adult attachment patterns with peers and partners. Moreover, consistent with attachment theory, they suggest that the influence of maternal caregiving experienced in early life is not limited to this first attachment relationship but operates more generally in other attachment relationships.
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James McNulty
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, June 2011, Pages 770-783
Abstract:
Despite a burgeoning literature that documents numerous positive implications of forgiveness, scholars know very little about the potential negative implications of forgiveness. In particular, the tendency to express forgiveness may lead offenders to feel free to offend again by removing unwanted consequences for their behavior (e.g., anger, criticism, rejection, loneliness) that would otherwise discourage reoffending. Consistent with this possibility, the current longitudinal study of newlywed couples revealed a positive association between spouses' reports of their tendencies to express forgiveness to their partners and those partners' reports of psychological and physical aggression. Specifically, although spouses who reported being relatively more forgiving experienced psychological and physical aggression that remained stable over the first 4 years of marriage, spouses who reported being relatively less forgiving experienced declines in both forms of aggression over time. These findings join just a few others in demonstrating that forgiveness is not a panacea.
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Elizabeth Sharp & Lawrence Ganong
Journal of Family Issues, July 2011, Pages 956-980
Abstract:
Despite growing numbers of singles, the idealization of marriage and child rearing remains strong, pervasive, and largely unquestioned. Guided by life course perspective, the purpose of this article was to examine familial and societal messages women receive when not married by their late 20s to mid-30s. Using descriptive phenomenological method, the authors conducted 32 interviews with 10 middle-class, ever-single women. Respondents' social environments were characterized by pressure to confirm to the conventional life pathway. Pressure was manifested in women feeling both highly visible and invisible. Specifically, women's social worlds included (a) awareness of the changing reality as they became older (e.g., changing pool of eligible men, pregnancy risks), (b) reminders that they were on a different life path (i.e., visibility ) through others' inquires and "triggers" (e.g., weddings), and (c) displacement in their families of origin (i.e., invisibility). The authors discuss the visible/invisible paradox, which appeared to be pronounced at their life stage.
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A pain in her arm: Romantic attachment orientations and the tourniquet task
Carol Wilson & Mollie Ruben
Personal Relationships, June 2011, Pages 242-265
Abstract:
Prior research has linked attachment anxiety to heightened perceptions of chronic pain. However, few studies have examined attachment and acute pain, and none of these to our knowledge have included partner attachment effects in a dyadic context. Sixty-five healthy undergraduate women were exposed to an ischemic pain task in the presence of their romantic partners. As expected, women's higher attachment anxiety predicted lower pain thresholds, greater subjective pain, and greater catastrophizing. Higher avoidance was associated with longer pain tolerances and, unexpectedly, lower physiological arousal. More avoidant and more anxious women responded negatively to pain when accompanied by a high-anxiety romantic partner. Implications exist for attachment insecurity and hyperactivating emotion regulation strategies as vulnerability factors in coping with pain.
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Sex differences in jealousy: A study from Norway
Leif Edward Ottesen Kennair et al.
Nordic Psychology, April 2011, Pages 20-34
Abstract:
Two infidelity scenarios and the Distress about Mating Rivals Questionnaire were administered to 506 undergraduate students, 202 men and 304 women. The results from the infidelity scenarios strongly suggest that men become more upset by sexual aspects of infidelity compared to women. Women were more upset than men by their partner's emotional commitment to another woman. Data from the Distress about Mating Rivals Questionnaire showed that men relatively more than women will be more distressed by a rival that has higher status and prestige, better financial prospects and more physical strength compared to themselves. In contrast, women would be relatively more distressed than men by a rival that is more kind and understanding, has a more attractive face and a more attractive body than themselves. The results lend support to evolutionary based explanations for the observed sex differences.
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Gurit Birnbaum, Yanna Weisberg & Jeffry Simpson
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, June 2011, Pages 448-468
Abstract:
The authors examined the effects of relationship threat on sexual motivations. In two studies, participants imagined relationship or non-relationship threat scenes and then rated their desire to have sex (Study 1) and the reasons for doing so (Study 2). The results indicated that relationship threat prompted both enhancement and relationship-based motives, suggesting that people use sex to both feel better and repair the threatened relationship. Avoidantly attached individuals were least likely to desire their partner, implying that they use distancing strategies when confronted with relational threat. Anxiously attached individuals were least likely to be motivated by hedonistic reasons, possibly reflecting their difficulties in enjoying sex when flooded with relationship worries. Implications for understanding the functional meaning of sex in romantic relationships are discussed.
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Job turnover, wage rates, and marital stability: How are they related?
Avner Ahituv & Robert Lerman
Review of Economics of the Household, June 2011, Pages 221-249
Abstract:
This study examines the interplay between job stability, wage rates, and marital stability. We use a Dynamic Selection Control model in which young men make sequential choices about work and family and estimate the model using an approach that takes account of self-selection, simultaneity and unobserved heterogeneity. The results quantify how job stability affects wage rates, how both affect marital status, and how marital status affects earnings and job stability. The study reveals robust evidence that job changes lower wages and the likelihood of getting married and remaining married. At the same time, marriage raises wage rates and job stability. To project the sequential effects linking job change, marital status, and earnings, we simulate the impacts of shocks that raise preferences for marriage and that increase education. Feedback effects cause the simulated wage gains from marriage to cumulate over time, indicating that long-run marriage wage premiums exceed conventional short-run estimates.
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Cross-Cultural Analysis of Models of Romantic Love Among U.S. Residents, Russians, and Lithuanians
Victor de Munck et al.
Cross-Cultural Research, May 2011, Pages 128-154
Abstract:
Our goal was to detect and describe a common "core" structure of romantic love and to also discover and explain variations due to cultural or gender differences between three national cultures: the United States, Russia, and Lithuania. Our sample consisted of 262 American males, 362 American females, 166 Russian males, 130 females, 102 Lithuanian males, and 135 Lithuanian females-a total of 1,157 people. Our analysis was derived from (a) a 14-item questionnaire; (b) freelist responses to the question "What do you associate with romantic love?" and (c) interview and focus group data. The questionnaire was devised by employing well-known quotations about romantic love that cover a range of feelings and perceptions of love. Our results showed that there is no overall consensus but there was cross-cultural consensus on five variables: intrusive thinking, happiness; passion; altruism; and improve well-being of partner. In the freelist portion, we also found some significant similarities-particularly the desire to be together was ranked first across all three cultures. However key cultural differences were found. Friendship and comfort love were critical features of romantic love for the U.S. sample, but nonexistent for the Lithuanian and Russian samples. Conversely, the latter two samples saw love as "unreal," "temporary," and "a fairytale." These cultural differences were explored through interviews and shown to serve as different cultural frames used to interpret similar emotional complexes. We suggest that the differences do not affect the evolutionary functions of romantic love and are adaptations to different types of social organizations. The etic-emic approach used in this cross-cultural research provides for a more nuanced, ethnographically sound, and cross-culturally valid description and analysis of the form and function of romantic love cross culturally than does either approach by itself.
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Love expression in the United States and Germany
Elisabeth Gareis & Richard Wilkins
International Journal of Intercultural Relations, May 2011, Pages 307-319
Abstract:
The study had the goal to compare love expression in the United States and Germany. The data offer insight into love expression as a cultural script and symbol of culture change, suggesting competing ways of using the locution "I love you" in the two cultures. Not only is verbal love expression less central in Germany, but for the German, the locution "I love you" is traditionally reserved for private disclosure of a formal love, governed by a communal imperative for feelings of meaningfulness. This is juxtaposed with an American desire for disclosing love in expressive ways and in a broad range of contexts, including nonromantic relationships. Globalization issues, such as the universal (expressive culture) versus the particular (reserved culture), are evoked, and the spreading in Germany of an expressive culture across a variety of settings suggested. Spurred by the use of telecommunication technology and often met with resistance, the tensions arising from these semantic and pragmatic changes in the use of love expression represent one of the interesting aspects of this paper.
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Developmental and Dyadic Perspectives on Commitment in Adult Romantic Relationships
Minda Oriña et al.
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
We tested hypotheses concerning the developmental roots of becoming the "weak-link" (less committed) partner in adult romantic relationships and the associations between partners' absolute and relative levels of commitment and dyadic outcomes. We examined 78 target 20- to 21-year-olds who were involved in a romantic relationship and who had been studied since birth. As predicted, people who received lower-quality support from caregivers in toddlerhood or who were less able to resolve conflicts with a best friend in midadolescence were more likely to become the weak-link partner in a romantic relationship at age 20 to 21. Furthermore, lower commitment on the part of the weak-link partner coupled with greater discrepancy in commitment between partners predicted a greater likelihood that the couple would display hostility (rated by observers) during a videotaped conflict-resolution task when they were 20 to 21 years old. These findings are discussed from developmental and dyadic perspectives.
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Wen Zhou & Denise Chen
Social Neuroscience, May/June 2011, Pages 270-276
Abstract:
Biologically significant, natural human body odors convey emotion and identity - two qualities shown to build on dissociated modules in face and voice perceptions. To what extent such segregation applies to chemosensory processing of body odors has hardly been studied. The current study probes this issue by recruiting heterosexual couples, who are genetically independent yet sexually and emotionally engaged to one another, as both odor donors and odor judges, and comparing their sensitivities to the chemosensory emotional cues from their partner vs. those from opposite-sex strangers. We demonstrate that familiarity subconsciously sharpens one's sensitivity to chemosensory emotional cues, which increases as a function of the time couples have spent together. Nevertheless, the specific chemosensory identity and emotional content remain undelineated and inaccessible to verbal awareness. Our findings reveal a different pattern from those of face and voice perceptions and provide insights into the mechanisms and interplays of chemosensory emotion and identity processings.
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William McKibbin et al.
Journal of Comparative Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Female extrapair copulation (EPC) can be costly to a woman's long-term romantic partner. If a woman has copulated recently with a man other than her long-term partner, her reproductive tract may contain the sperm of both men, initiating sperm competition (whereby sperm from multiple males compete to fertilize an egg). Should the woman become pregnant, her long-term partner is at risk of cuckoldry-investing unwittingly in offspring to whom he is not genetically related. Previous research in humans (Homo sapiens) and in nonhuman animals suggests that males have evolved tactics such as partner-directed sexual coercion that reduce the risk of cuckoldry. The current research provides preliminary evidence that mated men (n = 223) at greater risk of partner EPC, measured as having spent a greater proportion of time apart from their partner since the couple's last in-pair copulation, more frequently perform partner-directed sexually coercive behaviors. This relationship is moderated, however, by men's perceived risk of partner EPC, such that the correlation between the proportion of time spent apart since last in-pair copulation and sexually coercive behaviors remains significant only for those men who perceive themselves to be at some risk of partner EPC. Discussion addresses limitations of this research and highlights directions for future research investigating the relationship between female EPC and men's partner-directed sexual coercion.
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"Marriage Is More Than Being Together": The Meaning of Marriage for Young Adults
Maria Kefalas et al.
Journal of Family Issues, July 2011, Pages 845-875
Abstract:
Based on 424 qualitative interviews with a racially, ethnically, and socio-economically diverse population of young people ranging in age from 21 to 38, the authors ponder the paradox of the evolving role for contemporary marriage within the developmental perspective of the transition to adulthood. The authors identify two groups: marriage naturalists and marriage planners. Naturalists comprise one fifth of the sample, are largely from rural America, and follow the fast-track into marriage that defined the mid-twentieth century. Planners comprise the remainder of the sample, are based in metropolitan areas, and follow an elongated transition to adulthood. The authors examine the views of each group on commitment and the nature of relationships, and apply their findings to the debates about whether marriage is resilient, in decline, or becoming deinstitutionalized.
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Paul Perrin et al.
Sex Roles, May 2011, Pages 613-628
Abstract:
An evolutionary approach to gender differences in romantic relationships has pervaded the scientific literature, a trend mirrored in popular culture by Mars-Venus stereotyping. Three studies tested the accuracy of the popular notion that gender differences would emerge for the behaviors women and men want and receive from romantic partners in a sample of 375 students at a southeastern U.S. public university. Across the three studies, only one stable and robust gender difference emerged (desires regarding relationship support), as did several unstable gender differences. However, gender-role identity significantly accounted for nearly half of the variance in this one stable gender difference, challenging the viability of some evolutionary conceptualizations of gender differences and instead providing support for social constructionist and feminist perspectives.
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Don't go to bed angry: Attachment, conflict, and affective and physiological reactivity
Angela Hicks & Lisa Diamond
Personal Relationships, June 2011, Pages 266-284
Abstract:
In 39 individuals in cohabiting relationships, the associations between naturally occurring couple conflict (assessed with end-of-day diaries) and next-morning ratings of negative affect, sleep disruptions, and awakening cortisol response were tested. Low-avoidant individuals showed heightened negative affect the morning after heightened quarreling. Yet high-avoidant individuals reported lower negative affect the morning after heightened quarreling. Greater quarreling was associated with more subsequent sleep disruptions overall, but this association was significantly stronger among individuals with high attachment anxiety and significantly weaker among individuals with high attachment avoidance. Finally, quarreling was associated with a significantly dampened cortisol awakening response in high-anxious women. The results have implications for understanding the distinct biopsychological pathways through which routine relationship experiences influence health-related physical and mental functioning.
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Elianne van Steenbergen, Esther Kluwer & Benjamin Karney
Journal of Family Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Stress, on average, is bad for relationships. Yet stress at work is not always associated with negative relationship outcomes. The premise of the current study was that associations between workload and trajectories of marital satisfaction depend on circumstances that may constrain or facilitate partners' ability to negotiate their multiple roles. We hypothesized that the covariance between changes in workload and marital satisfaction over time should be moderated by (a) the extent to which spouses like their work, (b) their parental status, and (c) their gender. Analyses drawing upon eight waves of data on workload, work satisfaction, and marital satisfaction from 169 newlywed couples assessed over four years confirmed these predictions. Specifically, across couples, demands at work covaried positively with marital satisfaction for spouses who were more satisfied with their jobs. For nonparent couples, increases in husbands' workload covaried with increases in marital satisfaction for both spouses. For parent couples, however, increases in husbands' workload covaried with declines in marital satisfaction for both spouses. Unexpectedly, for parent couples, increases in wives' workload corresponded with increased marital satisfaction. Finally, consistent with predictions, wives were more affected by their husbands' workload than vice versa. Thus, tension between work and marriage is not inevitable, instead depending on circumstances that facilitate or impair performance in multiple roles. Couples, employers, and practitioners should recognize the role that external circumstances play in determining how work and marital life interact.
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He Says, She Says: Gender and Cohabitation
Penelope Huang et al.
Journal of Family Issues, July 2011, Pages 876-905
Abstract:
Cohabitation has become the modal path to marriage in the United States. However, little is known about what cohabitation means to young adults today. Drawing on data from 18 focus groups (N = 138) and 54 in-depth interviews with young adults, this exploratory study investigates motivations to cohabit and examines potential gender differences in those motivations and the meanings attached to them. The authors find that primary motives to cohabit include spending time together, sharing expenses, and evaluating compatibility. Strong gender differences emerge in how respondents discuss these themes and how they characterize the drawbacks of cohabitation, with men more concerned about loss of freedom and women with delays in marriage. Overall, the findings of this study suggest that gendered cultural norms governing intimate relationships extend to cohabiting unions and point to gender differences in the perceived role of cohabitation in union formation processes.
