Interpersona (E-Journal - PsychOpen)
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321 research outputs found
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Extending the Theory of Resilience and Relational Load Into Polyamorous Relationships
No full textThis article, framed through the theory of resilience and relational load (TRRL) investigated the effects of relational maintenance behaviors in polyamorous relationships. Specifically, it hypothesized that repeated use of prosocial maintenance behaviors would demonstrate relational investment and act as moderators for the effect of identity gaps, or feelings of discrepancy between aspects of one’s identity, on relational satisfaction and resilience. With a few exceptions, findings largely support the predictions of TRRL. Social networks, advice, positivity, openness, and shared tasks moderate the effects of personal-enacted identity gaps on relational satisfaction. Advice, social networks, and openness moderate the effects of personal-relational identity gaps on resilience. Allowing control, destructive conflict, and jealousy induction moderate the effects of personal-enacted identity gaps on relational satisfaction. Only spying of the negative maintenance behaviors moderates the effects of personal-relational identity gaps on relational satisfaction. For the most part, as predicted, positive relational maintenance behaviors appear to weaken, and antisocial maintenance behaviors strengthen, the negative association between identity gaps and relational satisfaction and resilience. Implications and limitations are discussed
Psychometric Properties of the Satisfaction With Love Life Among Palestinian College Students
No full textThe main goal of this investigation is to examine the psychometric characteristics of the Satisfaction with Love Life Scale (SWLLS) among Palestinian college students. This scale assesses a person’s global evaluation of love satisfaction. The factorial structure, the reliability, and validity of this measure were examined. The sample included 201 college students aged 18-26 years. Confirmatory factor analysis of the SWLLS confirmed a single underlying dimension among Palestinian college students. The SWLLS evidenced satisfactory psychometric properties, with good internal consistency. Furthermore, corroboration of validity was also evidenced by means of the relationships between SWLLS score, and love status, love styles and well-being constructs. As expected, students “in love now” declared more satisfaction with love life than those “not in love now”. Erotic, pragmatic, and agapic orientations correlated significantly with the SWLLS scores. There were also significant positive correlations between the scores of the SWLLS and life satisfaction, and self-esteem. Significant negative correlations were observed between the scores of the SWLLS and loneliness. The results showed that satisfaction with love life contributes significantly and in an unique way to loneliness and self-esteem, even after controlling for participants’ sex and age. The findings of the current study suggest that the Arabic version of the SWLLS makes up a brief psychometrically sound instrument to assess love life satisfaction
Attachment and Intrasexual Competitiveness in Committed Individuals From Chile
No full textThe present research examined the association between intrasexual competitiveness (as an adaptive feature of human mating) and adult attachment dimensions (which develop throughout ontogeny and are relatively stable patterns of relationship approaching in adulthood), postulating that the dimensions of attachment will be predictive of intrasexual competitiveness (the negative perception of same sex-others as potential mating rivals), but in particular attachment anxiety should be correlated to intrasexual competitiveness. We assessed intrasexual competitiveness and the attachment dimensions (closeness, dependence, anxiety, and avoidance) in a sample of 323 adult heterosexual men and women which were currently involved in a romantic relationship and were married or in a cohabiting living arrangement. The results show the expected prediction of intrasexual competitiveness by attachment anxiety, but not by any other adult attachment dimension, suggesting that individuals who develop attachment anxiety are characterized by increased same-sex rivalry and competitiveness, which may negatively affect their same-sex close relationships, in addition to other interpersonal realms
Perceptions of Infidelity: A Comparison of Sexual, Emotional, Cyber-, and Parasocial Behaviors
No full textPrevious research indicates that extradyadic sexual behaviors and other behaviors including emotional infidelity, pornography use, and online infidelity are considered to be acts of betrayal. However, perceptions of infidelity occurring through social media and of romantic parasocial relationships (one-sided romantic attachments formed with media figures) have not been well researched. In two exploratory studies, I examined a) the extent to which participants rated parasocial, sexual, emotional, and social media behaviors as infidelity, and b) how hurtful these behaviors would be if a partner were to enact them. I also examined how often participants reported having been negatively affected by their partner’s parasocial romances. Results indicate that activities such as sexting and sexy Snapchatting are perceived similarly to both cybersex and physical sexual infidelity, and that parasocial infidelity is seen similarly to pornography use. These similarities apply to whether the acts are seen as infidelity, and in terms of the emotional pain the acts may cause. These results indicate that extradyadic social media and parasocial behaviors can be negatively perceived, and may be likely to negatively affect real-life romantic relationships
Falling in Love and Passionate Love in an Iranian Sample
No full textRomantic relationships and passionate love are topics of perennial interest to scientists and the lay public alike. While there is evidence of romantic love across many cultures, with some suggesting it is a universal human experience, the majority of research has been conducted in Western countries (e.g., the U.S.). When other cultures have been researched, the focus has typically been on Eastern countries (e.g., Japan). Much less is known about love experiences in countries such as Iran. The current study sought to address this gap and assessed 220 Iranian students. Participants completed a set of measures (translated into Farsi) and reported both qualitatively and quantitatively about love experiences (e.g., narrative account of their most recent falling in love experience, ratings about their relationship if they were currently in one). The majority of participants reported having fallen in love, although this was a notably smaller proportion (55%) than seen in past research. Similarly, content-analysis of narratives revealed fewer instances of 12 common precursors to falling in love found in past samples, though Iranian participants did highly endorse precursors when explicitly asked about them. Those in a relationship reported passionate love and high levels of closeness to their partner. This study highlights the need for additional love research in under-studied cultures, including research that can elucidate whether these results are due to actual differences in experiences, differences in reporting norms, third variables, or some combination
A Phenomenology of ‘Blending in’: Beyond Emotional Regulation
No full textThe phenomenon of devaluing of self for adolescent girls has been highlighted in previous qualitative research in a US cultural context. Carol Gilligan and her colleagues have documented a loss of connection to self and loss of voice. ‘Blending in’ pertains to such a loss of connection and voice. ‘Blending in’ emerges from many aspects of 8 Irish females’ retrospective qualitative phenomenological accounts of their adolescent experiences. These features of blending in include: a dumbing down of intellectual ability in order to fit in, a desire to be hidden in the group to ‘fade into the background’, to not stand out as being different, fear of being labelled by others and fear of challenging others. Blending in gives phenomenological support to Gilligan’s (1990) accounts of silencing and loss of relation to self in adolescent girls, to a rendering of self as other. This phenomenological exploration is resonant also with de Beauvoir’s Second Sex and to a loss of capacity for introversion in Western culture, echoing Jung (1921). Blending in requires firmer addressing in social and emotional education (SEE), especially regarding challenge to self-management as emotional impulse and behaviour regulation. Self-management as blending in risks being a process of loss of voice and alienation of self
Marriage Is Like a Groundnut, You Must Crack It to See What Is Inside: Examining Romantic Relationship Rules in Akan Proverbs
No full textProverbs are a valuable part of African culture. They transmit messages of shared, communal values about different facets of life inter-generationally. In an exploration of one West-African ethnic group, the Akan, the present study investigates messages that proverbs communicate about interpersonal relationships. A total of 79 Akan proverbs that addressed romantic relationships were examined using thematic analysis. The main components of advocated values as captured in the proverbs were identified. The thematic analysis determined that Akan romantic relationships tend to lean towards a “work-it-out” approach as opposed to the “soul mate” approach typical of Western romantic relationship norms. Overall, this study demonstrates that analyzing cultural artifacts such as proverbs can teach us about cultural rules that define relationships
Reflecting on Parental Terminal Illness and Death During Adolescence: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis
No full textThere has been little consideration of how adolescents experience parental terminal illness (PTI) and death and any continuing impact it may have on their lives. In particular, limited attention has been given to this group’s perceptions and experiences of support during this period. This study explores the retrospective experiences of six individuals who had a parent diagnosed with a terminal illness (TI) during late adolescence. Their experiences are qualitatively explored in terms of their understanding, processing and adjustment to their parent’s TI and death; both as an individual, and in the context of their wider family and social setting. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was employed to analyse participant data. Participants were individuals who had a parent diagnosed with a terminal illness aged 16-18. Four superordinate themes emerged from the data. These were: changing family dynamics, grappling with adolescence and adjustment to loss, barriers to feeling/being supported and living with the consequences. Participants relate the profound impact that PTI during adolescence has had and continues to have on their lives. Study findings provide clinically useful information for healthcare professionals working with bereaved young people and those presently experiencing PTI. Implications are discussed in terms of service provision and design, including therapeutic recommendations for counselling psychologists and other professionals working with this group
Las Relaciones de Pareja en los Adolescentes de Cuenca: Su relación con el machismo/marianismo
No full textThe romantic relationships are socially constructed relationships, meaning that they are shaped by various social and cultural factors. While these relationships have been studied previously in adults, in recent decades it has highlighted the need to study them during adolescence, where it has become clear that present important specific features. However, most studies on the subject have been developed in Europe and North America but there’s a void with respect to the development of relationships in Latin American cultures. For this reason, the aim of the research was to know and analyze the experiences around to relationships that experience the young people of Cuenca, in order to understand how cultural elements may be shaping these relations. To do this, in-depth interviews were conducted to 20 adolescents between 15 to 17 years, from the city of Cuenca. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The results allowed knowing the fact that the relationships represent a great source of support for the young people, but in their development they execute dynamics of control and jealousy that are rather perceived as a kind of protection and care. Further, in the experiences of adolescents controlling behaviors are very frequent and naturalized in association of their ideas about romantic love
Reproductive Capability on Jealousy and the Allocation of Responsibility Following Infidelity
No full textSelective pressures throughout evolutionary history have caused the adaptation of sex-specific responses to dilemmas that are relevant for reproductive fitness. Sex differences in imagined jealousy due to infidelity are well documented, but past work does not consider the influence of reproductive capability (i.e., being fertile versus infertile) on responses. Relying on an online survey of 369 adults, we hypothesized that infidelities involving an infertile interloper lead to less jealousy than infidelities involving a fertile interloper. Further, for sexual infidelity, regardless of the interloper’s fertility, we hypothesized men would allocate the most responsibility to their partner and women would do so for the interloper, given women are assumed to behave with more intention. This hypothesis was partially supported; while men did allocate the most responsibility to their mate, so too did women, but women also blamed the interloper more than men. With regards to emotional infidelity, again independent of the interloper’s fertility, we hypothesized men will primarily hold their partner responsible. However, we hypothesized that when women will again consider the interloper responsible, but also their partner, due to concerns over fear of losing access to needed resources. This prediction was partially supported, as both sexes primarily hold their partner most responsible, and women held the interloper more accountable than did men. The findings shed light onto how individuals assess relationship threats and allocate responsibility, according to the reproductive capability.