Such a happy couple
Can Marriage Education Mitigate the Risks Associated With Premarital Cohabitation?
Galena Rhoades et al.
Journal of Family Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study tested whether relationship education (i.e., the Prevention and Relationship Education Program; PREP) can mitigate the risk of having cohabited before making a mutual commitment to marry (i.e., "precommitment cohabitation") for marital distress and divorce. Using data from a study of PREP for married couples in the U.S. Army (N = 662 couples), we found that there was a significant association between precommitment cohabitation and lower marital satisfaction and dedication before random assignment to intervention. After intervention, this precommitment cohabitation effect was only apparent in the control group. Specifically, significant interactions between intervention condition and cohabitation history indicated that for the control group, but not the PREP group, precommitment cohabitation was associated with lower dedication as well as declines in marital satisfaction and increases in negative communication over time. Furthermore, those with precommitment cohabitation were more likely to divorce by the 2-year follow-up only in the control group; there were no differences in divorce based on premarital cohabitation history in the PREP group. These findings are discussed in light of current research on cohabitation and relationship education; potential implications are also considered.
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Does Increased Sexual Frequency Enhance Happiness?
George Loewenstein et al.
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, August 2015, Pages 206–218
Abstract:
Prior research observing a positive correlation between happiness and sexual frequency has not been able to determine whether increased frequency leads, causally, to an increase in happiness. We present results from the first experimental study to address the question of causality. We recruited couples and randomly assigned half to double their frequency of intercourse. We find that increased frequency does not lead to increased happiness, perhaps because it leads to a decline in wanting for, and enjoyment of, sex.
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Effect of relationship status on perceptions of physical attractiveness for alternative partners
Whitney Petit & Thomas Ford
Personal Relationships, forthcoming
Abstract:
Coupled people, those in a relationship, devaluate the attractiveness of an alternative partner compared to noncoupled people (D. J. Johnson & C. E. Rusbult, 1989). The present research tested two competing hypotheses about the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon. According to the motivational hypothesis, coupled and noncoupled people initially perceive opposite-sex others as equally attractive. Coupled people, however, recalibrate their perceptions. In contrast, the perceptual hypothesis proposes that coupled people do not perceive opposite-sex others as attractive. The present study tested these competing hypotheses by measuring both involuntary and self-reported perceptions of attractiveness of opposite-sex models. Supporting the motivational hypothesis, coupled participants (n = 38) and noncoupled participants (n = 34) exhibited the same degree of pupil dilation, however, coupled participants reported lower attractiveness ratings.
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Variation in Marital Quality in a National Sample of Divorced Women
Spencer James
Journal of Family Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Previous work has compared marital quality between stably married and divorced individuals. Less work has examined the possibility of variation among divorcés in trajectories of marital quality as divorce approaches. This study addressed that hole by first examining whether distinct trajectories of marital quality can be discerned among women whose marriages ended in divorce and, second, the profile of women who experienced each trajectory. Latent class growth analyses with longitudinal data from a nationally representative sample were used to "look backward" from the time of divorce. Although demographic and socioeconomic variables from this national sample did not predict the trajectories well, nearly 66% of divorced women reported relatively high levels of both happiness and communication and either low or moderate levels of conflict. Future research including personality or interactional patterns may lead to theoretical insights about patterns of marital quality in the years leading to divorce.
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The effects of being in a "new relationship" on levels of testosterone in men
Daniel Farrelly et al.
Evolutionary Psychology, March 2015, Pages 250-261
Abstract:
In light of previous research showing that different types of relationships affect levels of testosterone in men, this study examined whether categorizing relationship types according to relationship length can shed further light on variations in levels of testosterone. Salivary testosterone samples were obtained from a sample of men and details about their relationship status, sociosexual orientation, extra-pair sexual interest, and their perceptions of their relationships were recorded. Using a median split analysis, participants who indicated that they had been in their relationship for less than 12 months were categorized as being in "new relationships" and those in longer relationships being categorized as in long-term relationships. Results showed that levels of testosterone of single men and men in new relationships did not differ, but both had significantly greater levels of testosterone than men in long-term relationships. Differences in levels of testosterone were unrelated to sociosexual orientation and extra-pair sexual interest. These findings support the evolutionary explanation of levels of testosterone in men varying in accordance with their internal motivation to seek new potential mates.
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Perceived Partner Responsiveness Predicts Diurnal Cortisol Profiles 10 Years Later
Richard Slatcher, Emre Selcuk & Anthony Ong
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Several decades of research have demonstrated that marital relationships have a powerful influence on physical health. However, surprisingly little is known about how marriage affects health — both in terms of psychological processes and biological ones. Over a 10-year period, we investigated the associations between perceived partner responsiveness — the extent to which people feel understood, cared for, and appreciated by their romantic partners — and diurnal cortisol in a large sample of married and cohabitating couples in the United States. Partner responsiveness predicted higher cortisol values at awakening and steeper (i.e., healthier) cortisol slopes at the 10-year follow-up. These associations remained strong after we controlled for demographic factors, depressive symptoms, agreeableness, and other positive and negative relationship factors. Furthermore, declines in negative affect over the 10-year period mediated the prospective association between responsiveness and cortisol slope. These findings suggest that diurnal cortisol may be a key biological pathway through which social relationships affect long-term health.
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Relationship quality and oxytocin: Influence of stable and modifiable aspects of relationships
Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Wendy Birmingham & Kathleen Light
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, June 2015, Pages 472-490
Abstract:
Prior studies report that couples with higher relationship quality show higher oxytocin (OT) levels, yet other studies report those with higher distress have increased OT. This study investigated these competing predictions in the context of a support enhancement intervention among 34 young married couples (N = 68). Preintervention marital quality (Dyadic Adjustment Scale) was examined for associations with plasma and salivary OT levels 4 weeks apart and for changes between these time points within the intervention group. High relationship quality, not distress, was associated with higher OT in both saliva and plasma at both time points. No significant interaction was found between marital quality and intervention condition; relationship quality and support intervention were both independently associated with higher postintervention OT levels.
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Ashley Brooke Barr & Ronald Simons
Journal of Family Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study follows from a long line of research aimed at understanding the effects of romantic relationships on desistance from crime. We expanded this work by testing the differential effects of relationship status (i.e., single, dating, cohabiting, married) and relationship quality on crime and the different mechanisms explaining these effects. We drew upon longitudinal data on African American young adults, and utilized a fixed effects approach to examine intraindividual change in relationship status, relationship quality, and offending. Results suggested that, for men, relationship status was directly associated with crime, in that coresidential unions reduced offending independent of their quality. High-quality relationships, however, were found to deter crime for both men and women no matter their form. The effect of relationship status was largely accounted for by social control processes, whereas the relationship quality effect was explained by cognitive transformation, particularly a change in the "criminogenic knowledge structure." These findings demand greater attention to multiple dimensions of relationships and the unique mechanisms through which they may foster desistance.
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Kandauda (K.A.S.) Wickrama & Catherine O'Neal
Journal of Research on Adolescence, forthcoming
Abstract:
The present study tests a multilevel comprehensive model incorporating both life course processes and genetic influences leading to young adults' romantic relationship quality using data from 1,560 adolescents over 13 years in the nationally representative Add Health sample. Results provided evidence of a socioeconomic mediating pathway linking early family and community contexts to young adults' romantic relationship quality, and novel evidence for both direct and interactive genetic associations that relate to these mediating pathways. A cumulative genetic index showed (a) direct associations with young adults' socioeconomic attainment and (b) interactions with community adversity and mothers' marital stability on young adults' achieved socioeconomic context and relationship quality.
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Labor supply and household meal production among working adults in the Health and Retirement Survey
Richard Dunn
Review of Economics of the Household, June 2015, Pages 437-457
Abstract:
In this paper, I consider how working adults near retirement age in the United States allocate time and monetary resources to meal production. Using the Consumption and Activities Mail Survey supplement to the Health and Retirement Survey, I use a fixed-effects tobit specification to estimate the effect of hours worked, labor income, non-labor income and assets on meal production decisions for respondents between 45 and 75 years of age who either live alone or with their spouse/partner. These relationships are estimated separately by gender and household structure (single-headed and dual-headed households). Among single males, increasing labor supply by 10 h per week was associated with 33.8 fewer minutes per week allocated to at-home meal preparation, 39.5 fewer minutes per month eating at restaurants, and $6.73 more per week spent on groceries. In contrast, the time and expenditure allocations of single females did not respond to changes in hours worked. Within dual-member households, increasing own-labor supply by 10 h per week was associated with a decrease in time allocated to preparing meals for both the male (30.4 min per week) and female member (30.5 min per week) with only weak evidence that the spouse/partner compensated by increasing their allocation of time.
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Kelley Robinson, Lisa Hoplock & Jessica Cameron
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Social support is critical to personal and relational well-being. Yet, receiving support appears to be contingent upon adequately conveying need to a receptive partner who both understands and is willing to provide said support. Or is it? We provide the first evidence of a covert haptic support system between adult intimates, showing that literally reaching out to a loved one can result in feeling supported even when the receiver of haptic support requests does not perceive them as bids for comfort. We tested this by unobtrusively observing support interactions between dating partners. As expected, those experiencing distress were more likely to seek touch from their partners, which elicited responsive touch — even though receivers failed to discern need from support-seekers' touch. Importantly, those who received responsive touch from their romantic partners felt more supported. Because touch begets touch, clear communication between intimates is not always necessary for successful support interactions.
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Sarah Stanton & Lorne Campbell
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, June 2015, Pages 441-455
Abstract:
Attachment anxiety is characterized by rumination about romantic relationships, particularly when the attachment system is activated. Two studies investigated the hypothesis that more anxiously attached individuals would experience cognitive load when attachment concerns were activated (vs. not activated). Study 1 found that more anxious persons encountering relationship threat (vs. no threat) demonstrated greater holistic processing on a shape categorization task, a type of processing reflective of cognitive load. Study 2 found that more anxious persons encountering relationship threat (vs. no threat or academic threat) exhibited slower reaction times on a Stroop task, a pattern also reflective of cognitive load. This research lends novel insight into how attachment system activation and relationship reflection pose a cognitive vulnerability for more anxious individuals.