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Perspective taking is theorized to help sustain satisfying social relationships by promoting prorelationship responses that reduce harmful negative behaviors in relationship interactions. The present studies provide the first tests of whether perspective taking predicts less negative behavior within couples' daily and lab-based conflict interactions. In Study 1, individuals ( N = 77) rated their perspective taking and their own and partner's hurtful, critical, and distancing behavior each day for 14 days. In Study 2, couples ( N = 78 dyads) completed the same daily measures for 21 days. In Study 3, couples ( N = 143 dyads) engaged in a lab-based video-recorded discussion of their most serious conflict. Each dyad member reported on the degree to which they engaged in perspective taking, and their own and their partner's negative behavior, during the discussion. Objective coders also rated the degree to which both partners exhibited negative behavior during the discussion. Actors' perspective taking was associated with actors' lower negative behavior as reported by actors (Studies 1-3) and partners (Study 2) and as rated by observers (Study 3). Significant interaction effects also suggested that actors' perspective taking attenuated how much actors behaved more negatively as their partners behaved more negatively, although the moderating pattern was weaker within daily reports (Studies 1 and 2) compared to couple's observed conflict interactions (Study 3). The attenuating effects of perspective taking were independent of commitment, satisfaction, self-esteem, and attachment insecurity. These studies provide new evidence that facilitating perspective taking may reduce common, destructive behaviors that can harm couple relationships. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Feeling loved (loved, cared for, accepted, valued, understood) is inherently dyadic, yet most prior theoretical perspectives and investigations have focused on how actors feeling (un)loved shapes actors' outcomes. Adopting a dyadic perspective, the present research tested whether the established links between actors feeling unloved and destructive (critical, hostile) behavior depended on partners' feelings of being loved. Does feeling loved need to be mutual to reduce destructive behavior, or can partners feeling loved compensate for actors feeling unloved? In five dyadic observational studies, couples were recorded discussing conflicts, diverging preferences or relationship strengths, or interacting with their child (total N = 842 couples; 1,965 interactions). Participants reported how much they felt loved during each interaction and independent coders rated how much each person exhibited destructive behavior. Significant Actors' × Partners' Felt-Loved interactions revealed a strong-link/mutual felt-unloved pattern: partners' high felt-loved buffered the damaging effect of actors' low felt-loved on destructive behavior, resulting in actors' destructive behavior mostly occurring when both actors' and partners' felt-loved was low. This dyadic pattern also emerged in three supplemental daily sampling studies. Providing directional support for the strong-link/mutual felt-unloved pattern, in Studies 4 and 5 involving two or more sequential interactions, Actors' × Partners' Felt-Loved in one interaction predicted actors' destructive behavior within couples' subsequent conflict interactions. The results illustrate the dyadic nature of feeling loved: Partners feeling loved can protect against actors feeling unloved in challenging interactions. Assessing Actor × Partner effects should be equally valuable for advancing understanding of other fundamentally dyadic relationship processes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Conflict affords an opportunity for relationship partners to demonstrate that they can be responsive to each other's needs. Understanding what constitutes responsiveness during conflict requires taking a dyadic perspective to identify how partners can tailor responses to address actors' specific needs. The present article reviews recent evidence showing that perceived responsiveness emerges from dyadic patterns involving how both partners and actors behave, and that partners' responsiveness during conflict involves different kinds of behaviors depending on actors' behavior and needs. These dyadic patterns emphasize that building tailored responsiveness to promote conflict resolution requires couples being able and willing to identify, communicate, and respond to each other's specific needs., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The current research applied a dyadic perspective to examine conflict-coparenting spillover by examining (a) whether actors' or partners' hostility during couples' conflict discussions predicted greater hostility in a subsequent play activity with their child and (b) whether these actor and partner effects were moderated by two factors that prior theory and research suggest may shape conflict-coparenting spillover: attachment insecurity and parent gender. Cohabiting or married couples were video recorded discussing their most serious conflict while their 4-5-year-old child was in a separate room ( N = 94 families). Immediately following their conflict discussions, couples were reunited with their child to participate in a semistructured family activity. Independent teams of observational coders rated how much each partner displayed (a) hostility during the conflict discussion (conflict hostility) and (b) hostility during the family activity (coparenting hostility). The results provide novel evidence that conflict-coparenting spillover is a dyadic process shaped by actors' and partners' attachment insecurity and gender. Men exhibited greater conflict-coparenting spillover even if they were low in attachment anxiety, but men's conflict-coparenting spillover was lower when their partners were lower in attachment anxiety and avoidance. Women's lower attachment anxiety also was associated with women's own lower conflict-coparenting spillover. This pattern suggests that men are more vulnerable to conflict-coparenting spillover, whereas women lower in attachment anxiety and avoidance appear able to contain both their own and their partners' conflict hostility from spilling over to family interactions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Suppressing the expression of negative emotions tends to undermine individuals' and their partners' wellbeing. However, sometimes expressive suppression may be relatively innocuous given that individuals commonly withhold negative emotions in order to maintain close relationships, and this may be especially the case when expressive suppression is enacted by people who exhibit amplified expressions of negative emotions, such as those high in attachment anxiety. The current research examined when and for whom expressive suppression may be more or less costly by testing whether the curvilinear effect of individuals' expressive suppression on individuals' and partners' outcomes is moderated by individuals' attachment anxiety. Our results across 3 dyadic studies revealed a linear effect of expressive suppression when predicting individuals' outcomes: greater expressive suppression had costs for individuals (lower relationship satisfaction, reported responsiveness and discussion success, and greater discussion threat). Furthermore, in 4 of the 5 models, a moderated curvilinear effect of expressive suppression emerged when predicting partners' outcomes. For individuals low in attachment anxiety, low levels of expressive suppression did not incur costs for their partners' relationship satisfaction, perceptions of individuals' responsiveness, discussion success, and discussion threat. Once expressive suppression surpassed moderate levels, however, greater expressive suppression had a detrimental effect on partners' outcomes. In contrast, for individuals high in attachment anxiety, the negative effect of moderate-to-high levels of expressive suppression on partners' outcomes was attenuated. These novel results demonstrate how considering curvilinear methods can uncover when and for whom expressive suppression may be more or less costly in intimate relationships. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Intimate relationships are a principal source of emotional support, which fosters recipients' health and well-being. Yet, being in a position to provide support can be stressful, particularly if people are burdened with their own emotional difficulties, and such stress may interfere with people's ability to behave in emotionally supportive ways. Three dyadic studies tested whether greater depressive symptoms were associated with experiencing stress when in a position to provide support to intimate partners, and whether greater stress in turn predicted partners receiving less emotional support. Greater depressive symptoms were associated with experiencing greater stress during couples' discussions about partners important personal goal (Study 1) or significant personal challenge (Study 2) and on days when partners reported needing greater support (Study 3). Greater stress when in a position to provide support to partners was, in turn, associated with partners reporting they received lower emotional support (Studies 1 through 3). The results replicated when examining providers' own reports of emotional support (Studies 1 through 3), were specific to depressive symptoms and not due to other factors shown to undermine support (low self-esteem and higher attachment insecurity; Studies 1 through 3), were not simply due to low mood or sadness (Study 3) and occurred irrespective of the importance or severity of the topic discussed (Studies 1 and 2). These results highlight an important emotional process central to effective support provision: being in a position to provide support can be stressful, especially when people lack the emotional resources and capacity to be emotionally supportive toward their partners. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The current study examined whether couples' relationship problems negatively influenced perceptions of partners' parenting and, in turn, undermined family functioning. Couples ( N = 96) completed assessments of relationship problems and family chaos before participating in a family play activity with their 4- to 5-year-old child. Parents reported on their own and their partner's responsiveness toward their child and how much the interaction was a positive and connected family experience. Objective observers also rated each parent's responsiveness toward their child. Parents completed measures assessing family chaos 1 year later. Perceptions of partners' parental responsiveness were significantly associated with both partners' self-reported and observers' ratings of partners' parental responsiveness, but such levels of relative agreement were modest. After accounting for agreement, perceptions of parental responsiveness was shaped by 2 sources of bias: (a) Parents who felt that they were less versus more responsive to their child viewed their partners as less versus more responsive as a parent ( assumed similarity ), and (b) parents who experienced greater relationship problems perceived their partner to be less responsive as a parent ( relationship bias ). Perceiving partners to be a less responsive parent, in turn, predicted (a) feeling less connected as a family during the interaction and residual increases in family chaos 1 year later. The results indicate that couples' relationship problems spill over to bias perceptions of parenting, which interferes with couples' ability to provide a connected, stable, and secure family environment. The results highlight that perceptual processes are important in understanding and addressing the ways couples' problems spill over across family subsystems. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic has profoundly altered people's daily lives and created multiple societal challenges. One important challenge of this unique stressor is maintaining well-functioning intimate relationships, which are inextricably tied to emotional and physical health. Yet research on romantic relationships shows that external stressors such as economic hardship, demanding jobs, and disasters can threaten the quality and stability of couples' relationships. Research within relationship science investigating how external stressors and existing vulnerabilities shape couple functioning can inform predictions about how the current pandemic will impact couples' relationships and which couples in which contexts may be most at risk for adverse relationship consequences. Drawing on theory and research from relationship science, the presented conceptual framework, adapted from the vulnerability-stress-adaptation model (Karney & Bradbury, 1995), suggests that facing COVID-19-related external stress is likely to increase harmful dyadic processes (e.g., hostility, withdrawal, less responsive support), which will undermine couples' relationship quality. These harmful effects are likely to be exacerbated by the broader preexisting context in which couples' relationships are situated (e.g., social class, minority status, age), and their individual vulnerabilities (e.g., attachment insecurity, depression). The framework presented identifies the essential factors that need to be addressed in order to mitigate the potential adverse effects of the current crisis on relationships, and offers key directions for future research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The interpersonal consequences associated with emotional suppression (ES) may indicate that perceivers accurately detect targets' use of ES. However, ES involves hiding emotional experiences and expressions and consequently provides few explicit cues for perceivers. Thus, perceivers may exhibit relatively poor accuracy in detecting targets' ES and instead base perceptions of targets' ES on their own use of ES-a bias called projection. In the current study, participants completed measures of trait ES, engaged in an emotionally relevant discussion with their intimate partner, and then reviewed the discussion to rate their own and their partners' (targets') state ES within each 30s of the discussion. Perceptions of targets' state ES were more strongly predicted by perceivers' own state ES (projection bias) than the targets' reported use of ES (tracking accuracy), particularly for perceivers' high in trait ES. This pattern of projection bias resulted in perceivers overestimating the level of targets' state ES. These results indicate that perceptions of ES are generated more from perceivers' rather than targets' use of ES, suggest informant-based ES assessments have important limitations, and advance understanding of the interpersonal effects of ES. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Based on growing evidence that negative-direct behavior that addresses important contextual and situational demands is less harmful than negative-direct behavior that occurs irrespective of current demands, the current investigation tests whether the longitudinal impact of partners' negative-direct behavior depends on whether that behavior is more variable versus stable across couples' daily life and conflict interactions. In Studies 1 and 2, participants rated how much their partner behaved in critical and unpleasant ways every day for 21 days. In Study 3, couples were video-recorded discussing an important area of conflict, and independent coders rated how much partners expressed criticism and hostility within every 30-s segment of the discussion. In each study, the repeated assessments were used to calculate average levels (within-person mean across days or couples' discussions) and variability (within-person SD across days or couples' discussions) of partners' negative-direct behavior. Participants also reported on the severity of their relationship problems and relationship satisfaction at the beginning of each study and then 9 months later (Studies 1 and 2) or repeatedly across the following year (Study 3). High mean levels of partners' criticism and hostility predicted greater relationship problems (Studies 1-3) and lower relationship satisfaction (Study 3) when partners' negative-direct behavior was stable across time (low within-person variability), but was less harmful when partners' negative-direct behavior varied across time (high within-person variability). These novel results illustrate that behavioral variability offers a valuable way to understand and examine behavioral patterns that will be more helpful versus harmful in navigating the challenges of social life. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Hostile sexism expresses derogation of women's competence and emphasizes that women will exploit men's relational dependence. Men who endorse hostile sexism perceive their female partners more negatively, but do these negative perceptions stem from motives for dominance or insecurities about dependence? We tested both perspectives by assessing bias in perceptions of partners' behaviors that challenge dominance (criticism, instruction, taking over) versus affirm partners are dependable (love, care, availability). Both members of 100 heterosexual couples reported how much they received and enacted these behaviors in (a) a lab-based discussion and (b) six monthly retrospective reports about an ongoing important goal. In both support contexts, men's hostile sexism was associated with underestimating dependability-relevant support, particularly when partners reported providing low support. This pattern did not emerge for dominance-relevant behaviors. These results indicate that men's hostile sexism involves insecurities about dependence, producing perceptions that female partners are less dependable than they actually are.

Greater habitual emotional suppression (ES)-assessed by the suppression subscale of the emotion regulation questionnaire (ERQ-ES; Gross & John, 2003) and the Courtauld emotion control scale (CECS; Watson & Greer, 1983)-is associated with a range of negative outcomes, which are assumed to arise because habitual ES measures capture the tendency to use ES in response to emotions. The current studies directly test whether habitual ES measures actually capture the response-focused use of ES when emotions arise within social interactions. We conduct these validation tests by integrating measures of habitual ES with naturalistic assessments of negative emotions and the situational use of ES during emotionally relevant interactions with romantic partners (Study 1, N = 200; Study 3, N = 170) and social interactions with close others in daily life (Study 2, N = 430). Greater ERQ-ES and CECS scores predicted greater average levels of situational ES, but only greater scores on the ERQ-ES consistently predicted greater situational ES in response to negative emotions, including greater situational ES for people who experienced more negative emotions than others and when people experienced greater negative emotions than their own average. These results support that the ERQ-ES captures a response-focused pattern of situational ES that is sensitive to varying negative emotions within specific interactions. The CECS may capture a more pervasive, consistent use of ES across situations. Our novel tests offer an important framework for how to validate emotion regulation assessments to advance both theory and methodology. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Given the powerful implications of relationship quality for health and well-being, a central mission of relationship science is explaining why some romantic relationships thrive more than others. This large-scale project used machine learning (i.e., Random Forests) to 1) quantify the extent to which relationship quality is predictable and 2) identify which constructs reliably predict relationship quality. Across 43 dyadic longitudinal datasets from 29 laboratories, the top relationship-specific predictors of relationship quality were perceived-partner commitment, appreciation, sexual satisfaction, perceived-partner satisfaction, and conflict. The top individual-difference predictors were life satisfaction, negative affect, depression, attachment avoidance, and attachment anxiety. Overall, relationship-specific variables predicted up to 45% of variance at baseline, and up to 18% of variance at the end of each study. Individual differences also performed well (21% and 12%, respectively). Actor-reported variables (i.e., own relationship-specific and individual-difference variables) predicted two to four times more variance than partner-reported variables (i.e., the partner's ratings on those variables). Importantly, individual differences and partner reports had no predictive effects beyond actor-reported relationship-specific variables alone. These findings imply that the sum of all individual differences and partner experiences exert their influence on relationship quality via a person's own relationship-specific experiences, and effects due to moderation by individual differences and moderation by partner-reports may be quite small. Finally, relationship-quality change (i.e., increases or decreases in relationship quality over the course of a study) was largely unpredictable from any combination of self-report variables. This collective effort should guide future models of relationships., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interest.

Partners' negative emotions communicate social information necessary for individuals to respond appropriately to important relational events. Yet, there is inconsistent evidence regarding whether partners' emotional expression enhances accurate perceptions of partners' emotions. The current studies make methodological and theoretical extensions to the extant literature by directly assessing whether partners' emotional expression during relationship interactions predicts 2 types of accuracy relevant to the theorized interpersonal functions of negative emotions: tracking accuracy and directional bias. In Studies 1 and 2, both members of recruited couples reported on their own negative emotions, disclosure of emotions, and perceptions of their partners' negative emotions during relationship interactions at the end of each day for 21 days. In Study 3, couples engaged in an emotionally relevant discussion in the laboratory. Participants immediately reviewed their discussions and rated their own negative emotions and perceptions of their partners' negative emotions within each 30-s segment of the discussion. Independent coders rated the degree to which each person expressed their emotions during the discussion. In all three studies, partners' greater emotional expression predicted perceivers more accurately tracking partners' negative emotions (greater tracking accuracy). High levels of partners' emotional expression also predicted perceivers overestimating partners' negative emotions (greater directional bias). This expression-perception pattern should support the interpersonal function of negative emotions by orienting perceivers to important emotional events that would be costly to overlook. The results, considered in the context of prior research, highlight the importance of matching methodological approaches with the theoretical processes under investigation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Extant research suggests that having a romantic partner has more benefits, in terms of higher subjective wellbeing, for men compared to women. The primary theoretical explanation for these wellbeing differences is that men's romantic partners tend to be their primary source of perceived social support. Yet, there is surprisingly little empirical evidence that perceived social support accounts for these gender differences. The current research used a national panel study in New Zealand (N = 20,774) to test whether perceived social support mediated the relationship between having a romantic partner and wellbeing and whether these associations were noninvariant across gender. Perceived social support partially mediated the association between having a romantic partner and higher wellbeing (life satisfaction and self-esteem), and this pathway was stronger for men than it was for women. These results extend previous research by using large-scale national panel survey data to show that the stronger association between men's relationship status and wellbeing is partially due to men's stronger connection between relationship status and perceived social support. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Protecting men's power is fundamental to understanding the origin, expression, and targets of hostile sexism, yet no prior theoretical or empirical work has specified how hostile sexism is related to experiences of power. In the current studies, we propose that the interdependence inherent in heterosexual relationships will lead men who more strongly endorse hostile sexism to perceive they have lower power in their relationship, and that these perceptions will be biased. We also predicted that lower perceptions of power would in turn promote aggression toward intimate partners. Across 4 studies, men who more strongly endorsed hostile sexism perceived lower power in their relationships. Comparisons across partners supported that these lower perceptions of power were biased; men who more strongly endorsed hostile sexism underestimated the power they had compared with their partners' reports of that power (Studies 1 and 2). These lower perceptions of power, in turn, predicted greater aggression toward female partners during couples' daily interactions (Study 1), observed during couples' video-recorded conflict discussions (Study 2), and reported over the last year (Studies 3 and 4). Moreover, the associations between hostile sexism, power, and aggression were specific to men perceiving lower relationship power rather than desiring greater power in their relationships (Studies 3 and 4), and they were not the result of generally being more dominant and aggressive (Studies 3 and 4), or more negative relationship evaluations from either partner (Studies 1-4). The findings demonstrate the importance of an interdependence perspective in understanding the experiences, aggressive expressions, and broader consequences associated with hostile sexism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Direct and overt visible support promotes recipients' relationship satisfaction but can also exacerbate negative mood. In contrast, subtle and indirect invisible support can bypass costs to mood, but it is unclear whether it undermines or boosts relationship satisfaction. Because invisible support is not perceived by recipients, its relational impact may be delayed across time. Thus, the current research used three dyadic daily diary studies (total N = 322 married couples) to explore, for the first time, both the immediate (same day) and lagged (next day) effects of visible and invisible support on recipients' mood and relationship satisfaction. Consistent with prior research, visible support was associated with recipients reporting greater relationship satisfaction and greater anxiety the same day. In contrast, but also consistent with prior research, invisible support had no significant same-day effects, and thus avoided mood costs. Nevertheless, invisible support was associated with recipients reporting greater relationship satisfaction the next day. Study 3 provided evidence that such effects emerged because invisible support was also associated with greater satisfaction with partners' helpful behaviors (e.g., household chores) and relationship interactions (e.g., time spent together) on the next day. These studies demonstrate the importance of assessing different temporal effects associated with support acts (which may otherwise go undetected) and provide the first evidence that invisible support enhances relationship satisfaction but does so across days. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Emotional suppression and expression both occur frequently in daily social interactions, yet research examining these emotion regulation processes simultaneously in naturalistic contexts remains limited. Although theory and research tend to reflect an implicit assumption that suppression and expression represent opposite sides of the same construct, they are likely to occur independently and exert different influences on intrapersonal and interpersonal experiences. In 4 experience-sampling and longitudinal studies, we assessed the personal and interpersonal consequences of daily emotional suppression and expression within romantic and close relationships. Mixed-model analyses revealed that suppression and expression consistently predicted independent and distinct outcomes across the studies. When individuals suppressed their emotions, they experienced more intrapersonal costs such as greater depressed mood, greater fatigue, lower self-esteem, and lower life satisfaction. Interpersonally, they also felt less acceptance from others, more distancing by others, and less relationship satisfaction. Greater suppression in daily life also predicted increases in depressive symptoms and reductions in relationship satisfaction 3 months later. In contrast, when individuals were more emotionally expressive during daily interactions, they experienced interpersonal benefits such as greater acceptance from others, greater relatedness and relationship satisfaction, and less distancing by others. Greater emotional expression in daily life also predicted increases in self-esteem and relationship satisfaction across time. Meta-analyses of the 4 studies confirmed the reliability and significance of these relationships; |r's| = .12-.33. These studies demonstrate that suppression and expression are distinct processes used to manage emotions within social relationships and operate differently in shaping personal well-being and relationship functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).)

Although forgiveness can have numerous benefits, it can also have a notable cost-forgiveness can allow transgressors to continue behaving in ways that can be hurtful (McNulty, 2010, 2011). Accordingly, two studies tested the prediction that the implications of forgiveness for whether the partner transgresses or fails to behave benevolently depend on whether forgivers regulate partners away from future transgressions and toward benevolent behaviors. Study 1 was an experimental study of emerging adult couples in which participants were (a) asked to report their partners' tendencies to engage in partner-regulation behaviors, (b) led to believe their partners were either forgiving or unforgiving, and (c) given the opportunity to transgress against their partners. Study 2 was a longitudinal study of newlywed couples in which participants were (a) asked to report their tendencies to forgive their partners, (b) observed during problem-solving discussions, and then (c) asked to report their satisfaction with their partners' considerateness every 6 months for 4 years. Both studies provided evidence that direct oppositional partner-regulation behaviors moderate the implications of forgiveness for partner behavior. Among intimates who demanded more change, forgiveness was associated with the partner transgressing less (Study 1) and compromising more (Study 2), as well as participants being more satisfied with their partners' considerateness over time (Study 2); among intimates who demanded less change, forgiveness was associated with these outcomes in the opposite direction. These findings suggest that supplementing forgiveness with partner-regulation behaviors can help nondistressed couples avoid the undesirable outcomes and maximize desirable outcomes associated with forgiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).)

We propose the Attachment Security Enhancement Model (ASEM) to suggest how romantic relationships can promote chronic attachment security. One part of the ASEM examines partner responses that protect relationships from the erosive effects of immediate insecurity, but such responses may not necessarily address underlying insecurities in a person's mental models. Therefore, a second part of the ASEM examines relationship situations that foster more secure mental models. Both parts may work in tandem. We posit that attachment anxiety should decline most in situations that foster greater personal confidence and more secure mental models of the self. In contrast, attachment avoidance should decline most in situations that involve positive dependence and foster more secure models of close others. The ASEM integrates research and theory, suggests novel directions for future research, and has practical implications, all of which center on the idea that adult attachment orientations are an emergent property of close relationships.

Two studies examined whether concerns of relational value interfere with the ability of individuals higher in attachment anxiety to provide responsive support to their partner. In both studies, heterosexual couples engaged in 2 video-recorded discussions about each other's most important personal goal. Support recipients (the person whose goal was discussed) reported on how distressed they felt during the discussion. Support providers (the partner who was in the position to provide support) reported on how valued and appreciated they felt during the discussion. Independent observers coded the degree to which support providers exhibited critical and derogating behaviors versus warmth and understanding during the discussion. The results were consistent across both studies, with the exception that the predicted effects only emerged for male providers in Study 2. First, more anxious support providers felt less valued and appreciated when support recipients reported greater distress. Second, lower feelings of value/appreciation were associated with more anxious providers exhibiting greater negative support behavior. These results illustrate how the concerns of relational value central to attachment anxiety impede effective support provision, which should have detrimental effects for relationships. Indeed, consistent with prior research, greater negative behaviors by support providers predicted declines in recipients' relationship quality over time. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).)

When does power in intimate relationships shape important interpersonal behaviors, such as psychological aggression? Five studies tested whether possessing low relationship power was associated with aggressive responses, but (a) only within power-relevant relationship interactions when situational power was low, and (b) only by men because masculinity (but not femininity) involves the possession and demonstration of power. In Studies 1 and 2, men lower in relationship power exhibited greater aggressive communication during couples' observed conflict discussions, but only when they experienced low situational power because they were unable to influence their partner. In Study 3, men lower in relationship power reported greater daily aggressive responses toward their partner, but only on days when they experienced low situational power because they were either (a) unable to influence their partner or (b) dependent on their partner for support. In Study 4, men who possessed lower relationship power exhibited greater aggressive responses during couples' support-relevant discussions, but only when they had low situational power because they needed high levels of support. Study 5 provided evidence for the theoretical mechanism underlying men's aggressive responses to low relationship power. Men who possessed lower relationship power felt less manly on days they faced low situational power because their partner was unwilling to change to resolve relationship problems, which in turn predicted greater aggressive behavior toward their partner. These results demonstrate that fully understanding when and why power is associated with interpersonal behavior requires differentiating between relationship and situational power. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).)

Strain tests are unique contexts that have important implications for relationships, but they have rarely been studied in social interactions. We investigate how more avoidant individuals (responders) react when their romantic partners (askers) request cooperation with an important plan/goal that requires a major sacrifice from responders. As predicted, more avoidant responders were less accommodating when asked to sacrifice and showed drops in trust and commitment following the strain test discussion. However, certain asker behaviors-expressing confidence that the responding partner will facilitate the request, and acknowledging their sacrifices in doing so-led more avoidant responders to react more positively during and after the strain test discussions. Showing responsiveness, another positive asker behavior, promoted growth in trust and commitment, but it did not help more avoidant responders react more positively to the asker's goal. Blending key principles of interdependence and attachment theory, this is the first behavioral observation study to identify the specific partner behaviors that help highly avoidant people respond constructively in strain test situations and to suggest how avoidant partners can become more trusting and committed in their romantic relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).)

Benevolent sexism prescribes that men are dependent on women in relationships and should cherish their partners. The current research examined whether perceiving male partners to endorse benevolent sexism attenuates highly anxious women's negative reactions to relationship conflict. Greater attachment anxiety was associated with greater distress and insecurity during couples' conflict discussions (Study 1), during daily conflict with intimate partners (Study 2), and when recalling experiences of relationship conflict (Study 3). However, this heightened distress and insecurity was attenuated when women (but not men) perceived their partner to strongly endorse benevolent sexism (Studies 1-3) and thus believed their partner could be relied upon to remain invested (Study 3B). These novel results illustrate that perceiving partners to endorse benevolent sexism alleviates anxious women's insecure reactions to relationship threat by conveying partner's continued reliability. Implications of these security-enhancing effects are considered in light of the role benevolent sexism plays in sustaining gender inequality., (© 2016 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.)

The interpersonal consequences of reassurance seeking may depend on who is seeking reassurance. This research examined whether greater reassurance seeking during couples' support-relevant discussions was associated with greater partner support when enacted by more avoidant individuals who typically minimize dependence in their relationships. Three dyadic studies (N= 246 couples) demonstrated that the interpersonal effects of reassurance seeking were moderated by attachment avoidance. Greater reassurance seeking repaired the lack of closeness thatpartnersof highly avoidant individuals typically feel (Study 3), and these partners, in turn, provided more support across studies. In contrast, greater reassurance seeking by less avoidant individuals was associated withpartnersfeeling less close (Study 3), but was not associated with partners' support across studies. These results provide the first evidence that reassurance seeking during support-relevant interactions can repair distance and facilitate support, but these positive interpersonal effects occur when reassurance seekers are high in attachment avoidance., (© 2016 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.)

The current research demonstrated that women's adoption of benevolent sexism is influenced by their perceptions of their intimate partners' agreement with benevolent sexism. In 2 dyadic longitudinal studies, committed heterosexual couples reported on their own sexism and perceptions of their partner's sexism twice across 9 months (Study 1) and 5 times across 1 year (Study 2). Women who perceived that their male partner more strongly endorsed benevolent sexism held greater and more stable benevolent sexism across time, whereas lower perceptions of partners' benevolent sexism predicted declines in women's benevolent sexism across time. Changes in men's endorsement of sexism were unrelated to perceptions of their partner's sexist attitudes. The naturalistic change in sexist attitudes shown in Studies 1 and 2 was supported by experimental evidence in Studies 3 and 4: Manipulations designed to increase perceptions of partner's benevolent sexism led women (but not men) to report greater benevolent sexism. Studies 3 and 4 also provided evidence that perceptions of partner's benevolent sexism fosters perceived regard and relationship security in women, but not men, and these relationship factors enhance attitude alignment. Discriminant analyses demonstrated that these effects were specific to women's perceptions of partner's, rather than societal, levels of sexism. In sum, these studies illustrate that women endorse benevolent sexism when they perceive that the reverence and security that benevolent sexism promises women are accessible in their relationships., ((c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).)

The current research demonstrates how benevolent sexism functions to undermine women's competence while facilitating men's access to heterosexual intimacy by prompting different support behaviors by men and women. Objective coders rated the support provision exhibited during heterosexual couples' (N = 100) video-recorded discussions of each other's personal goals. Men who endorsed benevolent sexism provided more dependency-oriented support, including directly providing plans and solutions and neglecting the recipient's own abilities, which led to their female partners feeling less competent and less positively regarded. In contrast, women who endorsed benevolent sexism provided greater relationship-oriented support, characterized by affection and emphasizing the positive relationship outcomes associated with their partner's goals, which led their male partners to perceive greater regard and intimacy in their relationship. This study is the first to investigate how benevolent sexism prompts naturalistic support behaviors that can impede women's capacity for independent success while supporting the fulfillment of men's intimacy needs., (© 2015 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.)

In the current research, we tested the extent to which attachment insecurity produces inaccurate and biased perceptions of intimate partners' emotions and whether more negative perceptions of partners' emotions elicit the damaging behavior often associated with attachment insecurity. Perceptions of partners' emotions as well as partners' actual emotions were assessed multiple times in couples' conflict discussions (Study 1) and daily during a 3-week period in 2 independent samples (Study 2). Using partners' reports of their own emotional experiences as the accuracy benchmark, we simultaneously tested whether attachment insecurity was associated with the degree to which individuals (a) accurately detected shifts in their partners' negative emotions (tracking accuracy), and (b) perceived their partners were feeling more negative relationship-related emotions than they actually experienced (directional bias). Highly avoidant perceivers were equally accurate at tracking their partners' changing emotions compared to less avoidant individuals (tracking accuracy), but they overestimated the intensity of their partners' negative emotions to a greater extent than less avoidant individuals (directional bias). In addition, more negative perceptions of partners' emotions triggered more hostile and defensive behavior in highly avoidant perceivers both during conflict discussions (Study 1) and in daily life (Study 2). In contrast, attachment anxiety was not associated with tracking accuracy, directional bias, or hostile reactions to perceptions of their partners' negative emotions. These findings demonstrate the importance of assessing biased perceptions in actual relationship interactions and reveal that biased perceptions play an important role in activating the defenses of avoidantly attached people., ((c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).)

People high in attachment avoidance typically respond more negatively to partner support, but some research suggests they can be calmed by high levels of practical support. In the present research, we attempted to reconcile these inconsistencies by modeling curvilinear associations between romantic partners' support and support recipients' outcomes and testing whether these curvilinear associations were moderated by recipients' degree of attachment avoidance. We examined the effect of partner support during support-relevant discussions (Studies 1-3) and in daily life (Study 4) on support recipients' distress (Studies 1-4), self-efficacy (Studies 2 and 3), perceived partner control/criticism (Studies 2 and 4), and distancing from the partner (Study 4). The results and a meta-analysis across all four studies (N = 298 couples) demonstrated that the curvilinear effect of practical support on recipients' outcomes was moderated by attachment avoidance. Highly avoidant recipients exhibited more negative responses as their partner provided them low-to-moderate levels of practical support, including increasing distress, perceived partner control/criticism and distancing, and decreasing self-efficacy. However, as partners' practical support shifted from moderate to high levels, highly avoidant recipients experienced more positive outcomes, including decreasing distress, perceived partner control/criticism and distancing, and increasing self-efficacy. Less avoidant individuals were resilient and experienced better outcomes regardless of the level of partner support they received. These results demonstrate the utility of curvilinear models in reconciling the costs and benefits of support, and indicate that high levels of practical support can overcome the defenses of highly avoidant individuals by offering undeniable evidence of the partner's availability., (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.)

Engaging in emotional suppression typically has negative consequences. However, relatively little is known about response-focused emotion regulation processes in dyadic interactions. We hypothesized that interacting with suppressive partners would be more threatening than interacting with expressive partners. To test predictions, two participants independently watched a negatively-valenced video and then discussed their emotional responses. One participant (the regulator) was assigned to express/suppress affective signals during the interaction. Their partner was given no special instructions prior to the interaction. Engaging in suppression versus expression elicited physiological responses consistent with threat-sympathetic arousal and increased vasoconstriction-in anticipation of and during dyadic interactions. Partners of emotional suppressors also exhibited more threat responses during the interaction, but not before, compared to partners of emotional expressors. Partner and interaction appraisals mirrored physiological findings. Emotional suppressors found the task more uncomfortable and intense while their partners reported them as being poor communicators. This work broadens our understanding of connections between emotion regulation, physiological responses, and cognitive processes in dyads., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The current research tested whether individuals high in attachment anxiety react to relationship threats in ways that can help them feel secure and satisfied in their relationship. Individuals higher in attachment anxiety experienced greater hurt feelings on days they faced partner criticism or conflict (Study 1) and during observed conflict discussions (Study 2). These pronounced hurt feelings triggered exaggerated expressions of hurt to induce guilt in the partner. Partners perceived the hurt feelings of more anxious individuals to be more intense than low anxious individuals' hurt and, in turn, experienced greater levels of guilt (Study 1). More anxious individuals were also rated by objective coders as exhibiting more guilt-induction strategies during conflict, which led to increases in partner guilt (Study 2). Moreover, partner guilt helped anxious individuals maintain more positive relationship evaluations. Although greater partner guilt had detrimental effects for individuals low in anxiety, more anxious individuals experienced more stable perceptions of their partner's commitment and more positive relationship evaluations when their partner felt more guilt. Unfortunately, these benefits were accompanied by significant declines in the partner's relationship satisfaction. These results illustrate that anxious reactions to threat are not uniformly destructive; instead, the reassuring emotions their reactions induce in relationship partners help anxious individuals feel satisfied and secure in their partner's commitment., (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved)

Hostile sexism (HS) expresses attitudes that characterize women who challenge men's power as manipulative and subversive. Does endorsing HS negatively bias perceptions of women's behavior and, in turn, create animosity within intimate relationships? Committed heterosexual couples reported on their own behavior and perceptions of their partner's behavior five times across a year (Study 1) and daily for 3 weeks (Study 2). Men who more strongly endorsed HS perceived their partner's behavior as more negative than was justified by their partner's reports. Furthermore, more negative perceptions of the partner's behavior mediated the links between men's HS and feeling more manipulated by their partners, behaving more negatively toward their partners, and lower relationship quality. This indicates that men who endorse HS behave more negatively toward intimate partners and experience lower relationship satisfaction because their antagonistic attitudes toward women in general permeate the way they perceive those partners.

Sixty-one couples engaged in two video-recorded discussions in which one partner (the support recipient) discussed a personal goal with the other partner (the support provider). The support provider's visible and invisible support behaviors were coded by independent raters. Measures of perceived support, discussion success, and support recipients' distress during the discussion were gathered. Recipients also reported their goal achievement at 3-month intervals over the following year. Greater visible emotional support was associated with greater perceived support and discussion success for highly distressed recipients, but it was costly for nondistressed recipients who reported lower discussion success. In contrast, greater invisible emotional support was not associated with perceived support or discussion success, but it predicted greater goal achievement across time. These results advance our current understanding of support processes by indicating that the costs and benefits of visible support hinge on recipients' needs, whereas invisible support shapes recipients' long-term goal achievement.

Guided by the ideal standards model (Simpson, Fletcher, & Campbell, 2001), we tested in 2 studies whether (a) individuals were accurate when inferring how closely they matched their romantic partner's ideal standards, (b) such accurate inferences explained why people are more satisfied when they more closely match their partner's ideals, and (c) accurate inferences are generated via the partner's behavior during conflict interactions. Both members of dating and/or married couples were recruited for each study. In both studies, people's inferences into how closely they matched their partner's ideals were based on a blend of accuracy and projection processes. Individuals were also less satisfied when they failed to match their partner's ideal standards (as rated by their partner), and, as predicted, this effect was mediated by people's accurate inferences regarding how closely they matched their partner's ideals. In Study 2, spouses were also video-recorded while they attempted to resolve an important marital conflict. As predicted, Partner A's prediscussion ideal discrepancies predicted pre- to postdiscussion changes in Partner B's inferences, and this effect was partly mediated by the observed interpersonal behaviors of Partner A. Results from these dyadic data analyses suggest that people do have accurate insight into the extent to which they match their partner's ideal standards, and these inferences are generated, in part, by the way the partner behaves toward the self during diagnostic conflict interactions.

Are depressive symptoms associated with more biased or more accurate interpersonal perceptions? Both members of committed heterosexual couples (N = 78) reported on their perceptions of their partner's commitment and behavior daily across a 3-week period. Using the partner's reports as the benchmark, participants who reported more depressive symptoms not only underestimated their partner's commitment and overestimated their partner's negative behavior (greater directional bias) but were also more accurate in tracking changes in their partner's commitment and behavior across days (greater tracking accuracy). More negative perceptions of the partner's commitment and behavior was also associated with increases in relationship insecurity and depressed mood, particularly when the partner also reported lower commitment and more negative behavior. These results indicate that depressive symptoms are associated with both more accurate and more biased interpersonal perceptions and suggest that more accurate detection and more biased magnification of interpersonal threat has important implications for the maintenance of depressed mood.

This study examined whether partners can soften the defenses associated with attachment-related avoidance. Heterosexual couples (N = 180) were video-recorded having 2 discussions in which 1 partner (the agent of influence) wanted the other partner (the target of influence) to change in some way. After rating how successful the discussion was in producing change, agents and targets reviewed their discussions. At the end of every 30 s of the interaction, they reported how angry they were during that portion of the discussion. For each 30-s interval, objective coders rated the extent to which targets of influence exhibited withdrawal and agents of influence (partners) softened their influence by being sensitive to targets' autonomy needs and by conveying that targets were valued. As predicted, avoidant targets showed greater anger and withdrawal when they were the target of their partner's influence, and these defensive reactions were associated with less successful discussions. However, analyzing within-person changes in emotions and behavior across the discussion revealed that avoidant targets' anger and withdrawal were attenuated at points during the discussion when their partners exhibited higher levels of softening communication. Between-person analyses comparing average levels of anger and partner softening across dyads also revealed that avoidant targets whose partners engaged in more softening experienced less anger and, in turn, couples' discussions were more successful. These results highlight the importance of dyadic processes in understanding the impact of attachment insecurity on relationships, and indicate that partners can buffer avoidant defenses by down-regulating anger and circumventing withdrawal during conflict discussions., (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved)

This research compared the experiences and consequences of hurt feelings and anger in 3 retrospective studies (Studies 1a, 1b, and 2), a dyadic daily diary study (Study 3), and a dyadic behavioral observation study (Study 4). Although victims felt both hurt and angry in response to perpetrators' behaviors that signaled relational devaluation (Studies 1-4), hurt and anger differed in terms of victims' subjective experiences and behaviors, perpetrators' responses, and relationship consequences. Hurt was characterized by the experience of commitment, dependence, and vulnerability; goals to restore the perpetrator's acceptance; and constructive behavior. Moreover, victims' hurt was associated with perpetrators evaluating victims and victims' commitment more positively, with perpetrators' feelings of guilt and empathy and with perpetrators' constructive responses. Hurt also had positive consequences for relationships. In contrast, victims' anger was generally independent of commitment and characterized by the experience of control, invulnerability, and low dependence; goals to change perpetrators' behavior; and victims' destructive behavior. Furthermore, victims' anger was associated with perpetrators perceiving victims to be less committed and elicited reciprocated anger and destructive behaviors from perpetrators. These findings suggest that despite relational devaluation being a cause of both hurt and anger, these feelings have distinct social functions. Hurt reflects a desire to maintain interpersonal connection and repair relationships, which will often successfully elicit repair attempts by perpetrators, whereas anger reflects a desire to control others via antagonistic destructive behaviors, which exacerbate interpersonal difficulties., ((PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).)

Heterosexual couples (N = 57) discussed features about each other they wanted to change. During a review of their recorded discussions, for each 30 s of interaction, perceivers provided judgments of their partner's regard, and partners reported their actual regard for the perceiver. The authors simultaneously assessed the extent to which perceivers' over- or underestimated their partner's regard (mean-level bias) and tracked their partner's changing regard across the discussion (tracking accuracy). Perceivers on average tended to underestimate their partner's regard (negative mean-level bias) but exhibited substantial tracking accuracy. Bias and accuracy were related; perceivers that were more negatively biased more accurately tracked changes in their partner's regard. Women who were more insecure about their partner's continued regard demonstrated more negative mean-level bias and greater tracking accuracy, whereas more secure women demonstrated more positive bias and lower accuracy. The results indicate that bias and accuracy are shaped by context-relevant goals and motives.

This study tested whether men's and women's hostile sexism (HS) and benevolent sexism (BS) were associated with resistance to influence in couples' conflict interactions. Ninety-one heterosexual couples were recorded while trying to produce desired changes in each other. Participants reviewed their discussions and rated how open they were to their partner's perspective. Objective coders also rated the extent to which each partner exhibited hostile communication. We tested key principles arising from ambivalent sexism theory (Glick & Fiske, 1996). First, BS is necessary because mutual interdependence reduces the power of HS to influence women within intimate relationships. We found that the more men endorsed HS, the less open and more hostile both partners were, and the less successful their discussions were in producing desired change. Second, BS reduces the threat of women's dyadic power by revering and respecting women's interpersonal roles while restricting women's influence outside the relationship domain. We found that men who expressed higher agreement with BS were more open to their partners' influence and behaved with less hostility, and their discussions were more successful. These relationship benefits illustrate why BS is effective at disarming women's resistance to wider inequalities. These benefits, however, were contingent on men adopting BS attitudes. When women strongly endorsed BS but their male partner did not, women were less open, behaved with greater hostility, and perceived their discussions as less successful. These results indicate that, because BS increases the stakes within the relationship domain, women who endorse BS will react more negatively when their expectations are not realized.

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.

This diary study examined situational dependence within daily interactions with family members and close friends over a 2-week period. Experiencing low personal control (high situational dependence) when interacting with family members and friends was associated with lower perceived regard and intimacy. Participants generally regulated felt dependence by derogating and withdrawing from their interaction partner (self-protective dependence regulation) and exhibiting lower levels of positive behavior, such as expressing thoughts and feelings or trying to improve the interaction (relationship-promotive dependence regulation). Furthermore, higher rejection sensitivity (but not low self-esteem) was associated with more negative evaluations of perceived regard and intimacy, greater self-protective dependence regulation, and lower relationship-promotive dependence regulation within low control interactions. These results identify dependence as a key element of rejection risk contexts and support the situation-specific nature of rejection sensitivity.

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 research investigated the consistency between partner perceptions and ideal standards (ideal-perception consistency) and the partner regulation attempts of 200 individuals involved in relationships (Study 1) and 62 heterosexual couples (Study 2). As predicted, greater regulation attempts were associated with lower ideal-perception consistency, and these links operated within 3 pivotal mate-evaluation dimensions and were moderated by perceived regulation success. Ideal-perception consistency also mediated the relation between partner regulation and relationship quality, and cross-lagged analyses suggested that ideal consistency and regulation influenced each other over time. Finally, stronger partner regulation was generally associated with more negative self-evaluations and more self-regulation by the targeted partner. These novel results support and extend the Ideal Standards Model (J. A. Simpson, G. J. O. Fletcher, & L. Campbell, 2001)., (2006 APA, all rights reserved)

This study compared three models of how attachment working models might be cognitively represented. Model 1 posits that attachment representations consist of a single global working model summarizing attachment across specific relationships and domains. Model 2 proposes three independent working models for the relationship domains of family, platonic friendships, and romantic partners. Model 3 postulates that specific relationship models are nested under relationship domain representations that are, in turn, nested under an overarching global working model. Participants completed standard attachment scales for the relationship domains of family, platonic friendships, and romantic partners and also provided attachment ratings for three specific relationships within each domain. As expected, confirmatory factor analyses showed that Model 3 attained the best fit, regardless of analysis strategy, measurement strategy, gender, and relationship status. Implications are discussed.

The COVID‐19 pandemic produced multiple stressors that risk relationship conflict and dissatisfaction. We extended prior studies that yielded inconsistent effects of the pandemic on relationships by using propensity score matching to (1) compare levels of relationship conflict and satisfaction during the pandemic (pandemic group; N = 7268) to similar people immediately before the pandemic (matched control group; N = 7268), and (2) compare pandemic groups facing different types of restrictions, beginning with lockdowns involving household isolation to returning to normal life. Results reveal that relationship conflict increased and relationship satisfaction decreased in response to the pandemic, but these effects were very small and primarily occurred in the initial stages of the pandemic when lockdown involved household isolation. The results add to evidence of resilience in personal and relationship well‐being in 2020, but also indicate the importance of understanding the effects of varying pandemic‐related conditions across the years of the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-disclosure builds high quality relationships, but knowledge of self-disclosure in youth mentoring relationships is limited by a lack of research and reliance on self-reports. To demonstrate the value of observational methods and dyadic modeling of mentoring communication processes, this study examined the associations between behavioral observation of self-disclosure and self-reported relationship quality in 49 mentee-mentor dyads (mentees: 73.5% female; x̄ age = 16.2, range = 12–19; mentors: 69.4% female; x̄ age = 36.2, range = 19–59). Video-recorded observations of disclosure were coded on three dimensions: amount (number of topics and detail of disclosure), intimacy (disclosure of personal or sensitive information), and openness (willingness to disclose). More intimate mentor disclosure was associated with higher mentee relationship quality, whereas higher amount of mentor disclosure combined with low intimacy was associated with lower mentee relationship quality. Greater mentee openness correlated with higher mentor relationship quality, but more intimate mentee disclosures were associated with lower mentee relationship quality. These preliminary findings illustrate the potential of methods that enable in-depth investigation of dyadic processes to advance understanding of how behavioral processes may influence mentoring relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do people use ideal standards to evaluate and regulate their best friends? The current research examines whether the Ideal Standards Model captures dynamics in friendships, and what role attachment orientations play in these dynamics. Greater discrepancies between perceptions of best friends and ideal standards (low ideal-perception consistency) on the warmth/trustworthiness (Studies 1–3) and status/resources (Study 2) dimensions were associated with greater regulation attempts of best friends on these dimensions. Low ideal-perception consistency on the attractiveness/vitality dimension was not associated with regulation on this dimension (Study 2). Additionally, all studies illustrated that attachment avoidance was associated with lower ideal-perception consistency and, in turn, greater regulation attempts. By contrast, attachment anxiety was associated with higher regulation attempts of best friends, not because of lower ideal-perception consistency, but because of greater relationship maintenance motivations (Study 2) and an acute sensitivity to daily reductions in ideal-perception consistency (Study 3). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite being a defining issue in the culture war, the political psychology of abortion attitudes remains poorly understood. We address this oversight by reviewing existing literature and integrating new analyses of several large‐scale, cross‐sectional, and longitudinal datasets to identify the demographic and ideological correlates of abortion attitudes. Our review and new analyses indicate that abortion support is increasing modestly over time in both the United States and New Zealand. We also find that a plurality of respondents (43.8%) in the United States are consistently "pro‐choice," whereas 14.8% are consistently "pro‐life," across various elective and traumatic abortion scenarios. We then show that age, religiosity, and conservatism correlate negatively, whereas Openness to Experience correlates positively, with abortion support. New analyses of heterosexual couples further reveal that women's and men's religiosity decrease their romantic partner's abortion support. Noting inconsistent gender differences in attitudes toward abortion, we then discuss the impact of traditional gender‐role attitudes and sexism on abortion attitudes and conclude that, rather than misogyny, benevolent sexism—the belief that women should be cherished and protected—best explains opposition to abortion. Our review thus provides a comprehensive overview of the demographic and ideological variables that underly abortion attitudes and, hence, the broader culture war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relationship processes often involve fluctuating, variable, or tumultuous dynamics. Yet, close relationship models have traditionally focused on linear processes. The purpose of this Journal of Social and Personal Relationships special issue is to provide examples of how modeling nonlinear effects and dynamics can: (I) test nonlinear theoretical assumptions, (II) reconcile inconsistencies and reveal novel effects, (III) detect dynamic shifts in core relationship constructs, and (IV) capture temporal and spatial synchrony between partners within dyads. By showcasing a variety of nonlinear applications, we hope to encourage close relationship scholars to utilize similar nonlinear methods in order to advance relationship science by discovering common and important, but currently under-examined, relationship processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]