
Melissa CurranUniversity of Arizona | UA · School of Family & Consumer Sciences
Melissa Curran
Ph.D.
About
99
Publications
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Introduction
I study couple and family relationships specific to constructs such as relational sacrifices, the transition to parenthood, finances, attachment representations, and cancer in family systems.
Publications
Publications (99)
Drawing on the family stress process model and using data from 141 same-sex couples (N = 282 partners), we examined associations between heterosexist discrimination and relational sacrifices (i.e., willingness and behaviors). We also examined the moderating roles of both partners' internalized homophobia and state-level liberalism on same-sex marri...
Higher credit scores have unique financial benefits that may aid in emerging adults’ efforts toward financial independence. Yet, it is unknown if higher credit scores may also yield romantic relationship benefits. In a sample of 916 U.S. emerging adults, we used structural equation modeling to test the indirect associations between credit score and...
The idea for this special issue came from the current Editors of the Journal for Social and Personal Relationships and Personal Relationships, who wanted to forge a collaboration between the International Association for Relationship Research’s two journals. This collaboration came at a time when issues surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion...
Objectives
We included two sacrifice constructs to reflect the awareness and (in)equity of behavioral sacrifice in same‐sex relationships: (a) the receiver's awareness (whether the receiver under‐, over‐, or unbiasedly estimated the other's frequency of sacrifice behaviors) and (b) the provider's perceived (in)equity (whether the provider perceived...
The idea for this special issue came from the current Editors of the Journal for Social and Personal Relationships and Personal Relationships, who wanted to forge a collaboration between the International Association for Relationship Research's two journals. The timing of such collaboration came at a time when issues surrounding diversity, equity,...
In this chapter, we focus on how a gender-as-relational perspective (Fox & Murry, 2000) has been applied in quantitative studies of romantic relationships. Though feminist researchers have discussed the increasing diversity of methods in feminist research (Rutherford, 2011), there are relatively fewer examples of quantitative studies that have expl...
We conducted a systematic review of research on relational sacrifices in romantic relationships from 2002 to 2021 [N = 115 studies] to answer three questions: Q1: Whose voices and vantage points are represented in the research?; Q2: What types of questions are valued?; Q3: What are the reflections and connections about relational sacrifices that we...
Many emerging adults have experienced increased financial distress and mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic, and isolation may have amplified the importance of close relationships (especially as parents’ influence diminishes during this developmental stage). Using the ABC-X Model to frame our model, we tested whether financial distre...
Objective
We test how three main methods of family financial socialization (retrospectively reported) are uniquely associated with three indicators of financial well‐being, and whether financial self‐efficacy and financial management behaviors mediate these associations.
Background
Although the link between family financial socialization and finan...
Accumulating evidence has been found for the associations from sexual minority stressors to intimate partner violence (IPV) among same-sex couples. Yet key gaps still exist, including the rare utilization of couple dyadic data, the understudied moderating and mediating mechanisms, and the few studies conducted during the transitional period of same...
Emerging adults lack many basic financial capabilities. To avoid conflict that may come from these deficiencies, some emerging adults may financially deceive their romantic partner. However, little is known about financial deception in emerging adult romantic relationships. Through the lenses of two theoretical frameworks, we test whether financial...
In couple relationships, discussing finances is often considered taboo. Specifically, emerging adult couples experience several unique financial challenges that may contribute to poorer financial communication and pose relational risks. Utilizing structural equation modeling with a sample of 1,950 U.S. emerging adults, the current study tests assoc...
Finances, and how couples manage their finances, can have important implications for couples’ relational well-being. Using data from 1,585 couples that participated in the CREATE study (a nationally representative dyadic dataset of US newlywed couples), we examined how perceiving one’s spouse as a financial spender (ie, spending more than they idea...
While a plethora of research has found that parent financial socialization during childhood and adolescence is linked with financial outcomes in emerging adulthood, recent literature suggests that financial socialization may also impact romantic relationship outcomes in emerging adulthood. Utilizing a sample of 1,950 U.S. emerging adults, we test w...
Drawing from the stress resistance process within the conservation of resources theory, this study examined how resources at multiple ecological levels—personal (self-esteem), relational (spousal support), and social network (relationships with parents and parents-in-law)—moderate the spillover and crossover effects from external stressors to traje...
Guided by attachment theory and the Vulnerability-Stress-Adaptation model, we used three-annual-wave, dyadic data from a nationally representative sample of 1136 young-adult newlywed couples to investigate two research aims. First, we conducted a Latent Profile Analysis to identify couple-level attachment styles at Time 1 (i.e., within the first 2...
Profound environmental changes will affect vast human populations, if not pose an existential threat to humanity, raising the question how individuals will adapt psychologically to address these changes and how they manage stress and anxiety in the face of chronic threats such as climate change. We propose that ecological coping (efforts to manage...
A theoretically grounded, validated measure of parent financial socialization is needed. This article describes the development and validation process of three new scales: the Parent Financial Modeling Scale (eight items), the Parent-Child Financial Discussion Scale (nine items), and the Experiential Learning of Finances Scale (three items). These...
The aim of the study is to investigate how 2,084 U.S. college-educated young adults (61.9% female, and 69.5% non-Hispanic White) navigated the goal attainment process during the transition to adulthood. Using four-wave data collected across eight years, we examined how financial behaviors (self-regulating behaviors) predicted both depressive sympto...
People often seek advice and social support. One approach for seeking advice is by submitting one’s problems/concerns to an advice columnist. More contemporary forms of advice seeking are seen on discussion boards (e.g. Reddit) where individuals ask questions (often anonymously) and gather responses from others. This activity makes use of advice-se...
We examined the relations between tripartite commitment—personal (want to stay in relationship), moral (ought to stay in relationship; internal constraints) and structural (have to stay in relationship; external constraints)—and various constructs of relationship quality (i.e., conflict, ambivalence, maintenance, and satisfaction) in a sample of 71...
Following from an adapted family stress model (FSM), we used two-wave, secondary data from the Building Strong Families project, focusing on 4,424 primarily lower-income, unmarried couples expecting their first child together. We used cross-lagged analyses to test the directionality of the associations among financial difficulties, depressive sympt...
Intercultural romantic relationships have increased worldwide. Yet, there is a lack of empirical knowledge about intercultural couples. The studies that do suggest that intercultural couples have higher rates of conflict and long‐term instability, but most studies have measured intercultural couples using categorical responses of race/ethnicity, wh...
Guided by the Vulnerability-Adaption-Stress model (Karney and Bradbury 1995), we used data from 635 college-educated young adults to examine associations between romantic attachment orientations (i.e., attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance) and young adults’ life outcomes (i.e., financial satisfaction, life satisfaction, and relationship sati...
Traditional gender ideology, which refers to individuals’ expectations for the gendered segregation between work and family responsibilities, is a well-documented predictor for marital quality. Using three annual-wave, dyadic data from 240 Chinese dual-earner heterosexual couples surveyed during the early years of their marriage, we (a) examined ho...
The FAAR model (Patterson in Fam Syst Med 6(2):202–237, 1988) posits that following a stressor, demands, capabilities, and meanings can contribute to bonadaptation (i.e., adaptation that promotes wellbeing). The purpose of the current study is to test how financial and relational demands, capabilities, and meanings are associated with relationship...
Objective
The current study examined how parental relationship changes were linked to observed parenting behaviors, parental depressive symptoms, and 3‐year‐old children's social–emotional development.
Background
Parental relationship changes may present risks to young children's well‐being. The specific processes linking these changes to child de...
Conflicts are inevitable in romantic relationships. Couples sometimes choose the pro-relationship strategy of relational sacrifice to address such conflicts. Previous research established that examining sacrifice motives (i.e., approach and avoidance) is meaningful in understanding relationship quality. Using interdependence theory and 14 days of d...
Intercultural romantic relationships and multicultural families have increased in the United States and worldwide. Researchers have found that intercultural couples report high rates of conflict and relationship instability, which may be partly explained by differences between partners in relationship goals (e.g., how much intimacy is desired and h...
Un Abrazo Para La Familia™ (Abrazo) is a 3-h modular preventive intervention designed for low-income caregivers who are co-survivors of cancer. Here we (1) consider the benefit to survivors of cancer, that is, the care recipients who participate in Abrazo; (2) summarize the literature specific to research outreach to low-income, underserved populat...
Guided by family systems theory, we focused on families where young children have experienced paternal incarceration (n = 775 families). We examined how characteristics of mothers and fathers at two levels of the family system–individual (i.e., depression) and relational (i.e., support/affection, constructive conflict, destructive conflict, and cop...
Specific to Fifty Shades of Gray:
In this chapter, we discuss romantic/erotic novel consumption and the
potential influence it could have, framed in Relational-Cultural Theory
(RTC). Specifically, the Fifty Shades franchise has ignited a cultural stir
since the books were published in 2011, with annual reports of public
concern and challenges again...
Guided by the spillover hypothesis of family systems theory, we used data from the Building Strong Families project to examine intrafamily relations between destructive and constructive interparental conflict, harsh and supportive parenting behaviors, and coparenting alliance across different family configurations: married, cohabiting, and noncohab...
We examined how subjective and objective financial knowledge were associated with relationship satisfaction through pathways of finance-related rewards (positive financial behaviors, perceived shared financial values with the romantic partner, or lower debt) in a sample of cohabiting or married young adults (N = 162). We used Waves 2, 3, and 4 of t...
Heteronormativity, as defined in queer theory, is the presumption and privileging of heterosexuality. Research on how young people make sense of and narrate heteronormativity in their own lives is needed to inform theories of heteronormativity. Using queer and intersectional frameworks, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 14 sexual and gen...
A multiple goals framework examined romantic couples’ use of social control, perceived constraints to using social control, and topic avoidance regarding their health behaviors. Results showed a positive association between perceptions of social control constraints and use of negative social control. Additionally, topic avoidance was negatively rel...
Using mediating analyses with Latent Change Scores (N = 208), we examined (Aim 1) associations from financial behaviors of emerging adults and romantic partners to adult identity (i.e., feeling like an adult; being recognized by others as adult; obtaining adult status), and (Aim 2) the mediating roles of depressive symptoms and relationship satisfa...
Guided by family systems theory and using 2-wave data from 4,843 low-income, unmarried couples in the Building Strong Families study, we examined paths from paternal and maternal pregnancy intentions to family functioning in personal, relationship, and coparenting domains. Using 3-step Latent Class Analysis, we first identified 3 subgroups of coupl...
It is common for romantic partners to influence one another’s health maintenance behaviors. Previous research has examined positively and negatively framed social control messages to understand health behavior outcomes and relational affect; however, this study confirms and extends previous research by studying the associations between health trans...
We examined how perceived financial socialization—from parents, the romantic partner, and young adults’ own behavior—was associated with young adults’ life outcomes and well-being (i.e., physical and mental health, finances, romantic relationship). Using data (N = 504) from young adults specific to their finances, results from hierarchical regressi...
Objective
Our goal in this study was to determine if we could replicate initial findings when providing the intervention, Un Abrazo Para La Familia (“Abrazo”). Abrazo is a community‐focused psychoeducational preventive intervention addressing the cancer information and coping needs of low‐income, underserved family members of cancer survivors, deve...
Despite existing evidence for the threats of climate change facing people living in the U.S., the psychological impacts of this threat have been neglected in public and scientific discourse, resulting in a notable lack in studies on individuals’ adaptation to climate change. Using social-cognitive theory, we examine how three forms of environmental...
Teaching of family theories is often met with opposition from students (e.g., information is too abstract and not relatable to their personal or professional lives). Our goal in this symposium is to illustrate the importance and usefulness of five distinct theories in family studies and human development: Ambiguous Loss, Conflict, Feminism, Interse...
We examined the relations between interparental conflict (destructive and constructive), parenting behaviors (harshness and supportiveness) and children's emotional insecurity in early childhood when children were approximately 36 months of age. The sample consisted of low-income unmarried couples who were expectant/new parents who participated in...
We use interdependence theory and the inertia model to examine how gender and daily relational sacrifices predict daily variability in relationship commitment across a week in 43 U.S. couples who are unmarried cohabitors expecting their first child together (total of 455 days of data). We examined three variants of daily relational sacrifices: freq...
Previous researchers examining romantic couples’ dynamics have highlighted important behaviors, such as sacrifice motives, that can enhance or detract from relationship quality. It is equally as important to understand what individual characteristics contribute to these relationship behaviors. We examined how daily sacrifice motives (i.e., approach...
Previous research on attachment orientations has focused on how attachment is associated with levels of relationship quality; however, the nature of associations with variability over time (volatility) on relationship quality remains unclear. Couples who are higher in volatility have poorer relationship outcomes, thus it is important to understand...
Sexual satisfaction is an important predictor of relationship satisfaction and well-being. Therefore, it is important to identify factors that contribute to sexual satisfaction. With daily diary data, we examine how daily desire for sex is associated with daily sexual satisfaction, while also distinguishing between days in which the couple had sex...
Emotion work (EW; activities to enhance significant others' emotional well-being) is an important construct in predicting divisions of household labor, childcare and relationship satisfaction, and contributions to family life (Erickson, 2005). From a systemic framework, the degree to which partners or family members share common perceptions about t...
Guided by interdependence theory, the authors examined how relationship satisfaction is explained by intimate behavior sacrifices in a sample of cohabitors (N = 200). Specifically, it was predicted that characteristics of intimate behavior sacrifices, such as ease and partner appreciation should alter the association of sacrifice frequency and rela...
Health promotion and preventive action in the context of public health interventions for highly prevalent, long-term conditions such as cancer are rarely geared toward the family as a whole. Yet family members, as cancer cosurvivors, must manage their own substantial stress and multiple caregiving responsibilities and often constitute a critical ne...
We discuss how to move the family studies field and the teaching of family theories from covering the “facts” that LGBT-parent families exist to a critical conversation that incorporates conceptual tools, language, and theoretical insights from queer and intersectionality theories. We attempt to move this conversation by presenting a model of curri...
Extending a theoretical framework combining consumer socialization and planned behavior theories, the authors examined the influences that parents and romantic partners exert on college students' financial attitude and behavior using two waves of data collected from a sample of students in their first year (Wave 1) and fourth year (Wave 2) of colle...
Using interdependence theory, we examined how relational sacrifices specific to intimacy were associated with positive (commitment, satisfaction, love, and maintenance) and negative (ambivalence and conflict) relationship quality among expectant, unmarried cohabitors (n = 69 individuals), because this group may struggle relationally. We examined ho...
We use the gender relations perspective from feminist theorizing to investigate how gender and daily emotion work predict daily relationship quality in 74 couples (148 individuals in dating, cohabiting, or married relationships) primarily from the southwest U.S. Emotion work is characterized by activities that enhance others’ emotional well-being....
We examined whether seven relational constructs (satisfaction, commitment, closeness, conflict, ambivalence, maintenance, and love) showed significant within-person residual variance over time (variability), whether couple members were similar in their variability (covariation), and whether variability and covariation differed by relationship lengt...
Presentation from IARR New Scholars workshop (June 2015)
The purpose of our study was to identify both negative and positive associations of cohabitation with relationship quality. Using a sample of 280 cohabitors, we examined how reasons for cohabitation (i.e., spending time together, testing the relationship, and convenience) are associated with relationship quality (i.e., commitment, satisfaction, amb...
Reflecting on our unique journeys and shared experiences as family science educators, as well as empirical and pedagogical literature, we review three salient issues that in our experiences impact family science classrooms: (1) integration of technology, (2) how experience does not equate expertise, and (3) the importance of representing diversity....
We discuss Un Abrazo Para La Familia as an effective, rehabilitation-informed evidence-based model of education, information-sharing, and skill teaching for use with low-income Hispanic co-survivors of cancer. Over 2 years, 120 co-survivors participated in the intervention. The majority of participants (96 %) were women and all but one reported bei...
Background: Family members and friends, referred to as co-survivors, provide crucial support to cancer survivors during and after acute cancer treatment. The impact of living with cancer on one's mental health and emotional wellbeing can be profound. So too, navigating cancer-related systems can be challenging for co-survivors as they attempt to ac...
The development and evaluation of Un Abrazo Para La Familia, [A Hug for the Family] is described. Un Abrazo is discussed as an effective model of education, information-sharing, and skill-building for use with low-income co-survivors of cancer.
Sixty co-survivors participated. The majority were women and all reported being Hispanic.
Using quantitat...
We utilized interdependence theory and conservation of resources to understand how relational sacrifices and hassles impact positive relationship quality constructs (i.e., satisfaction, closeness, and commitment) in romantic relationships (N = 164 couples; 328 individuals). Using daily diary data to examine actor and partner effects, we found that...
We collected daily diary data from 165 couples (N = 330) in romantic relationships to examine how working to change the relationship and relational uncertainty influence positive relationship quality (i.e., closeness, satisfaction, and commitment). We used concepts from the investment model and literature on relationship maintenance and relational...
We examine how three types of marital commitment—personal, structural,
and moral—are associated with perceptions of fairness in chores (N = 1,839
married couples or 3,678 spouses). Using the Actor–Partner Interdependence
Model, we find distinct relationships by type of marital commitment
and gender. For personal commitment, both actor and partner e...
Young adulthood is a crucial period for identity development and an unclear sense of identity has been associated with deleterious psychological and social outcomes. Using structural equation modeling, this study tested a mediational model that connects family communication patterns (conversation orientation, conformity orientation, conversation ×...
In this investigation, we use the Conservation of Resources (CoR) theory as a guide to examine how both uplifts and hassles are associated with positive (e.g., satisfaction, commitment) and negative (ambivalence, conflict) relational quality on a daily basis. In previous studies of hassles and uplifts, the focus has been primarily on negative outco...
Using thematic analysis, we examine the effects of childhood abuse regarding parenthood for pregnant
cohabitors from qualitative interviews. Participants (N = 18; 10 women and 8 men) recalled childhood abuse during the Adult Attachment Interview. Three themes emerged: (1) “Learning what not to do,” whereby abuse is discussed as something not to con...
Using interdependence and attachment theories, we examined the influence of attachment orientations on the association between relational sacrifices and relationship satisfaction. Romantic partners (N = 332) completed a one-time measure of attachment orientations and daily measures of relationship satisfaction and number and difficulty of relationa...
Using symbolic interactionism we developed an open-ended question to examine marital meaning for young adults (N = 111). Themes to emerge were love and commitment. Participants were placed into clusters: contractual (low love, high commitment), optimistic-realistic (high love, high commitment), romanticizing (high love, low commitment), and casual...
Un Abrazo Para La Familia (A Hug for the Family) is an intervention designed to increase the accessibility of cancer information to low-income and medically underserved co-survivors of cancer. Co-survivors are family members or friends of an individual diagnosed with cancer. Our goal was to increase socio-emotional support for these co-survivors an...
“Me” and “we” talk, as indicators of outcome considerations, is examined for expectant, unmarried cohabitors (N = 36). Grounded in social exchange and interdependence theories, “me” talk reflects individualism while “we” talk reflects collectivism (e.g., outcome consideration beyond self). Having interviewed cohabitors about effects of the difficul...
Given negative effects of cohabitation, we examine negative (ambivalence, conflict) and positive (commitment, satisfaction) relationship quality, as explained by perceptions of ease of relational sacrifices and spirituality, for unmarried cohabitors expecting their first child (46 individuals). Controlling for race/ethnicity and education, perceive...