The avoidance cocoon: Examining the interplay between attachment and caregiving in predicting relationship satisfaction

In Love With a Trauma Survivor: When a History of Childhood Abuse Interferes With Relationship Satisfaction Among Couples

To date, the majority of research examining the effect of childhood abuse on relational aspects in adulthood is almost exclusively based on intraindividual data. The current study explores a moderating-mediating model from a dyadic perspective, examining the mediating effect that perceived intimacy has on the associations between concern couple caregiving and relationship satisfaction. It further investigates whether these mediation paths are moderated by a history of childhood abuse (physical/emotional/sexual). A total of 143 nonclinical couples (n = 286) in enduring relationships were recruited. A moderated mediation actor-partner interdependence model (moderated mediation actor-partner interdependence model (APIM)) comprised of three segments, was conducted. Results indicated that intimacy mediated the link between concern caregiving and relationship satisfaction on the actor's level, with effects applying equally to both husbands and wives. A higher level of intimacy among husbands and wives alike is linked, in turn, with higher relationship satisfaction. The path between actors' concern caregiving and their level of intimacy was moderated by the actors' childhood emotional and physical abuse; specifically, concern caregiving exerts greater effect on intimacy among participants who experienced high levels of emotional abuse, or low levels of physical abuse. Our findings highlight how different types of childhood abuse affect adult romantic relationships differently.

Does group cohesion moderate associations between attachment, caregiving, and OCB?

This research focused on the role of group cohesion as moderating the psychological manifestations of attachment and caregiving in performing organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). Data were collected from 147 employees, who took part in a 9-week training course. Participants completed questionnaires assessing their attachment and caregiving dimensions as well as group cohesion. Participant OCB levels were assessed by their trainers at the end of the course. Anxious individuals tended to express higher levels of OCB-individual under high levels of group cohesion. However, compulsive caregivers tended to perform OCBI under low levels of group cohesion. The results highlight the contribution of Bowlby's relational perspective in work settings and the importance of contextual factors in predicting OCB.

Lay Beliefs About Romantic Relationships: A Mediator of the Effect of Family Dysfunction on Romantic Relationship Satisfaction

This paper tested why people differ with regard to whether they believe it is possible to find enduring love. Variations were assumed to be due to differences in people’s experiences. Those who experienced dysfunction in their family of origin and who did not have positive relationships role-modelled to them were expected to be less likely to have positive lay beliefs about romantic relationships. Positive lay beliefs, in turn, were hypothesised to impact on dysfunction in own romantic relationships later on in life, which were in turn expected to affect relationship satisfaction. In other words, positive lay beliefs were tested as one potential mechanism through which family dysfunction whilst growing up impacts on relationship dysfunction in later adult life. This paper presents a pilot study (N = 176) which introduces a measure for ‘positive lay beliefs about romantic relationships’, and finds this measure to be associated, as expected, with dysfunction in the family of origin. The main study (N = 435) then tested the full hypothesised model (family-of-origin dysfunction → positive lay beliefs → romantic relationship dysfunction → relationship satisfaction) with structural equation modelling, and found that the model fitted the data very well, confirming the hypotheses. It was concluded that lay beliefs about whether or not it is possible to find enduring love are an important mediator of the effects of family-of-origin dysfunction on later romantic relationship satisfaction.

Attachment and social support in romantic dyads: A systematic review

OBJECTIVE

Taking a dyadic perspective, this systematic review examined the relationship between attachment constructs and differences in support behavior in romantic couples.

METHOD

Four databases were searched including PsychINFO, Embase, OVOID MEDLINE, and AMED. Out of 2,401 unique references, 43 met the study inclusion criteria.

RESULTS

The review findings offer validation for an attachment-based model of support processes in couples. Maladaptive support behaviors were more likely to occur when one or both members of a romantic dyad had an insecure attachment. Individuals with an avoidant or anxious attachment were more likely to provide poor quality support, and when receiving support, to interpret it in a negative manner.

CONCLUSION

We recommend therapeutic interventions to help individuals with insecure attachments to follow more adaptive ways of support seeking, so social relationships are more able to offer a buffering effect against the development of mental health problems.

Dyadic adjustment in couples: How partners' social value within couple and emotional competences predict it

Knowing the determinants of couple adjustment is a challenge, both for predicting this adjustment and for helping couples in therapy in the best possible way. We based this study on the Person’s Social Value Theory (Beauvois, J.-L. [1976]. The topic of social conduct evaluation. Connexions, 19, 7-30) which postulates that two dimensions – social utility and social desirability – support self- and other- descriptions. This study aimed to evaluate the way the evaluation of own social value within couple and the evaluation of social value within couple of the partner influence the dyadic adjustment of the spouses. In addition, we took into account the duration of the couples and the emotional competences of the spouses (using the PEC). Participants were the spouses of 152 voluntary heterosexual couples who completed a booklet of questionnaires. The results showed that the two dimensions of person’s social value within couple influence partners' dyadic adjustment but in a different way for men and women and according to the duration of the couples’ relationship. Furthermore, the effect of social value within couple seems to cover partially the classic effect of emotional competences on couple experience and satisfaction. The discussion underlines the relevance and interest of using the social value within the couple in the study of conjugal relationships as well as in counselling couples.