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Helping Each Other Grow: Romantic Partner Support, Self-Improvement, and Relationship Quality
Abstract
This research tested whether and how partners' support of self-improvement efforts influences recipients' relationship evaluations and self-improvement success. Study 1 provided an initial test of predictions using self-reports (N = 150). Study 2 assessed support behavior exhibited in couples' (N = 47) discussions of self-improvement desires, and tracked relationship quality and self-improvement every 3 months for 1 year. More nurturing and action-facilitating partner support was more helpful to recipients, whereas partners who criticized and invalidated recipients were less helpful. Receiving more help from the partner, in turn, predicted greater relationship quality and more self-improvement. More negative support seeking also predicted lower self-improvement because recipients' behavior elicited less partner help. These effects were not attributable to partners' general warmth and understanding, global self or relationship evaluations, how much recipients desired or tried to change, or whether targeted attributes posed relationship problems. This research documents the powerful influence that partners' help has on recipients' personal growth.
... Like the sculptor Michelangelo, we each can recognize and shape the masterpiece figure embedded in the marble of others. We can recognize the potential ideal self our partner wishes to be and is striving toward, and we can directly and indirectly, consciously and unconsciously, act toward them in ways that encourage our partners to put their ideal selves into practice in their everyday behavior (Overall et al. 2010, Rusbult et al. 2009). In these two ways, a close other who facilitates moral growth can increase the rate and degree of moral self-improvement (Overall et al. 2010, Rusbult et al. 2009). ...
... We can recognize the potential ideal self our partner wishes to be and is striving toward, and we can directly and indirectly, consciously and unconsciously, act toward them in ways that encourage our partners to put their ideal selves into practice in their everyday behavior (Overall et al. 2010, Rusbult et al. 2009). In these two ways, a close other who facilitates moral growth can increase the rate and degree of moral self-improvement (Overall et al. 2010, Rusbult et al. 2009). Interestingly, this facilitation of the ideal self can be reciprocal in a pair, as each partner encourages the other's improvement (Rusbult et al. 2009). ...
... had better quality interactions and felt more satisfied with these interactions. As in numerous examples above, however, criticism and questioning of the other's ideal/actual gap appears to undermine self-improvement goals and action (Overall et al. 2010). ...
There is always room for moral improvement. However, very few prior reviews have focused on the phenomenon of moral improvement of self, social relations, or society. We first consider prevailing notions of the self-concept by highlighting the niche of theory and research that identifies an improving self as a possible identity and basis of motivation to act better and to be better. Second, we discuss moral improvement in the context of social relations, especially the close interpersonal relations that should most facilitate moral improvement. Third, we examine the moral improvement of society, focusing on the factors that facilitate or inhibit caring about potential immorality despite issues such as inequality, discrimination, and the climate crisis seeming morally distant and impersonal. Finally, we discuss future directions for theory, research, and application.
Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Psychology, Volume 75 is January 2024. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
... Self-improvement is defined as the autonomous pursuit of a personal goal (Hui et al., 2012). Specifically, it refers to motives to improve one's abilities, personality, appearance, and psychological state (Overall et al., 2010), and then, it is an important motive for humans who are organisms seeking higher status (Sedikides & Skowronski, 2000). In general, motivation for self-improvement is prompted by upward comparisons with targets possessing ideal characteristics (Halliwell & Dittmar, 2005). ...
... Some studies have tried to identify factors that promote or inhibit self-improvement. For example, a study targeting adult romantic relationships has shown that support from the romantic partner is necessary for successful self-improvement (Overall et al., 2010). As indicated in another studies, having support from significant others seems to encourage action to fulfill one's ideals or daily goals (Jakubiak & Feeney, 2016;Rusbult et al., 2009). ...
... There are some different approaches to capturing individual differences in the way parents engage with their children, for example, parenting style (e.g., Baumrind, 1967;Darling & Steinberg, 1993). Considering that the quality of support from significant others is important for self-improvement (Overall et al., 2010), it is necessary to assess how parents support their children, rather than their general parenting style. One of the approaches to capture the individual differences in the way parents support their children is based on the concept of behavioral systems in attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969). ...
The present study aimed to examine the associations between adolescent attachment styles, parental caregiving styles, and self-improvement in early adolescence. We analyzed data from 385 Japanese mother–adolescent dyads and 201 father–adolescent dyads (mothers’ mean age is 46.48, fathers’ mean age is 48.58, and adolescents’ age ranged from 13 to 15). The results showed that attachment avoidance was negatively associated with adolescent self-improvement in all domains. The negative associations between attachment avoidance for mother and self-improvement in some domains are stronger in mother–daughter dyads than mother–son dyads. Regarding self-improvement in the domain of health, attachment anxiety and caregiving hyperactivation showed an interaction effect in father–adolescent dyads. The findings underscore the differential roles that mother– and father–child relationships play in adolescent development. The results also proposed the importance of examining the interaction between adolescent attachment styles and parental caregiving styles.
... Thus, in the following we focus on the effect of emotional support in longitudinal studies with romantic couples. Emotional support has been found to facilitate progress on relationship goals (Sadikaj et al., 2015), self-improvement (Overall et al., 2010), and managing the difficulties associated with the COVID-19 pandemic (Vowels et al., 2021). People who receive emotional support pursue more challenging goals and report to greater learning and growth (Feeney et al., 2017). ...
... In turn, daily goal progress increased subjective wellbeing on the same and the following day as well, while both associations were stronger for wives. The gender differences were unexpected and contrast with the findings of previous studies on emotional support and goal progress, where no gender differences emerged (Overall et al., 2010;Sadikaj et al., 2015). ...
... There is a separate but well-established positive connection between support and goal progress (Feeney et al., 2017;Overall et al., 2010;Sadikaj et al., 2015;Vowels & Carnelley, 2022) and between emotional support and individual wellbeing (Molden et al., 2009;Soulsby & Bennett, 2015) in romantic relationships. However, research has attempted to connect all three aspects and examine how emotional support contributes to wellbeing through goal progress using a limited time window of a week (Jakubiak & Feeney, 2016) and three months (Koestner et al., 2012). ...
Goal pursuit shapes people’ everyday experiences and is deeply embedded within close relationships. Several studies have shown that goal support from romantic partners facilitates goal progress, and individual goal progress contributes to wellbeing. However, few pieces of research have examined the whole process, how efficient goal coordination in a romantic relationship contributes to life satisfaction through goal progress. In these studies, short time frames were used and only one aspect of goal coordination was examined. To generate more complex, long-term understanding we collected data from 148 married or cohabitating Hungarian heterosexual couples (mean age 39.71 ± 10.40 and 38.57 ± 10.00 years for men and women, respectively) in a two-wave longitudinal study with a year-long time window. Both partners individually completed an adapted version of the Personal Project Assessment and evaluated four chosen projects associated with project coordination (emotional support, communication, and cooperation) at baseline, and project attainment (progress, success, satisfaction) in the follow up. Life satisfaction was assessed during both waves. Results from the actor–partner interdependence mediation modeling revealed complete mediation, where project coordination increased project attainment one year later, and consequently associated with higher life satisfaction for both partners. The direct effect between project coordination and life satisfaction remained nonsignificant. This association indicates that for long-term life satisfaction, it is crucial to experience better goal outcomes as the result of the couple’s collaborative effort.
... Little, however, is known about (a) who tends to fluctuate more versus less on key measures of relational behaviors such as support and (b) the degree to which fluctuations in support forecast key relationship outcomes across time. Indeed, although extant research on social support has demonstrated the robust relational benefits of high (average) levels of social support (Overall et al., 2010), the focus on mean levels of support over time might be obscuring the significant impact that fluctuations in social support might have (Girme, 2020). ...
... Some variations in people's perceptions of received support may be attributable to differences in their partners' actual provided support. Nevertheless, perceptions of received support may also be sensitive to changes in support due to variations in the type of support provided, with people detecting and reporting more support when the support they receive matches their current needs (Lemay & Neal, 2014;Overall et al., 2010). Furthermore, some theories (e.g., attachment theory) suggest that inconsistency in support and caregiving should be detrimental to personal and relational well-being over time (Ainsworth et al., 1978;Bowlby, 1988). ...
... Prior research has extensively examined the many benefits of mean levels of provided and received support (e.g., Collins & Feeney, 2000;Cutrona, 1984;Overall et al., 2010). However, the role of variability of support remains unexamined. ...
Extant research has demonstrated that higher mean (average) levels of social support often produce robust relational benefits. However, partners may not maintain the same level of support across time, resulting in potential fluctuations (i.e., within-person variations across time) in support. Despite the theorizing and initial research on fluctuations in relationship-relevant thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, little is known about (a) who is most likely to fluctuate in support and (b) the degree to which fluctuations, in combination with and beyond mean levels, impact relationships across time. The current preregistered research examined two dyadic longitudinal samples of first-time parents undergoing the transition to parenthood, a chronically stressful time that often entails the provision and receipt of support involving one's partner. Across both studies, we found that individuals who reported greater mental health problems, more situational stress, and more destructive dispositional attributes tended to report lower mean levels and higher fluctuations in provided and received support at subsequent assessments. Moreover, we found that greater fluctuations in perceptions and observations of support predicted decreases in relationship satisfaction over time, above and beyond the effect of mean levels. Implications for theory and studying nonlinear effects in relationships are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
... It has been asserted that a touchstone of relationship satisfaction is an equal balance of power between partners (Luttrell et al., 2018). This notion is derived from social exchange theory (Kelley & Thibaut, 1978), which posits that if decision-making, resources, and division of labor are not perceived as fairly shared, conflicts and dissatisfaction occur (Halstead et al., 2016;Leonhardt et al., 2019;Overall et al., 2010). Inequity in intimate relationships may manifest in markedly observable ways such as income, social status, household labor and control over finances. ...
... There is additional evidence that relationship equity is associated with sexual wellbeing. Perceived unfairness in relationships is linked with lower sexual satisfaction and frequency (Gillespie et al., 2019), while an equal contribution of emotional labor in the form of partner support is associated with sexual satisfaction (Overall et al., 2010). Mothers who feel overburdened by caring duties and managing a household are also more likely to report decreased sexual satisfaction (Ciciolla & Luthar, 2019). ...
... Such results could be explained by the increase in undermining behaviors that occur when there is inequity between couples . Behaviors such as invalidating one another's worth (Gottman, 2011), not providing practical or emotional support (Overall et al., 2010), or withholding affection (Dunbar & Burgoon, 2005), could be stirring resentment and, consequently, inhibiting dyadic sexual desire. ...
Previous investigations into Female Sexual Desire (FSD) have been focused on women's biological, cognitive, and emotional processes, despite evidence that FSD is also responsive to relational contexts. Past research consistently demonstrates a general association between relationship satisfaction and FSD. There remains, however, a need to expound this connection. In response, this study explored the role of relationship equity in relationship satisfaction and FSD. For this cross-sectional study, 299 Australian women aged 18 to 39 years responded to an online questionnaire measuring relationship factors and dimensions of sexual desire. Two mediation models were tested to examine how relationship equity was associated with solitary and dyadic sexual desire, via a connection with relationship satisfaction. As expected, equality in relationships predicted relationship satisfaction, which, subsequently, was related to higher levels of dyadic sexual desire. No significant mediation was found for solitary desire, indicating that relationship factors may not play a critical role in this domain. This result also demonstrates a distinct divergence between the two domains of desire that requires further examination. These results solidify the notion of FSD as a multifaceted construct and present meaningful implications for theory, research, and clinical practice.
... Notably, we examined perceptions of positive and negative aspects of social support, because they both have important implications for relational and personal well-being outcomes. Whereas perceptions of positive social support refer to the sense that the partner is available to provide desired comfort, care, and reassurance, perceptions of negative support 1 refer to the sense that a partner tends to respond to requests for support with behaviors such as blame, invalidation, or rejection Hammond & Overall, 2015;Overall et al., 2010). ...
... In addition to self-reports of social support perceived and provided, extensive research has examined social support behaviors in the context of laboratory-based interaction paradigms (e.g., Collins & Feeney, 2000;Don et al., 2019;Don & Hammond, 2017;Overall, Fletcher, & Simpson, 2010). In these paradigms, one member of the couple typically discloses a challenge, stressor, or personal goal, and the partner's behavior is then coded for key support provision variables, such as emotional support (providing care, comfort, and reassurance), instrumental support (providing tangible assistance or solutions to the problem), and/or negative support (responding to a request for support with criticism, blame, or invalidation). ...
... Although enacted support is not always associated with beneficial outcomes (Gleason & Iida, 2015;Rafaeli & Gleason, 2009), in general, emotional support and instrumental support tend to be linked to better outcomes for both support recipients and support providers, such as reduced stress, enhanced relational outcomes, and improved mood. By contrast, negative support tends to be associated with maladaptive outcomes, such as increased negative mood, lower relationship quality, and decreased perceptions of the support provider's responsiveness (Collins & Feeney, 2000;Don et al., 2019;Don & Hammond, 2017;Overall et al., 2010). In addition to being robust predictors of mental and physical well-being for both partners, the inclusion of social support behaviors, as observed by independent coders, helps to enhance the methodological rigor of the current research by moving beyond self-reports (Anderson et al., 2019;Baumeister et al., 2007). ...
The transition to parenthood can be a challenging time for new parent couples, as a baby comes with changes and stress that can negatively influence new parents’ relational functioning in the form of reduced relationship satisfaction and disrupted partner social support. Yet, the transition to parenthood is also often experienced as a joyous time. In this research, we draw on the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions to suggest that new parents' positive emotions are not merely an enjoyable distraction, but are instead central to their relational adjustment.
Specifically, we hypothesized that new parents who experienced greater positive emotions would report enhanced relationship satisfaction and partner social support across time. To test these ideas, we drew on two dyadic and longitudinal studies of new parents. In Study 1, 104 couples (208 individuals) completed surveys across the course of 1 year, and in Study 2, 192 couples (384 individuals) completed surveys and a laboratory-based social support interaction over the course of 2 years. At each wave of data collection, participants completed assessments of positive emotions, relationship satisfaction, and partner social support. We examined how actor and partner positive emotions longitudinally predicted relational adjustment across time. Results demonstrated that, even when controlling for baseline levels of each outcome variable, greater actor reports of positive emotions prospectively predicted greater subsequent actor a) relationship satisfaction, b) perceptions of social support from the partner, and c) enacted social support as rated by independent observers, a pattern that was especially prominent for fathers. These results suggest positive emotions may be a resource that fosters healthy relational adjustment during chronically stressful periods that threaten intimate relationships, including during the transition to parenthood.
... Esteem support has been described as "support that is provided to enhance how recipients feel about themselves and their attributes, abilities, or accomplishments" (MacGeorge et al., 2011, p. 338). Observational studies with couples have described two specific esteem support behaviours: compliment (emphasize abilities, say positive things), and validation (agree with and take other's side), (Cutrona & Suhr, 1994;Overall et al., 2010). Questionnaire items measuring esteem support include, 'I have someone who takes pride in my accomplishments' and 'There are people who admire my talents and abilities' (Cutrona & Russell, 1987). ...
... Questionnaire items measuring esteem support include, 'I have someone who takes pride in my accomplishments' and 'There are people who admire my talents and abilities' (Cutrona & Russell, 1987). Several papers define esteem support as a separate category from emotional support (Cutrona & Russell, 1990;Cutrona & Suhr, 1992;Overall et al., 2010) or use esteem support in taxonomies instead of emotional support Cohen & Wills, 1985). Esteem support or positive appraisal appears to be closely connected with having a sense of self-efficacy and psychological wellbeing (Rippon et al., 2022;Thoits, 2011;Zee et al., 2020). ...
Integrating research findings for social support interventions and selecting measures of support is difficult because of the lack of consensus regarding the conceptualisation and measurement of core social support categories. Social support taxonomies are typically not derived from systematic analysis of behaviours comprising support, or from items in questionnaires commonly used to measure support. This review describes five types of support derived from an inductive synthesis of highly cited social support taxonomies and questionnaires. The five support types are: (1) emotional support, (2) social contact and companionship, (3) belonging support, (4) information and guidance support, and (5) tangible support. Emotional support includes (a) opportunities for confiding through sympathetic listening, and (b) caring. Caring support includes showing affection, esteem support, being there for someone, and comforting touch. These five support categories are intended to inform health practitioners and carers providing support, assist with assessing support needs, facilitate planning interventions to improve health and wellbeing and provide a basis for assessing the content of questionnaires measuring social support.
... Greater perceived support from partners helps downregulate distress, thereby promoting health and well-being (Cohen & Wills, 1985;Conger & Conger, 2002;Pietromonaco & Collins, 2017). These health benefits arise because perceived support enhances relationship closeness and security, and protects against couples' difficulties (e.g., Cutrona et al., 1997;Overall et al., 2010;Sullivan et al., 2010). Accordingly, support is theorized to be critical in sustaining relationship quality during the pandemic (Pietromonaco & Overall, 2021) and has been a key focus of pandemic-related research. ...
... During each lockdown, participants rated how often their partner had behaved in supportive ways: "listened to your thoughts and feelings", "given you support", "offered you encouragement", "helped you without being asked", "expressed appreciation for you", and "generally cared for and supported you" (1=Never, 5=Always). As in prior investigations of partner support during the pandemic (e.g., Brown et al., 2020;Donato et al., 2021;McRae et al., 2021;Ogan et al., 2021;Randall et al., 2021), this global assessment captures how much partners generally behaved in supportive ways shown to promote personal and relationship well-being (e.g., Cutrona et al., 1997;Overall et al., 2010;Sullivan et al., 2010). ...
Have the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic risked declines in parents’ health and family functioning, or have most parents been resilient and shown no changes in health and family functioning? Assessing average risk versus resilience requires examining how families have fared across the pandemic, beyond the initial months examined in prior investigations. The current research examines changes in parents’ health and functioning over the first 1.5 years of the pandemic. Parents ( N = 272) who had completed general pre-pandemic assessments completed reassessments of psychological/physical health, couple/family functioning, and parenting within two mandatory lockdowns in New Zealand: at the beginning of the pandemic (26 March–28 April 2020) and 17 months later (18 August–21 September 2021). Parents exhibited average declines in psychological/physical health (greater depressive symptoms; reduced well-being, energy and physical health) and in couple/family functioning (reduced commitment and family cohesion; greater problem severity and family chaos). By contrast, there were no average differences in parent-child relationship quality and parenting practices across lockdowns. Declines in health and couple/family functioning occurred irrespective of pre-pandemic health and functioning, but partner support buffered declines in couple/family functioning. The results emphasize that attending to the challenges parents and couples face in the home will be important to mitigate and recover from the impact of the pandemic on parents’ and children’s well-being.
... Relationships between people also benefit from these behaviors. Research shows that people help each other to achieve goals (Rusbult et al., 2009;Overall et al., 2010), respond to each other's needs (Reis, 2013), and support each other (Jakubiak et al., 2020). ...
... When the literature is searched, it is seen that there is no study similar to this study. Within the scope pf prosocial behaviors, people helping each other to achieve goals (Rusbult et al., 2009;Overall et al., 2010), and supporting each other (Jakubiak et al., 2020), are thought to affect sports commitment. Helping and supporting behaviors can be expressed as a basic psychological need that positively affects individuals' relationship with the environment. ...
The aim of the study is to determine the effect of prosocial and antisocial behaviors on sports commitment. 294 (98 female+196 male) athlete students aged between 18 and 39 (Mean=20,69, SD=2,78) participated in the study by convenience sampling method for this purpose. “Personal Information Form,” “Sports Engagement Scale (SES)” and “Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior in Sport Scale (PABSS)” are used as data collection tools in the research. Data collected online are coded and transferred to the SPSS program, and descriptive statistics, unrelated samples t-test, One Way ANOVA, Pearson correlation and multiple linear regression are used for statistical analysis. In the study, the level of significance is taken as p<.05. According to the results of the analysis, it is determined that there is a positive, low and significant correlation between Prosocial team-mate and Vigor, Dedication, Absorption and SES. It has been determined that there is a positive, low and significant correlation between absorption and Antisocial opponent and Prosocial opponent. While there is no significant effect in the prosocial opponent sub-dimension; It has been determined that Antisocial team-mate, Antisocial opponent and Prosocial team-mate have a significant effect on sports commitment. These variables explain 7.3% of the total variance on sports commitment.
... Empathic responses and supportive communication from partners positively affect interaction satisfaction in intimate relationships (Cutrona and Suhr, 1992). Esteem support includes compliments, expression validation, encouragement and negative emotion alleviation; it promotes relationship quality because it helps one partner sense the other partner's helpfulness (Overall et al., 2010). ...
... Previous studies have shown that informational support promotes relationship quality in social commerce (Hajli, 2014) and recipient satisfaction during interactions (Cutrona and Suhr, 1992). Furthermore, Overall et al. (2010) found that when users receive informational support from their romantic partner, their relationship quality may be enhanced. Our study extends these findings to human-AI interactions. ...
Purpose – This study investigates the determinants of effective human and artificial intelligence (AI) relationship-building strategies for brands. It explores the antecedents and consequences of consumers’ interactant satisfaction with communication and identifies ways to enhance consumer purchase intention via AI chatbot promotion.
Design/methodology/approach – Microsoft Xiaoice served as the focal AI chatbot, and 331 valid samples were obtained. A two-stage structural equation modeling-artificial neural network approach was adopted to verify the proposed theoretical model.
Findings – Regarding the IQ (intelligence quotient) and EQ (emotional quotient) of AI chatbots, the multi-dimensional social support model helps explain consumers’ interactant satisfaction with communication, which facilitates affective attachment and purchase intention. The results also show that chatbots should emphasize emotional and esteem social support more than informational support.
Practical implications – Brands should focus more on AI chatbots’ emotional and empathetic responses than functional aspects when designing dialogue content for human–AI interactions. Well-designed AI chatbots can help marketers develop effective brand promotion strategies.
Originality/value – This research enriches the human–AI interaction literature by adopting a multi-dimensional social support theoretical lens that can enhance the interactant satisfaction with communication, affective attachment and purchase intention of AI chatbot users.
... The use of harsh influence tactics, which increase one partner's advantage or superior position over the other, may lead to less supportive transactions between partners (Hilpert et al., 2013;Verhofstadt et al., 2005). Having support and care within the relationship is considered to be a protective factor that promotes happiness and satisfaction among couples (Overall et al., 2010). Thus, a reduction in support transactions may explain the link between influence tactics and relationship satisfaction. ...
... It may be that when partners use harsh tactics during conflicts, for example demanding compliance and highlighting their superior position, they are also less likely to exhibit supportive behaviors such as providing comfort, effective advice, or a hug (Gordon & Chen, 2016). Supportive behaviors signal that a partner is responsive to the other's needs, validate the other's feelings, and facilitate adaptive coping that contributes to greater satisfaction (Overall et al., 2010). ...
The current study examined the association between both partners’ perceptions of the other partner's use of influence tactics during conflicts (harsh vs. soft) and both partners’ relationship satisfaction. Using a dyadic approach, the mediating role of support transactions (i.e., given and received support) was also examined. One-hundred and thirteen couples filled out questionnaires regarding partners’ use of influence tactics, received and given support, and relationship satisfaction. Results indicated one partner effect; namely, women's received support was found to be a mediator between women's perception of their partners’ use of harsh tactics and both partners’ satisfaction. There was only one actor mediation effect of given support and that was observed among women alone; namely, given support mediated the association between harsh tactics and women's relationship satisfaction. Gender and support transaction may play an important role in explaining the link between harsh tactics and relationship satisfaction.
... Greater perceived support from partners helps downregulate distress, thereby promoting health and well-being (Cohen & Wills, 1985;Conger & Conger, 2002;Pietromonaco & Collins, 2017). These health benefits arise primarily because perceived support enhances relationship closeness and security, and protects against couples' difficulties (e.g., Cutrona et al., 1997;Overall et al., 2010;Sullivan et al., 2010). ...
... At both lockdowns, participants rated how often partners had provided emotional (e.g., "listened to your thoughts and feelings"), esteem (e.g., "offered you encouragement") and practical (e.g., "helped you without being asked"; 1 = Never, 5 = Always) support during the lockdown (Cutrona et al., 1997;Overall et al., 2010). ...
Are parents and families struggling with the ongoing demands of the pandemic, or are parents resilient and adjusted to the ‘new normal’? Assessing average risk versus resilience requires examining how parents and families have fared across the pandemic, beyond the initial months examined in prior investigations. The current research examines average levels of risk versus resilience in parents’ health and functioning over the first 1.5 years of the pandemic. Parents (N = 272) who had completed general assessments prior to the pandemic completed reassessments of psychological and physical health, couple and family functioning, and parenting within two lockdowns involving mandatory home confinement: at the beginning of the pandemic (26 March–28 April 2020) and 17 months later (18 August–21 September 2021). On average, parents exhibited declines in psychological and physical health (greater depressive symptoms; reduced well-being, energy and physical health) and in couple and family functioning (reduced commitment and family cohesion; greater problem severity and family chaos). By contrast, parent-child relationship quality and parenting practices were resilient with no average differences across the lockdowns. Declines in health and couple/family functioning generally occurred irrespective of pre-existing vulnerabilities (poor health and functioning prior to the pandemic) and external stress (reported impact of the pandemic). Partner support, however, tended to buffer declines in couple/family functioning. The results emphasize that attending to the challenges parents and couples face in the home will be important targets to mitigate the ongoing risks of the pandemic to parents’ and children’s well-being.
... This item had a 1-10 response scale, where 1 = Completely Unhappy and 10 = Completely Happy. Self-report items on relationship satisfaction such as these have been commonly used in past research to assess relationship satisfaction (e.g., Butzer & Campbell, 2008;Gordon & Chen, 2016;Overall et al., 2010;Tang et al., 2014). We created a continuous variable of relationship satisfaction (Unmarried Participants α = 0.75; Married Participants α = 0.75), in which we averaged participant responses to these two items. ...
Given inconsistencies in the literature, we examined the role of relationship quality, past relationship experiences (i.e., prior marital experiences and unmarried cohabitation experiences), and demographic characteristics (i.e., gender and age) in the association between relationship status and health. We analyzed data from the 2010 Married and Cohabiting Couples Study, a cross-sectional survey study conducted in the United States. Data were collected from married and unmarried individuals in cohabiting mixed-gender relationships (N = 2,150). Participants completed self-report measures online. We conducted t-tests, multiple regressions, path analyses, and an ANOVA to test hypotheses. Key findings were that (a) relationship quality had a stronger association with health than relationship status, (b) prior marital experiences and unmarried cohabitation experiences were negatively associated with health, (c) married women significantly reported better health than unmarried women, and (d) married men and unmarried men did not significantly differ in reported health. Descriptive statistics showed that younger adults may perceive their health more positively than older adults regardless of relationship status. Future research should consider historical context, recruitment of diverse participant samples, and more precise operational definitions of health.
... When people engage in collaboration, problem-solving, and open-minded, non-hostile communication, conflict can be less damaging and can even have productive outcomes [14][15][16]. For example, actively collaborating to resolve relationship conflict is associated with positive feelings between relationship partners as well as short-and long-term benefits to the relationship [17]. In the workplace, minority dissent in teams can lead to more innovation [18], especially when that disagreement is paired with openness and a safe climate [19]. ...
Conflict is a ubiquitous, but potentially destructive, feature of social life. In the current research, we argue that intellectual humility—the awareness of one’s intellectual fallibility—plays an important role in promoting constructive responses and decreasing destructive responses to conflict in different contexts. In Study 1, we examine the role of intellectual humility in interpersonal conflicts with friends and family members. In Study 2, we extend this finding to workplace conflicts. In both studies we find that intellectual humility predicts more constructive and less destructive responses to conflict. This work extends the burgeoning literature on the benefits of intellectual humility by demonstrating its association with responses that help defuse conflictual encounters.
... Support, especially from the partner, is another dimension to consider in the study of personal projects. In fact, mutual support is linked to quality and satisfaction in relationships and may lead to additional support and coherence between partners' projects (Hofmann et al., 2015;Molden et al., 2009;Overall et al., 2010). Furthermore, perceived progress and coherence between partners' projects contribute to marital satisfaction (Avivi et al., 2009). ...
Parental stress in parents of a child with an intellectual disability may have an impact on their marital relationship. Achievement of marital projects is considered an important factor that sustains marital satisfaction and fulfils the need for relatedness essential to well-being. In this study, which explores marital relationship projects (MRPs) of these parents, 34 couples participated individually in semi-structured interviews using the personal projects analysis grid. In their 5 most important projects, 17 mothers and 17 fathers prioritized at least 1 MRP: mothers in particular reported that they wanted to spend more time with their partners, while fathers wished for opportunities to travel as a couple. The thematic analysis of parents’ appraisals of their MRPs gave rise to 4 categories: “determined optimists”, “determined sceptics”, “postponing optimists”, and “postponing sceptics”. Furthermore, 4 types of conjugal dynamic emerged: “continuity”, “when the time is right”, “it’s getting necessary”, and “it’s complicated”. Gaining knowledge about these parents’ MRPs and how they are appraised will make it possible to offer support and resources that will allow them to pursue their MRPs, leading to more fulfilled relationships.
... For example, research on partner support behavior and self-improvement success has shown that self-improvement success and relationship quality increased when the individual received action-enhancing support from their partner. Action-enhancing support specifically includes the partner's efforts to help the individual by offering information or advice for improvement or providing resources to initiate change (Overall et al., 2010). We view work-related support seeking from partners similarly to individuals seeking support from their partners for work-related problems (Tement et al., 2023). ...
... The findings on Pet-Agape are supported by research that prosocial behaviors and selfless acts increase positive emotions (Alden and Trew, 2013;Aknin et al., 2013a, b;Kahana, et al., 2013;Martela and Ryan, 2016a;Snippe et al., 2018), well-being (Weinstein and Ryan, 2010;Aknin et al., 2013b, c;Kahana, et al., 2013;Martela and Ryan, 2016a, b), and relationship satisfaction (Alden and Trew, 2013) in the individual exhibiting the helping behavior. Further work shows receiving support from a partner increases one's own relationship satisfaction (Overall et al., 2010). Similarly, to these human-human findings, selfless acts toward pets may have a positive effect on the owner themselves in the form of happier relationships and more favorable views of pets. ...
Relationship processes in the human-pet relationship parallel those in the human romantic relationship. In this study, we sought to determine whether the six human romantic love styles – Eros (ideal), Storge (friendship), Ludus (game-playing), Pragma (practical), Mania (obsessive, dependent) and Agape (selfless), represented the human-pet relationship. We wrote 44 pet-human love style items, derived from the Love Attitudes Scale (Hendrick and Hendrick, 1986). Participants (N = 254) completed these 44 pet love style items, along with measures of romantic love styles, general pet attitudes, and pet and romantic relationship satisfaction. We reduced the 44 items to the following five factors: Eros/Storge, Ludus, Pragma, Mania, and Agape. The pet love attitudes were modestly correlated with human romantic love attitudes suggesting people endorse different love attitudes in different relationships. Multiple regression results showed that Eros/Storge and Agape were positively correlated with pet relationship satisfaction, while Mania was negatively correlated. Eros/Storge was the strongest predictor of relationship satisfaction (β = 0.68). This is the first study to show that love attitudes apply to human-pet relationships and that certain love attitudes predict a happy relationship with one’s pet.
... Rather than focusing on specific needs, our study focused on how to respond in a "positive" way to different needs-by making them feel liked, supported, and valued. This finding was also consistent with the IPARTheory (Rohner, 1975) and previous studies, in which fondness and support were found to be ways to express love and critical for the quality of a loving relationship (e.g., Campbell et al., 2005;Martson, 1987;Overall et al., 2010). Moreover, our findings extended prior theories to emphasize the importance of making someone feel valued and appreciated, which was rarely mentioned as a way to make people feel loved in previous studies. ...
... Behavioral observations of couples typically involve auditory and/or visual signals. In most laboratory-based observations, couples are instructed to discuss ongoing disagreements (e.g., see Heyman, 2001;Woodin, 2011), although other lab-based discussions involve the disclosure of personal stressors, worries, losses, and self-improvement goals (e.g., Cutrona et al., 1997;Overall et al., 2010;Khalifian & Barry, 2020;Margolin et al., 2022;Pasch & Bradbury, 1998). Regardless of topic, such discussions assume that short (e.g., 10-15 min), prompted conversations are representative of spontaneously occurring interactions on these topics. ...
Understanding how communication processes contribute to well-functioning versus distressed couple relationships has relied largely on brief, laboratory-based conversations. Harnessing technological advancements, the present study extends the literature by capturing couples’ naturalistic communication over one full day at Time 1 (T1). This study tested associations between data-driven categories of couple communication behaviors and relationship outcomes (i.e., relationship aggression, satisfaction, and dissolution) at Time 2 (T2), approximately 1 year later. Emerging adults in different-gender dating couples (n = 106 couples; 212 individuals; Mage = 22.57 ± 2.44; M relationship length = 30.49 months ± 24.05; 72.2% non-White) were each provided a smartphone programmed to audio record approximately 50% of a typical day. Interactions between partners were transcribed and coded for location, activity, affect, and a range of positive and negative communication behaviors for each partner. Even after controlling for T1 assessments of the relevant outcome, one’s own hostility and one’s partner’s hostility at T1 were each positively associated with T2 relationship aggression and negatively associated with T2 relationship satisfaction. One’s own withdrawal at T1 was positively associated with T2 relationship aggression perpetration, whereas one’s partner’s withdrawal was negatively linked to relationship satisfaction at T2. One’s own playfulness, unexpectedly, was linked to lower subsequent relationship satisfaction. Withdrawal increased the likelihood of relationship dissolution, whereas warmth and playfulness decreased the likelihood of dissolution. The relevance of couples’ ordinary, everyday communication for meaningful relationship outcomes is discussed.
... Romantic interest in partners with similar purposes may provide relationship satisfaction later due to the partners being better able to engage in a mutually beneficial transactive goal system (Fitzsimons et al., 2015). Partners who provide action-facilitating support for each other's goals, such as offering advice or skills to help reach a goal, have greater relationship quality and more self-improvement in those goals (Overall et al., 2010). Partners who share purpose orientations can be more supportive of their partner's goals because their knowledge on the subject can provide information support, such as advice on how to achieve their goals, or tangible support, such as performing a task that helps in achieving one's goal. ...
Studies have shown that people with a higher sense of purpose are more satisfied with, committed to, and invested in their romantic relationships (Pfund et al., 2020). However, the mechanisms between positive relationship outcomes and sense of purpose are still unclear. To better understand the role sense of purpose may play in providing satisfaction in a relationship, the current study investigated whether the level of sense of purpose of a dating partner affects participants’ rating of potential romantic quality with the dating partner. Furthermore, the research examined if their purpose orientation, the content or subject matter of one’s sense of purpose, also contributes to perceived romantic quality with a potential partner. Undergraduate participants (N=119) read different dating profiles which described individuals with either a high or low sense of purpose. Each of the high purpose dating profiles have a purpose orientation associated with either prosocial orientation, relationship orientation, financial orientation, or creative orientation. After reading each dating profile, participants rated their level of potential relationship quality with the dating profiles. Paired samples t-tests revealed that dating profiles that espoused prosocial, relationship, or creative purpose orientations were rated as having higher potential relationship quality than the low purpose profile. The financial purpose orientation profile did not differ from the low purpose profile in level of potential relationship quality. Correlations showed that the more a participant identified with a certain purpose orientation, the higher they rated potential relationship quality of dating profiles with the same orientation. Results provide insight into the role sense of purpose and purpose orientation plays in perceived potential relationship quality and attraction.
... Rather than remaining open to opposing views, people are generally predisposed to shun alternative perspectives (Taber & Lodge, 2006), preferring to insulate themselves from diverse points of view within the confines of social media echo chambers (Bakshy et al., 2015) or other epistemic bubbles that may reinforce faulty or extreme positions on social issues. Alternatively, a sincere and open-minded approach to resolving disagreements can limit groupthink and heighten feelings of interpersonal closeness between opposing parties (McCullough et al., 1998;Overall et al., 2010). ...
Previous research has shown that the dispositional trait of intellectual humility (IH) predicts increased tolerance to opposing perspectives and beliefs. In the current study, we reasoned that the relationship might also work in the reverse direction, i.e., that critiquing one’s position on a contentious issue might enhance IH. To evaluate this hypothesis, we prompted participants to declare their position on a potentially divisive social issue (specifically, whether to allocate scarce medical resources to nonvaccinated COVID-19 patients) and then randomly assigned them to either contradict their position, justify their position, or engage in an unrelated writing exercise. Contrary to our hypothesis, we found that participants who justified their belief reported higher levels of IH than participants who contradicted it. In light of this unexpected and somewhat counterintuitive result, we argue that the intellectually humble mindset is fortified under conditions of minimal self-threat as opposed to threatening forms of self-examination.
... The perception that prosocial norms have been violated by others while being upheld by the self (which we find can be accurate) may result in negative mental health outcomes. This is consistent with past work finding that lack of support reciprocity within couples tends to be associated with reduced relationship satisfaction [53], and that greater interpersonal trust is associated with reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety and enhanced physical health [54]. ...
Self-serving biases (e.g., beliefs that one tends to perform better than peers) are generally associated with positive psychological outcomes like increased self-esteem and resilience. However, this tendency may be problematic in the context of collective action problems, wherein individuals are reliant on others’ pro-social behaviors to achieve larger goals. We examined this question in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, and recruited participants for an online study (n = 1023) from a university community in Spring 2020. We found evidence for self-peer asymmetries in Covid-related knowledge and restriction behavior, such that participants reported that they knew more about Covid-related symptoms, were doing more to stop the spread of the disease, and were more pro-socially motivated in doing so than peers. Actual peer reports indicated that these were overestimations. This self-enhancement comes with a cost: the perceived self-peer restriction behavior asymmetry had an indirect effect on the positive relationships both from Covid-specific worry and from perceived stress to general anxiety symptom intensity during the early lockdown period. People tended to have more severe symptoms of anxiety when they were more worried about Covid-19 and when they reported greater perceived stress, especially when they underestimated others’ contributions to public health action relative to their own. This suggests that lack of trust in others’ pro-sociality may be personally maladaptive for mental health.
... Additionally, we investigate media preferences during a non-threatening relational episode: mundane talk. Mundane talk refers to the daily chatter of everyday life, where romantic partners talk about their daily activities, engage in simple coordination of tasks, or casually discuss issues of personal interest (Overall et al., 2010). While O'Sullivan's model is not designed to explicate media preferences during non-threatening encounters, mundane talk provides a useful comparison group against which individuals' media preferences for threatening episodes can be contrasted. ...
... All participants filled out two self-report measures, the Closeness to the Partner measure and the Social Support measure, created to examine closeness to the partner and perceived social support from the partner both at baseline and immediately after each conversation. The scale items were developed to assess forms of support (e.g., emotional, esteem, practical, autonomy) that promote relationship well-being (see Hammond & Overall, 2015;Jayamaha & Overall, 2019;Overall et al., 2010). ...
Nonverbal synchrony (NVS), the degree of spontaneous coordination of movements among dyads, has been associated with important social outcomes among romantic and stranger dyads, including the degree of social affiliation. Recently, automated methods, such as Motion Energy Analysis (MEA), have been used to objectively measure NVS. In this study, we examined MEA-quantified NVS among 143 friend dyads and its association with friendship satisfaction, closeness, and support. Friend dyads engaged in two conversations about a problem one friend was experiencing and took turns generating problems. Half the dyads were randomized to a co-rumination condition, where they were given instructions that prompted co-rumination, or a natural condition, where they were prompted to speak about the problem as they naturally would. Friendship satisfaction was measured at baseline while friendship support was measured at baseline and following each conversation using self-report scales. NVS was significantly present above chance during the task, but for each conversation, levels of NVS were not (a) predicted by the degree of friendship satisfaction or support, or (b) predictive of the degree of post-conversation friendship support. Furthermore, exploratory analyses revealed that for individuals who rated their dyad partner as a friend versus a close friend, greater synchrony trended toward predicting lower friendship support during the second conversation. Overall, this study demonstrates that an automated assessment of movement was able to detect NVS among friend dyads during a problem-focused discussion, but raises questions about the role that NVS plays among friends in this context.
... This is not surprising, since in human history the most acceptable form in which the course of human life took place was via participation in communities, of which the family was the most important group of social participation (Adamczyk, 2021). It has been argued that people living with a long-term partner are happier than those who do not (DePaulo & Morris, 2005;Diener et al., 2000), because relationships offer emotional support, facilitate coping with life stress, foster self-esteem (Overall et al., 2010), amplify positive accomplishments (Gable et al., 2004), offer embeddedness in networks of supportive and helpful others or even provide economic advantages through shared expenses in the same household (Ross et al., 1990;Waite, 1995). In line with this argument, some studies found that living alone is associated with lower life satisfaction, feelings of loneliness, or poorer psychological health (Dahlberg et al., 2022;Dush & Amato, 2005;Grundström et al., 2021;Helliwell, 2003;McCabe et al., 1996;Shapiro & Keyes, 2008). 2 However, stimulated by early criticism of psychologists (Boon, 2016;Clark & Graham, 2005;DePaulo & Morris, 2005;Shapiro & Keyes, 2008), scholars nowadays increasingly argue that these explanations of the "happiness gap" of singles suffer from oversimplification (Kislev, 2020;Oh et al., 2021). ...
Over the past decades, the number of single households is constantly rising in metropolitan regions. In addition, they became increasingly heterogeneous. In the media, individuals who live alone are sometimes still presented as deficient. Recent research, however, indicates a way more complex picture. Using the example of Vienna, this paper investigates the quality of life of different groups of single households in the city. Based on five waves of the Viennese Quality of Life Survey covering almost a quarter of a century (1995–2018), we analyse six domains of subjective well-being (satisfaction with the financial situation, the housing situation, the main activity, the family life, social contacts, and leisure time activities). Our analyses reveal that, in most domains, average satisfaction of single households has hardly changed over time. However, among those living alone satisfaction of senior people (60+) increased while satisfaction of younger people (below age 30) decreased. Increasing differences in satisfaction with main activity, housing, or financial situation reflect general societal developments on the Viennese labour and housing markets. The old clichéd images of the “young, reckless, happy single” and the “lonely, poor, dissatisfied senior single” reverse reality.
... Individuals who receive more nurturing, supportive help Social evaluative threat across individual, relational, and collective selves (vs. critical, invalidating responses) from their partner report greater relationship quality and success at self-improvement efforts (Overall, Fletcher, & Simpson, 2010). Even individuals with an avoidant attachment style report higher autonomy and commitment to their personal goals after receiving invisible support from their romantic partner during a dyadic discussion (Girme, Overall, & Hammond, 2019). ...
Social psychologists have long been interested in studying the effects of threat on physiology, affect, cognition, and behavior. However, researchers have traditionally examined threat at the level of individuals, relationships, or groups, rather than studying commonalities that exist across these levels. In this chapter, we propose that social evaluative threat – the real, imagined, or potential experience of being negatively evaluated – can occur at the level of the individual self, as a relational partner, or as a group member. Individual, relational, and collective selves are not always distinct entities, but are flexible and can overlap with one another. Across these levels, individuals differ in the degree to which they perceive and respond to social evaluative threat, depending on their psychological distance from the threat and expectations and motivation to detect threat. When people perceive a threat to any of these levels, they respond by engaging in behaviors reflecting approach or avoidance motivation. Overall, our model encourages researchers to assess key moderators of threat, examine threats at different levels of the self, and consider how experiences of threat at one level may impact other levels. By highlighting the flexibility of the self, researchers can test interventions that change threat cues in the environment, attenuate perceptions of threat, or help people cope with threat.
... Individual self-improvement is the primary motivation for self-evaluation, contributing to the need to increase self-esteem, seek a sense of self-worth, and improve self-image [49]. An individual defines the self in a particular social group, and the values of that social group directly influence the definition of the self-concept [50]. ...
The booming development of livestream e-commerce has attracted considerable academic attention, but research on how social presence affects consumers’ purchase decisions is limited. To this end, this article proposed a theoretical framework for the influence of social presence on consumers’ purchasing decisions based on social presence theory. In this study, structural equation modeling was carried out on 390 data collected from a questionnaire to verify the mechanisms by which social presence influences purchase intention. The study found that social presence enhances consumer identification, which in turn enhances consumers’ purchase intention. Meanwhile, this study not only verified the mediating role of consumer identification but also tested the positive moderating role of self-improvement by livestream e-commerce. This study found that a live streaming host’s social presence influences the consumers’ purchase behavior, and it provides decision support for companies to sell products through livestreaming platforms, which has important theoretical significance and practical application value.
... contributes to positive psychological and social outcomes (MacGeorge et al., 2011;Overall et al., 2010). Nowadays, various forms of computer-mediated communication (CMC), such as texting, phone-calling, and videoconferencing, have become valuable means to exchange support (Rains & Wright, 2016). ...
Support-seeking, a critical and strategic function of close relationships, is increasingly practiced via texting. Guided by attachment theory and an affordance-centric approach, this study investigated to what extent individuals in a romantic relationship would use texting and face-to-face for support-seeking, and what stimulates their interest in mediated support-seeking. A survey of college students in exclusive romantic relationships ( N = 211) found that several affordances (i.e., accessibility, the availability of social cues, and conversation control) were associated with varying levels of interest in texting or face-to-face for support-seeking. Both accessibility and the availability of social cues were perceived as less important by avoidant individuals, which was related to a lack of interest in texting and face-to-face interactions for support-seeking. Anxious individuals valued the availability of social cues more, which led to a greater interest in face-to-face interactions when seeking assistance. These findings contribute to a better understanding of support-seeking behavior in today’s mediated world.
... Second, the results are based on a small sample size (46 dyads; 92 athletes). Of note, studies focusing on dyadic interactions have often used similar sample sizes (e.g., ranging from 47 to 85 dyads, Jayamaha & Overall, 2019;Overall, 2020;Overall et al., 2010). However, these previous studies used data from both individuals of the dyads, whereas the present statistical analyses focused only on perceptions from one member of the dyad and thus were likely underpowered due to the small sample size. ...
Receiving social support is often related to adaptive outcomes for athletes, such as reduced stress and greater wellbeing. Nevertheless, in some cases, receiving social support may not reduce, or even heighten, stress reactions. Thus, research is needed to better understand the complex dynamics of social support processes among athletes. Though substantial research has examined social support in sport, the majority of these studies relied on self-report measures; there is a lack of information about the actual interactions that constitute social support exchanges among teammates. This study sought to fill this gap by observing athletes’ discussions of stressful experiences, with a focus on understanding the types of social support behaviours that are displayed. University athlete dyads (N = 46 dyads, Mage = 20.2 years, SD = 1.9) were asked to complete surveys and engage in a conversation regarding stressors in a lab setting. The conversations were video-recorded and analysed along with self-reported survey data. Results showed that in addition to emotional, esteem, and informational support, athletes commonly engaged in co-rumination – collective discussions of stressful experiences with a persistent focus on negative feelings associated with the experience. Correlational analysis revealed that observed informational support was positively associated with perceived emotional and informational support, and co-rumination was positively associated with perceived stress. Emotional, esteem, and informational support did not relate to stress perceptions. The findings were interpreted to highlight the importance of considering co-rumination and we suggest potential avenues for future research on social support in sport that might further illuminate this salient component.
... Although some meta-analyses have examined the association between goal pursuit and general wellbeing (da Silva et al., 2016;van Genugten et al., 2017) or between partner goal support and goal progress (Vowels & Carnelley, 2020), no meta-analysis so far has analyzed how goal interdependence relates to relationship satisfaction. As partners' role in times of thriving and growth (as opposed to their contribution merely in times of distress) becomes increasingly present in the scientific literature (e.g., Overall et al., 2010;Tomlinson et al., 2020;Vowels & Carnelley, 2020), the need to quantify the rapidly growing number of results also increased. ...
In the context of an increasingly egalitarian society, in which all genders are encouraged to be vocal about their goals and take equal growth opportunities, goal interdependence in couples has been repeatedly associated with relationship satisfaction. The aim of this meta-analysis was to provide evidence for the association between goal interdependence and relationship satisfaction in couples. We performed a random-effects analysis for the 32 reports and 49 independent samples that investigated three types of goal interdependence (goal support, goal congruence, and goal conflict) in association with relationship satisfaction. We found significant medium effect sizes between goal interdependence in general (r = .23) and relationship satisfaction, as well as between each type of goal interdependence and relationship satisfaction. The strongest effect size emerged for the association between goal congruence and relationship satisfaction (r = .43), followed by the association between goal support and relationship satisfaction (r = .28) and by the negative association between goal conflict and relationship satisfaction (r = −.29). From a theoretical standpoint, these results provide support for a key claim from the Transactive Goal Dynamics Theory that goal coordination between partners impacts relationship functioning. From a practical standpoint, they emphasize the need to consider goal interdependence in couples’ therapy, particularly in the current sociocultural context.
... Existing research on interpersonal support suggests that motives regarding the relationship with the target of regulation could be particularly relevant as instrumental motives for interpersonal emotion regulation. Couples that receive more help from their partners report higher relationship quality (Overall et al., 2010) and provision of daily interpersonal support has been associated with increases in relationship closeness (Gleason et al., 2008). The social reasons underlying intrapersonal emotion regulation have often been delineated into those focused on making a good impression on others (impression management) or foster smooth interactions (relationship maintenance; Eldesouky & English, 2019). ...
Interpersonal goals and adult attachment have implications for how people interact with others as well as for emotion experience and regulation. Literature on intrapersonal emotional processes has typically not examined motivations underlying people's engagement with others' emotions and its connections to individual differences related to close relationships such as attachment. This study analyzed the relationships between interpersonal emotion regulation motives, perceived social interaction outcomes, and attachment. Undergraduates (N = 211) reported their trait attachment. Experience sampling was used to examine the reasons why they wanted to regulate others' emotions during daily interactions and perceived changes in their own well-being and relationship quality with the target of regulation. Attachment anxiety was associated with more self-focused prohedonic motives and impression management motives, while attachment avoidance predicted less perceived increases in emotional and relational well-being after interactions. People who tended to report more (self- and other-focused) prohedonic and less impression management motives in daily life perceived more positive changes in their emotional well-being and people who tended to report higher emotional similarity motives perceived more positive changes in their relational well-being after interactions People also perceived more positive emotional and relational interaction outcomes at times when they held more (self- and other-focused) prohedonic, impression management, or relationship maintenance motives and less self-focused performance and relationship distancing motives. Overall, these findings suggest that attachment anxiety may guide why people engage with other people's emotions and these extrinsic interpersonal emotion regulation motives may play a role in socioemotional outcomes of daily interactions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
... Prager et al. (2015) found that on the day following a conflict, couples reported feeling less satisfied, more negative, less positive, and disclosed less. Ultimately, navigating conflict requires couples to use effective strategies to address problems, manage emotions, and maintain a happy and satisfying relationship (Overall et al., 2010;Overall & McNulty, 2017). ...
Problem solving is a necessary part of all successful relationships. The current study examined how naturally occurring day-to-day problem solving discussions were related to daily reports of relationship quality. In addition, we investigated whether optimism was associated with the nature and occurrence of these problems and moderated the association between problem solving discussions and relationship quality. Multilevel modeling was applied to data from 112 couples who completed daily diaries over 14 days ( M age = 28.2, 95.5% heterosexual, 66.5% White). Relationship quality was higher on days when couples did not report a problem discussion, when couples reported at least somewhat solving the problem they discussed, and when the problem discussion did not involve conflict. More optimistic individuals and individuals with more optimistic partners were more likely to resolve problems, less likely to discuss problems specifically about their relationship, and less likely to have problem discussions involving conflict on days when problem discussions occurred. Individuals with partners who were high in optimism reported relatively high relationship quality regardless of whether a problem discussion occurred, whereas those with partners low in optimism reported significantly lower quality on days when such a discussion took place.
... In sum, research suggests the connection between healthy relational behaviors and increased mindfulness, as well as between healthy relationship skills and relationship quality (Overall, Fletcher, & Simpson, 2010); therefore, using meta-analytic techniques across existing studies, we expect to find that there will be a significant and positive association between mindfulness levels and relationship satisfaction. This is a critical next step that may provide enhanced validation for community educators to consider addressing mindfulness as a means for promoting more positive relationship behaviors and higher relationship quality. ...
Mindfulness is an individual practice, where one has a heightened awareness of the present moment. An extensive research literature finds links between trait mindfulness and individual-level physical and mental health benefits. A limited but growing amount of research focuses on the association between mindfulness and romantic relationship satisfaction. Though there have been comprehensive reviews, no study has statistically tested the magnitude of the association between mindfulness and relationship satisfaction. Better understanding the value of this practice for relationships can serve to inform community educators and practitioners focused on promoting healthy family relationships. This study used a meta-analytic technique focused on 12 effect sizes from 10 different studies, and found that the relationship between mindfulness and relationship satisfaction was statistically significant with an overall effect size of .27. This finding suggests that higher levels of mindfulness are associated with higher levels of relationship satisfaction; therefore, educators can reasonably consider level of mindfulness as an education target.
... In adulthood, romantic partners are among the most important sources of caring (Fincham & Cui, 2010), and when optimally provided, such partner support is associated with a myriad of positive outcomes (Overall et al., 2010;Ratelle et al., 2013). However, attachment injuries involve breaches in the support and care that is expected of a romantic partner and tend to occur during times of loss or hardship (e.g., abortion, being bullied, significant failure) or during a major life transition (e.g., moving, becoming parents; Brassard & Johnson, 2016;Johnson, 2019;Johnson et al., 2015). ...
An attachment injury can occur when one partner violates the assumption that they will provide comfort and caring during a moment of increased need. For injured partners, unresolved attachment injuries can underlie an enduring stress reaction and lower relationship satisfaction. However, no research has examined the associations between the perceived severity of the injury and sexual satisfaction, a central component of relationship well-being. In this cross-sectional study, we examined the direct and indirect associations between the perceived severity of the attachment injury and sexual satisfaction via injury-related stress symptoms and levels of forgiveness, in injured partners. A total of 145 adults who reported having experienced an attachment injury in their current relationship completed self-report questionnaires measuring injury severity, event-related stress, forgiveness, and sexual satisfaction. An indirect association between the perceived severity of the attachment injury and sexual satisfaction through higher injury-related stress and lower forgiveness was found via a path analysis. Results suggest that fostering forgiveness and attending to injury-related stress may be key toward sexual satisfaction in couples where a partner reports an attachment injury. Clinical implications of these results are discussed in light of theory and potential treatment strategies for addressing an attachment injury in couple’s therapy.
... For example, couples experiencing indifferent relationships (low in both PPE and NPE) and couples experiencing ambivalent relationships (high in both PPE and NPE) may both score in the mid ranges of unidimensional relationship satisfaction measures, and yet they show different patterns of relationship stability over time (Mattson et al., 2013). Consequently, literature suggests that PPE and NPE processes are uniquely associated with global evaluations of relationship quality (Falconier et al., 2015;Overall et al., 2010;Traa et al., 2015). ...
Perceived positive and negative exchanges in relationships contribute to marital satisfaction in qualitatively distinct manners. However, the nature of these associations is unclear with some studies demonstrating curvilinear relationships and some literature suggesting interaction effects of positive and negative exchanges on marital satisfaction. Extant work has not compared curvilinear and interactive models to address this discrepancy. The present study clarifies these associations by comparing multiple models. Based on cross-sectional data from 886 mixed-sex married couples from across the U.S., we found that marital satisfaction was associated with greater positive exchanges and lower negative exchanges. In addition, the data support interaction effects of positive and negative exchanges on marital satisfaction, but not curvilinear effects. Specifically, high positive exchanges may buffer the impact of negative exchanges on relational satisfaction. Gender differences in effects were not supported. These findings confirm that positive and negative exchanges are distinct constructs and demonstrate how relationship satisfaction scores suffer from issues of equifinality by failing to distinguish between very different qualitative relational experiences. We suggest that curvilinear, plateauing effects may be an artifact of data loss when analyzing individuals in relationships rather than whole dyads, and suggest that scholars study positive and negative exchanges with both members of a dyad moving forward. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
... Alternatively, social support discussions have proven to be ways to elicit understanding, concern, and couple dynamics such as shared dyadic coping (Falconier et al., 2015). Social support discussions call for one partner to be supportive as the other presents a personally stressful situation (Cutrona et al., 1997), desired change in oneself (Overall et al., 2010;Sullivan et al., 2010), personal worry or stress (Kuhn et al., 2018;Parkinson et al., 2016), or a situation when they felt insecure or badly (Khalifian & Barry, 2021). The listener's social support in these conversations is defined broadly, encompassing emotional, informational, and instrumental factors (Cutrona et al., 1997;Sullivan et al., 2010). ...
Does talking about loss with a romantic partner have salutary personal and relationship effects? Prior evidence reveals the benefits of emotional disclosure in couple relationships, yet disclosure about loss has been overlooked in research on couple communication. Using a novel communication paradigm with young-adult heterosexual romantic partners (N = 114 couples), we investigated emotions, physiological arousal (skin conductance responses [SCR]), and relationship closeness when narrating a personal loss and listening to the partner's loss, and compared these loss discussions to discussions about desired relationship changes. Based on partners' self-reports, narrating loss elicited more vulnerable and, unexpectedly, more antagonistic emotions. Both narrating and listening to loss produced higher self-reported partner closeness, compared to discussing change. In support of the physiological benefits of disclosure, women's SCRs decreased over the discussion when they narrated their own loss. However, both women and men as listeners show a general trend of increasing SCRs over the discussion, suggesting the challenges of being a responsive partner. Moreover, in line with the putative protective effects of partners' biological interdependencies, partner closeness also was higher when both partners showed synchronous decreasing SCR as women narrated their loss. Although limited to young couples in relatively short relationships, these findings reveal some potential benefits of talking about loss in the context of romantic relationships. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
... For example, research on the demand/withdrawal pattern of couple conflict resolution shows that the refusal to engage, rather than expressions of negative affect, is the key characteristic of distressed couples (e.g., Christensen & Heavey, 1990). This absence of engagement is perceived as unresponsiveness (Sasaki & Overall, 2021), or as invalidation and rejection of the speaker's point of view (Overall et al., 2010). Even in conversations about happy events, partners' lack of enthusiastic support --for example, expressions of disinterest or pointing out the event's downside,--is strongly associated with relationship distress (Gable et al., 2004). ...
Social psychologists have a longstanding interest in the mechanisms responsible for the beneficial effects of positive social connections. This paper reviews and integrates two emerging but to this point disparate lines of work that focus on these mechanisms: high-quality listening and perceived partner responsiveness. We also review research investigating the downstream consequences of high-quality listening and perceived partner responsiveness: the how and why of understanding the process by which these downstream benefits are obtained. High-quality listening and perceived responsiveness, though not isomorphic, are related constructs in that they both incorporate several key interpersonal processes such as understanding, positive regard, and expressions of caring for another person. We develop a theoretical model for representing how listening embodies one form of interactive behavior that can promote (or hinder) perceived partner responsiveness and its downstream affective, cognitive, and behavioral effects. Finally, we discuss our model’s implications for various social-psychological concerns, such as social cognition, self-evaluation, constructive disagreements, and interpersonal relationships.
This chapter introduces the concepts of peace and kindness from a developmental perspective and outlines a social-emotional developmental framework for the relationship between kindness and inner, relational, and intergroup peace. It first reviews Western and Eastern philosophical and psychological perspectives of peace. Second, it introduces the concept of kindness and provides an overview of core components of kindness (i.e., empathy with the self, empathy with others, and prosocial behavior; Malti, Eur J Dev Psychol, 18(5): 629–657, 2021). Using data from the VIA Inventory of Strengths (i.e., VIA Survey) and supplementary validated scales, we tested the theoretical framework that kindness is an important mechanism promoting peace in youth. Preliminary results revealed unique pathways between self- and other-oriented components of kindness (e.g., empathy with the self, empathy with others, and prosocial behavior) and the inner, relational, and intergroup levels of peace. We discuss findings in reference to peace-building interventions to support social-emotional development and kindness across childhood and adolescence.
Attachment anxiety is expected to motivate people to seek excessive attention, reassurance, and help from their attachment figures. However, prior studies assessing links between attachment anxiety and this hyperactivating support‐seeking strategy have yielded inconsistent results. To advance this literature, the current research focused on the disclosure of negative personal experiences (i.e., disclosure decisions and disclosure strategies), an overlooked step in the support‐seeking process where hyperactivation may occur. Participants ( N = 444) reported whether and how they shared up to four recent negative events with up to three attachment figures, and they reported their relationship‐specific attachment toward each figure (to improve measurement precision). Participants were more likely to report sharing negative events with attachment figures to whom they reported greater attachment anxiety, especially when they also perceived low responsiveness in that relationship. Additionally, participants reported that they displayed greater distress, downplayed their personal responsibility more, and emphasized a need for help more when disclosing negative events in relationships with greater attachment anxiety (behaviors that facilitate support receipt and decrease the risk of rejection). This study helps to clarify links between attachment anxiety and support seeking and provides one of the first empirical demonstrations of strategic support seeking in anxiously attached relationships.
Objectives:
The parent-child relationship is one of the most long-lasting relationships in human life. Such relationship is particularly adaptive during public health emergencies that threaten human life. However, few studies have examined the effects of daily exchanges in support between aging parents and adult children on the relationship quality during public health emergencies. Using data collected during the COVID-19 pandemic, we examined the relationship between daily support and relationship quality among middle-aged and older mothers and adult children.
Methods:
Seventy-seven dyads of middle-aged and older mothers (age range: 44-80 years, Mage = 53.78, SDage = 9.57) and adult children (age range: 18-54 years, Mage = 26.61, SDage = 9.46) participated in the study. They reported their daily exchanges with the other (i.e. support they had received from and given to each other) and daily relationship quality (i.e. relationship satisfaction and trust) each day for 14 consecutive days.
Results:
The perception of being under-benefited on Day N was associated with daily relationship satisfaction on the concurrent day in children but not mothers. It was associated with daily trust towards the relationship partner in both mothers and children on Day N. Both providing and receiving more support on Day N was associated with better relationship satisfaction for both mothers and children on Day N. Only receiving (not providing) more support on Day N was associated with greater trust toward the partner on Day N for both mothers and children. The time-lagged associations were not significant.
Discussion:
The findings highlight the importance of daily reciprocity and daily support exchanges on relationship quality during a public health emergency.
This paper, relying on a thematic review of the literature, aimed to explore the influence of culture on human relations, particularly on love. We highlighted the innate need of humans to belong and be part of a community and, moreover, partake in an intimate relationship. Most humans yearn for intimacy, and thus it was defined and described. In our Western culture, intimacy is often found in marriage, usually built on love. Love, if not nurtured, may fade, and so we described what happens when it does. Romantic relationships, where love is usually expressed and actualized, were examined, including how it is shown, how time affects love, and what causes love relationships to be marred by loneliness. The main part of the paper is devoted to examining the effect of culture on love, its expression, and on romantic relationships. While love may be universal, its development, expression, and importance in intimate relationships differ depending on the culture and era in which it occurs.
Why do people fall in love? Does passion fade with time? What makes for a happy, healthy relationship? This introduction to relationship science follows the lifecycle of a relationship – from attraction and initiation, to the hard work of relationship maintenance, to dissolution and ways to strengthen a relationship. Designed for advanced undergraduates studying psychology, communication or family studies, this textbook presents a fresh, diversity-infused approach to relationship science. It includes real-world examples and critical-thinking questions, callout boxes that challenge students to make connections, and researcher interviews that showcase the many career paths of relationship scientists. Article Spotlights reveal cutting-edge methods, while Diversity and Inclusion boxes celebrate the variety found in human love and connection. Throughout the book, students see the application of theory and come to recognize universal themes in relationships as well as the nuances of many findings. Instructors can access lecture slides, an instructor manual, and test banks.
Women entrepreneurship is considered by many researchers as an imminent phenomenon
of the 21st century, especially for developing countries. Due to its contribution to the economy and
society, recent studies have focused on investigating its motivational factors, as well as achievements.
Moreover, researchers have come up with different entrepreneurial perspectives in different societies
and cultures and have called for further analysis. In this context, the main purpose of this research
was to assess the driving factors, challenges, and perspectives of woman entrepreneurship in a
post-communist country context. As part of the data collection process, a survey was conducted with
36 female entrepreneurs operating in the capital city of Albania, Tirana. The study results reveal
that, even though there are no significant differences between the percentage of women who feel
that they are being discriminated against and percentage of female entrepreneurs who perceive that
their gender has positively affected the business growth, there is a positive significant difference
regarding the percentages of women entrepreneurs who have been supported by their families and
partners and those who have received heritage from their families. Special attention is addressed
to the different factors that women experience in terms of entrepreneurial development. Another
aim of this research is to provide different recommendations to be taken into consideration by the
policymakers to improve the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Albania.
Keywords: woman; entrepreneurship; challenges; emerging economies; Albania
Although researchers are increasingly paying attention to the dyadic nature of sexual desire and its relevance to sexual and relational outcomes, our understanding of how sexual desire operates on a couple level and how it may influence the occurrence of sexual activity in relationships remains limited. This study used ecological momentary assessments to explore to what extent similarity in levels of desire for sex with one's sexual partner, or dyadic sexual desire, was associated with sexual initiations, receptivity to one's partner's initiations, and partnered sexual activity, and how these associations were moderated by perceived partner support. Ninety-four cohabitating couples (M age = 26.30, SD = 7.60) provided six reports a day for 10 consecutive days. We used response surface analysis to examine the associations among both the degree and direction of (dis)similarity in partners' dyadic desire and each of the three outcome variables. Our results revealed that although partners tended to experience similar levels of desire on a moment-to-moment basis, similarity in desire levels was not associated with the three outcome variables. Rather, higher desire within couples predicted each partner's behavioral outcomes. At lower levels of perceived partner support, dyadic sexual desire was negatively associated with women's receptivity to sexual initiations by their partners, indicating high context-sensitivity of women's sexual responding. These findings offer new insights into the links between the similarity in partners' levels of dyadic desire and sexual behaviors in couples, suggesting the need for increased focus on maintaining desire and promoting perceived partner support in clinical practice.
The 'Lying Flat' mindset refers to people's low intention to self-improvement. We hypothesized that personal relative deprivation (PRD), the negative consequence of social comparisons, is one of the reasons that might harm individuals' self-improvement motivations. In study 1 (N = 313), we found that PRD negatively predicted self-improvement after controlling for various confounding variables. This result is confirmed in study 2a (N = 3399) and 2b (N = 3219) by using a national representative sample. Furthermore, Study 2a found that the effect of PRD on self-improvement was mediated by the system-justifying belief (SJB). In study 3 (N = 160), we experimentally demonstrated that PRD harms self-improvement and persistence via its effect on SJB. The higher PRD people experienced, the less they endorsed the SJB, which thereby reduced self-improvement. Taken together, this research manifested that not only would PRD affect people's social beliefs (e.g. SJB) but also hinder self-improvement motivations.
Despite the centrality of differences as a driver of conflict, most of the empirical research on group conflict has focused on the group as a whole, paying little attention to the differing experiences of individuals during conflict—that is, the ways individuals perceive, make sense of, and emotionally experience a conflict episode. Although people process information about a conflict using the same general cognitive and emotional mechanisms, their personal characteristics (e.g., personality, cultural background), beliefs and motives (e.g., orientation toward conflict), and past experiences will influence how they make sense of what is occurring and their subsequent conflict behavior. Building on recent work that has taken a multi-level approach to understanding team conflict and drawing from related literature in social, cognitive, and personality psychology, we explicate an individual’s psychological experience of a conflict episode as a process by which individuals make sense of and emotionally experience what is happening, develop attitudes towards others in the group, and exchange and integrate knowledge about the conflict and others involved. We argue that a more nuanced understanding of the intraindividual experience of conflict generates important insight into understanding individual conflict behavior, helping us predict how people will behave in conflict situations and how conflict episodes will unfold. We conclude with implications for how to intervene to promote cooperative behavior and positive team outcomes, along with an agenda for future research.
Interpersonal power involves how much actors can influence partners (actor power) and how much partners can influence actors (partner power). Yet, most theories and investigations of power conflate the effects of actor and partner power, creating a fundamental ambiguity in the literature regarding how power shapes social behavior. We demonstrate that actor and partner power are distinct and have differential effects on social behavior. Six studies (total N = 1,787) tested whether actor and partner power independently predicted behavioral inhibition (expressive suppression) and communal behavior (prioritization of partners' needs) within close relationships, including during couples' daily life (Study 1), lab-based social interactions (Studies 1-5; 1,012 dyadic interactions), and general responses during conflict (Studies 5 and 6). Actor power was negatively associated with behavioral inhibition, indicating that actors' low power prompts self-focused inhibition to prevent negative outcomes that low power actors are unable to control. Partner power was positively associated with actors' communal behavior, indicating that high partner power prompts other-focused behavior that prioritizes partners' needs and goals. These differential effects of actor and partner power replicated in work-based relationships with bosses/managers (Study 6). Unexpectedly, partner power was negatively associated with actors' behavioral inhibition within close relationships, consistent with a desire to prevent negative outcomes for low power partners. We present a framework that integrates the approach-inhibition and agentic-communal theories of power to account for the differential effects of actor and partner power. We describe the implications of this framework for understanding the effects of power in both close and hierarchical relationships. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
In the meta‐analysis, we combined evidence across studies from different theoretical perspectives addressing the association between partner support (responsive, practical, and negative support) and goal outcomes (self‐efficacy, commitment, and progress). The sample included 195 effect sizes from 36 samples with 10,130 participants in romantic relationships. The results were analyzed using a random‐effects multilevel model and the overall effect size was r = .25. This effect size is comparable to strong individual predictors of goal outcomes (e.g., high intention to achieve a goal) highlighting the importance of close relationships in goal pursuit. In line with the theory of thriving through relationships, the findings suggested that both responsiveness (r = .27) and practical (r = .22) support are helpful for goal outcomes whereas negative (r = ‐.14) support can hinder goal pursuit. Existing studies have strong methods but lack validated measures. Results have implications for areas including changing health behaviors and improving occupational, educational, and therapy outcomes. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved
This work incorporates concepts from the behavioral confirmation tradition, self tradition, and interdependence tradition to identify an interpersonal process termed the Michelangelo phenomenon. The Michelangelo phenomenon describes the means by which the self is shaped by a close partner's perceptions and behavior. Specifically, self movement toward the ideal self is described as a product of partner affirmation, or the degree to which a partner's perceptions of the self and behavior toward the self are congruent with the self's ideal. The results of 4 studies revealed strong associations between perceived partner affirmation and self movement toward the ideal self, using a variety of participant populations and measurement methods. In addition, perceived partner affirmation—particularly perceived partner behavioral affirmation—was strongly associated with quality of couple functioning and stability in ongoing relationships.
How spouses help each other contend with personal difficulties is an unexplored but potentially important domain for understanding how marital distress develops. Newly married couples participated in 2 interaction tasks: a problem-solving task in which spouses discussed a marital conflict and a social support task in which spouses discussed personal, nonmarital difficulties. Observational coding of these interactions showed that wives’ support solicitation and provision behaviors predicted marital outcomes 2 years later, independent of negative behaviors during marital problem-solving discussions. In addition, couples who exhibited relatively poor skills in both behavioral domains were at particular risk for later marital dysfunction. These results suggest that social support exchanges should be incorporated into social learning analyses of marriage and into programs designed to prevent marital distress.
A theoretical framework is proposed for examining the interpersonal processes involved in the support of a relationship partner's goal strivings, personal growth, and exploratory behavior, and for examining consequences of receiving either responsive or unresponsive support in this domain. These processes were examined using both observational and experimental methods. In Phase 1, couples were videotaped as they discussed personal goals for the future. In Phase 2, support behavior was experimentally manipulated to examine immediate effects on the recipient. Results indicated that responsive (nonintrusive) support of a relationship partner's goal strivings and explorations have important implications for the recipient's happiness, self-esteem, and perceived likelihood of achieving specific goals. The importance of research examining this type of support is discussed.
The authors examined how positive perceptions about partners’ attachment security predicted supportive behavior and satisfaction in newlywed marriage. The authors tested a mediation model in which positive perceptions were associated with adaptive support behavior, which in turn predicted increases in marital satisfaction. The self-report measures of attachment security, perceptions of partner’s attachment security, and marital satisfaction within 6 months of marriage and again 1 year later were completed by 172 couples. Social support behavior was assessed by videotaped interactions at the initial session. Structural equation models indicated that positive perceptions served a relationship-enhancing function that was enacted, in part, through couples’ supportive interactions.
Two studies examined the importance of social support as related to the pursuit of personal goals in accounting for individuals' satisfaction with close relationships. In Study 1, students' estimations of how much support they received from partners for goals within and outside their relationships predicted individual differences in both enactment of personal goals and relationship mood 4 weeks later. Study 2 found that differences in receiving and giving goal support within marriage accounted for concurrent differences in the marital satisfaction of spouses. Wives' and husbands' satisfaction was differentially related to spousal support of relationship goals and individual goals outside marriage. Results are discussed in terms of a need for further analysis of the role personal goals play in the development of close relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This study examined the extent to which 3 dimensions of personal goals (commitment, attainability, and progress) were predictive of students' subjective well-being over 1 semester. At the beginning of a new term, 88 Ss provided a list of their personal goals. Goal attributes and subjective well-being were measured at 4 testing periods. Goal commitment was found to moderate the extent to which differences in goal attainability accounted for changes in subjective well-being. Progress in goal achievement mediated the effect of the goal commitment × goal attainability on subjective well-being interaction. Results are discussed in terms of a need for addition and refinement of assumptions linking personal goals to subjective well-being. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This investigation advances theory and research regarding relationship influences on exploration in adulthood. This is accomplished by (a) identifying important characteristics of a secure base, (b) examining the influence of the presence or absence of these characteristics on exploration behavior in adulthood, and (c) identifying individual-difference factors that are predictive of the provision and receipt of secure base support. In 2 sessions, married couples (N = 167) provided reports of relationship dynamics involving exploration, and they participated in an exploration activity that was videotaped and coded by independent observers. Results indicated that the 3 identified characteristics of a secure base (availability, noninterference, and encouragement) are strongly predictive of exploration behavior, and that the provision and receipt of these behaviors can be predicted by individual differences in attachment. Implications of results and contributions to existing literature are discussed.
This study tested the success of communication strategies used by relationship partners (N = 61 romantic couples) who were videotaped while trying to produce desired changes in each other. Strategies varying in valence (positive vs. negative) and directness (direct vs. indirect) were differentially associated with postdiscussion perceptions of success as well as ratings of demonstrated change in targeted features gathered at 3-month intervals during the following year. Direct strategies (positive and negative) were initially perceived as relatively unsuccessful but predicted increased change over the next 12 months as reported by the targeted partners and (for positive-direct strategies) as perceived by female agents. Positive-indirect strategies, in contrast, were associated with higher concurrent perceived success but did not predict later change. Increases in problem severity also forecasted lower relationship quality over time. These findings indicate that one mechanism through which regulation strategies impact relationship outcomes is the extent to which engaged strategies are successful at producing desired change.
This work examines the Michelangelo phenomenon, an interpersonal model of the means by which people move closer to (vs. further from) their ideal selves. The authors propose that partner similarity--similarity to the ideal self, in particular--plays an important role in this process. Across 4 studies employing diverse designs and measurement techniques, they observed consistent evidence that when partners possess key elements of one another's ideal selves, each person affirms the other by eliciting important aspects of the other's ideals, each person moves closer to his or her ideal self, and couple well-being is enhanced. Partner similarity to the actual self also accounts for unique variance in key elements of this model. The associations of ideal similarity and actual similarity with couple well-being are fully attributable to the Michelangelo process, to partner affirmation and target movement toward the ideal self. The authors also performed auxiliary analyses to rule out several alternative interpretations of these findings.
The authors examined the effects of social hindrance and support on negative and positive relationship-specific feelings in three daily diary studies. Study 1 showed that hindrance and support independently predicted positive relationship feelings, but only hindrance predicted negative feelings. Study 2 used new measures of hindrance and support and showed that hindrance and support independently predicted same-day relationship feelings but that the effects of hindrance were stronger in magnitude. Study 3 yielded similar findings using the new measures of hindrance and support and controlling for morning feeling. These asymmetrical crossover effects suggest that bad is only stronger than good when it comes to bad outcomes; they also support the distinction between aversive and appetitive relational processes.
Findings from 6 experiments support the hypothesis that relationship evaluations and behavioral tendencies are goal dependent, reflecting the instrumentality of significant others for the self's progress toward currently active goals. Experiments 1 and 3 found that active goals can automatically bring to mind significant others who are instrumental for the activated goal, heightening their accessibility relative to noninstrumental others. Experiments 2-5 found that active goals cause individuals to evaluate instrumental others more positively, draw closer to them, and approach them more readily, compared with noninstrumental others. Experiment 6 found that people who engage in goal-dependent interpersonal evaluations are more successful, receiving higher grades. Implications for understanding the social nature of self-regulation and the impact of personal goals on interpersonal relationships are discussed.
The purpose of this article is to determine whether the positive association between social support and well-being is attributable more to an overall beneficial effect of support (main- or direct-effect model) or to a process of support protecting persons from potentially adverse effects of stressful events (buffering model). The review of studies is organized according to (a) whether a measure assesses support structure or function, and (b) the degree of specificity (vs. globality) of the scale. By structure we mean simply the existence of relationships, and by function we mean the extent to which one’s interpersonal relationships provide particular resources. Special attention is paid to methodological characteristics that are requisite for a fair comparison of the models. The review concludes that there is evidence consistent with both models. Evidence for a buffering model is found when the social support measure assesses the perceived availability of interpersonal resources that are responsive to the needs elicited by stressful events. Evidence for a main effect model is found when the support measure assesses a person’s degree of integration in a large social network. Both conceptualizations of social support are correct in some respects, but each represents a different process through which social support may affect well-being. Implications of these conclusions for theories of social support processes and for the design of preventive interventions are discussed.
This work incorporates concepts from the behavioral confirmation tradition, self tradition, and interdependence tradition to identify an interpersonal process termed the Michelangelo phenomenon. The Michelangelo phenomenon describes the means by which the self is shaped by a close partner's perceptions and behavior. Specifically, self movement toward the ideal self is described as a product of partner affirmation, or the degree to which a partner's perceptions of the self and behavior toward the self are congruent with the self's ideal. The results of 4 studies revealed strong associations between perceived partner affirmation and self movement toward the ideal self, using a variety of participant populations and measurement methods. In addition, perceived partner affirmation--particularly perceived partner behavioral affirmation--was strongly associated with quality of couple functioning and stability in ongoing relationships.
This study used an attachment theoretical framework to investigate support-seeking and caregiving processes in intimate relationships. Dating couples (N = 93) were videotaped while one member of the couple (support seeker) disclosed a personal problem to his or her partner (caregiver). Results indicated that when support seekers rated their problem as more stressful, they engaged in more direct support-seeking behavior, which led their partners to respond with more helpful forms of caregiving. Responsive caregiving then led seekers to feel cared for and to experience improved mood. Evidence for individual differences was also obtained: Avoidant attachment predicted ineffective support seeking, and anxious attachment predicted poor caregiving. Finally, couples in better functioning relationships engaged in more supportive interactions, and participants' perceptions of their interaction were biased by relationship quality and attachment style.
Although there is abundant evidence that perceived availability of support buffers the effects of stressors on mental health, the relatively meager research on support transactions has failed to show an association between actual receipt of support and adjustment to stressors. The authors examined a possible explanation for this inconsistency, that awareness of receiving support entails an emotional cost and that the most effective support is unnoticed by the recipient. Using data from a daily diary study of support provision and receipt in couples, the authors show that many transactions reported by supporters are not reported by recipients. They also show that these invisible support transactions promote adjustment to a major stressor.
Mediation is said to occur when a causal effect of some variable X on an outcome Y is explained by some intervening variable M. The authors recommend that with small to moderate samples, bootstrap methods (B. Efron & R. Tibshirani, 1993) be used to assess mediation. Bootstrap tests are powerful because they detect that the sampling distribution of the mediated effect is skewed away from 0. They argue that R. M. Baron and D. A. Kenny's (1986) recommendation of first testing the X --> Y association for statistical significance should not be a requirement when there is a priori belief that the effect size is small or suppression is a possibility. Empirical examples and computer setups for bootstrap analyses are provided.
Using multiple methods, this investigation tested the hypothesis that a close relationship partner's acceptance of dependence when needed (e.g., sensitive responsiveness to distress cues) is associated with less dependence, more autonomous functioning, and more self-sufficiency (as opposed to more dependence) on the part of the supported individual. In two studies, measures of acceptance of dependency needs and independent functioning were obtained through couple member reports, by observing couple members' behaviors during laboratory interactions, by observing responses to experimentally manipulated partner assistance provided during an individual laboratory task, and by following couples over a period of 6 months to examine independent goal striving as a function of prior assessments of dependency acceptance. Results provided converging evidence in support of the proposed hypothesis. Implications of the importance of close relationships for optimal individual functioning are discussed.
Inspired by attachment theory, the authors tested a series of theoretically derived predictions about connections between attachment working models (attachment to one's parents assessed by the Adult Attachment Interview; M. Main & R. Goldwyn, 1994) and the effectiveness of specific types of caregiving spontaneously displayed by dating partners during a stressful conflict-resolution discussion. Each partner first completed the Adult Attachment Interview. One week later, each couple was videotaped while they tried to resolve a current problem in their relationship. Trained observers then rated each interaction for the degree to which (a) emotional, instrumental, and physical caregiving behaviors were displayed; (b) care recipients appeared calmed by their partners' caregiving attempts; and (c) each partner appeared distressed during the discussion. Individuals who had more secure representations of their parents were rated as being more calmed if/when their partners provided greater emotional care, especially if they were rated as more distressed. Conversely, individuals who had more insecure (dismissive) representations of their parents reacted more favorably to instrumental caregiving behaviors from their partners, especially if they were more distressed. The broader theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.
Partner sensitivity is an important antecedent of both intimacy (H. T. Reis & P. Shaver, 1988) and attachment (M. D. S. Ainsworth, 1989). On the basis of the optimal matching model of social support (C. E. Cutrona & D. Russell, 1990), support behaviors that "matched" the support goals of the stressed individual were predicted to lead to the perception of partner sensitivity. Predictions were tested with 59 married couples, who engaged in a videotaped self-disclosure task. Matching support was defined as the disclosure of emotions followed by emotional support or a request for information followed by informational support. Partial evidence was found for the predictions. Matching support following the disclosure of emotions was predictive of perceived partner sensitivity. Mismatched support following the disclosure of emotions predicted lower marital satisfaction, through the mediation of partner sensitivity. Matching support following a request for information was not predictive of perceived partner sensitivity, but negative partner responses (e.g., criticism or sarcasm) following a request for information negatively predicted perceptions of partner sensitivity. The importance of considering the context of support transactions is discussed.
Consider the following interactions in which a spouse talks with his or her partner about feeling irritable due to pressures at work.
This review covers four major topics. First, the authors discuss previous studies on social support that document the content of supportive communications. Next, the discussion turns to the development and validation of the Interactive Coping Behavior Coding System and its converse, the Support Activation Behavior Coding System. A third focus is research stemming from sensitive interaction systems theory, which makes predictions, based on numerous variables, concerning whether an interaction will be ameliorative or harmful. The final section presents findings on the effects of interactive coping variables on relationship maintenance.
This study examined the extent to which 3 dimensions of personal goals-commitment, attainability, and progress-were predictive of students' subjective well-being over 1 semester. At the beginning of a new term, 88 Ss provided a list of their personal goals. Goal attributes and subjective well-being were measured at 4 testing periods. Goal commitment was found to moderate the extent to which differences in goal attainability accounted for changes in subjective well-being. Progress in goal achievement mediated the effect of the Goal Commitment × Goal Attainability on Subjective Well-Being interaction. Results are discussed in terms of a need for addition and refinement of assumptions linking personal goals to subjective well-being.
The influence of extraversion and negative affectivity on support interactions among married couples was examined. One hundred married couples were observed in two 10-minute interactions that were designed to elicit supportive behaviors. Extraverted support providers gave more support to their spouse than did introverts. Reciprocity in the exchange of support behaviors was also observed: The amount of support given by the individual in the first interaction predicted the amount of support provided to him or her during the second interaction. Negative affectivity was negatively correlated with ratings of interaction supportiveness, even when controlling for the number of supportive and negative behaviors received from the spouse. Extraverts showed higher sensitivity to emotional support behaviors than did introverts. The same level of emotional support behaviors from the spouse led to higher ratings of interaction supportiveness among those high on extraversion than among those low on extraversion. Results highlight the importance of integrative models of support that consider characteristics of the individual and his or her social environment.
The present study examined the similarities and differences in couples interactive behavior and interaction-based cognition that emerged in comparisons of conflict and support interactions in marriage. In a laboratory experiment, 53 couples were randomly assigned to the conditions of a 2 (type of interaction: conflict vs. support) � 2 (initiator of interaction: man vs. woman) factorial design. Partners provided questionnaire data and participated in a joint interaction and video review task. The data revealed substantial behavioral similarities (i.e., some classes of validation/facilitation behaviors and neutral problem-solving behaviors) as well as behavioral differences (i.e., some classes of invalidation/oppositional behaviors) between conflict and support interactions, controlling for levels of marital satisfaction. Partners interaction-based cognition (e.g., feeling understood, satisfied) was especially affected by classes of validation/facilitation behaviors and was consistently related to marital satisfaction. In broad terms, the impact of a particular behavior on partners ongoing cognition did not depend on the interaction domain (conflict vs. support) in which the behavior occurred.
Among married couples, the effect of the controllability of stressful events was tested as a predictor of the type of social support communications provided and preferred. Sixty married individuals disclosed stressful events to their spouse. Controllability of the stress was rated by observers. The Social Support Behavior Code was used to assess the frequency with which each of five types of social support was provided by the spouse. Action-promoting support (information) was provided most frequently when the stressed person had high control over the event. Of the five types of support communications assessed, only information was evaluated differently in high- and low-controllable situations. Both controllability by the support recipient and controllability by his or her spouse were relevant to support evaluations. Results provide limited support for the optimal matching model proposed by Cutrona and Russell (Cutrona, 1990; Cutrona & Russell, 1990).
The influence of extraversion and negative affectivity on support interactions among married couples was examined. One hundred married couples were observed in two 10-minute interactions that were designed to elicit supportive behaviors. Extraverted support providers gave more support to their spouse than did introverts. Reciprocity in the exchange of support behaviors was also observed: The amount of support given by the individual in the first interaction predicted the amount of support provided to him or her during the second interaction. Negative affectivity was negatively correlated with ratings of interaction supportiveness, even when controlling for the number of supportive and negative behaviors received from the spouse. Extraverts showed higher sensitivity to emotional support behaviors than did introverts. The same level of emotional support behaviors from the spouse led to higher ratings of interaction supportiveness among those high on extraversion than among those low on extraversion. Results highlight the importance of integrative models of support that consider characteristics of the individual and his or her social environment.
To compare the extent to which (a) amount versus adequacy of received support and (b) support provision versus solicitation behaviors predict marital satisfaction, married couples from the United States (N= 275) provided perceptions of received support and participated in 2 support transactions. Actor–partner interdependence modeling and structural equation modeling techniques were employed. Husbands’ perceptions of support adequacy predicted marital satisfaction more than their perceptions of support amount, whereas the results were generally the opposite for wives. Husbands’ provision and wives’ solicitation behaviors predicted marital satisfaction. Results suggest the need to move beyond simple counts of support received to examining support adequacy—and the various behaviors and roles involved in supportive transactions—to enhance theories of support and relationship functioning.
There are few topics so fascinating both to the research investigator and the research subject as the self-image. It is distinctively characteristic of the human animal that he is able to stand outside himself and to describe, judge, and evaluate the person he is. He is at once the observer and the observed, the judge and the judged, the evaluator and the evaluated. Since the self is probably the most important thing in the world to him, the question of what he is like and how he feels about himself engrosses him deeply. This is especially true during the adolescent stage of development.
This research tested three models of how the relationship evaluation components of satisfaction, commitment, intimacy, trust, passion, and love a structured and cognitively represented. Participants in Study 1 rated their intimate relationships on six previously developed scales that measured each construct and on a new inventory-the Perceived Relationship Quality Components (PRQC) Inventory. As predicted, confirmatory factor analysis revealed that, for both sets of scales, the best-fitting model was one in which the appropriate items loaded reliably on the six first-order factors, which in turn loaded reliably on one second-order factor reflecting overall perceived relationship quality. These results were replicated on a different sample in Study 2 and across sex. Implications and advantages of the PRQC Inventory are discussed.
Although the perception of available support is associated with positive outcomes, the receipt of actual support from close others is often associated with negative outcomes. In fact, support that is "invisible" (not perceived by the support recipient) is associated with better outcomes than "visible" support. To investigate this paradox, we proposed that received support (both visible and invisible) would be beneficial when it was responsive to the recipient's needs. Sixty-seven cohabiting couples participated in a daily-experience study in which they reported on the support they provided and received each day. Results indicated that both visible and invisible support were beneficial (i.e., associated with less sadness and anxiety and with greater relationship quality) only when the support was responsive. These findings suggest that the nature of support is an important determinant of when received support will be beneficial.
How spouses help each other contend with personal difficulties is an unexplored but potentially important domain for understanding how marital distress develops. Newly married couples participated in 2 interaction tasks: a problem-solving task in which spouses discussed a marital conflict and a social support task in which spouses discussed personal, nonmarital difficulties. Observational coding of these interactions showed that wives' support solicitation and provision behaviors predicted marital outcomes 2 years later, independent of negative behaviors during marital problem-solving discussions. In addition, couples who exhibited relatively poor skills in both behavioral domains were at particular risk for later marital dysfunction. These results suggest that social support exchanges should be incorporated into social learning analyses of marriage and into programs designed to prevent marital distress.
Perceived part-ner responsiveness as an organizing construct in the study of intimacy and closeness
- H T Reis
- M S Clark
- J G Holmes
Reis, H. T., Clark, M. S., & Holmes, J. G. (2004). Perceived part-ner responsiveness as an organizing construct in the study of intimacy and closeness. In D. J. Mashek & A. Aron (Eds.), Handbook of closeness and intimacy (pp. 201-225). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Social support in marriage: An analysis of intraindividual and interpersonal components
- L Pasch
- T N Bradbury
- K T Sullivan
Pasch, L., Bradbury, T. N., & Sullivan, K. T. (1997). Social support in marriage: An analysis of intraindividual and interpersonal components. In G. R. Pierce, B. Lakey & I. G. Sarason (Eds.), Sourcebook of social support and personality (pp. 229-256).