Gender, Dependency and Guilt in Intimate Relationship Conflict Among Spanish Couples

Elucidating the Effect of Perceived Power on Destructive Responses during Romantic Conflicts

Prior research has indicated that the people one loves the most, such as their romantic partners, ironically, are also the people toward whom they often direct destructive behaviors in times of conflict, and such destructive responses become one of the most challenging relationship problems. Identifying the conditions that promote destructive (vs. constructive) conflict-resolution strategies is a crucial gap requiring study to help individuals build healthier and happier relationships. Across three studies (total N = 728), we examined whether (a) power is related to direct destructive (vs. constructive) responses during romantic conflicts; (b) this effect was moderated by the seriousness of the conflict and the relationship's inclusiveness. In Study 1, participants involved in romantic relationships completed scales assessing interpersonal power, the conflict's seriousness, their relationship's inclusiveness, and conflict-resolution responses. In Studies 2-3, the participants were randomly assigned to complete an essay in which the conflict's seriousness and power were experimentally manipulated. Findings from hierarchical regression analyses consistently showed that power led to destructive (and lower constructive) responses. However, this only occurred when the participants faced severe conflicts and their partner was not central to their self-concept. An internal meta-analysis of the studies confirmed the reliability and significance of these relationships; |r's| =.13-37. Together, these results support the proposition that power asymmetries can threaten relationships by driving destructive responses during romantic conflicts, and untangle the conditions under which this happens. The conflict's seriousness and the inclusiveness of the relationship may be considered to provide skills that help individuals navigate their relationships' life challenges.

Intimate partner violence: A novel warning system in which the victims' environment alerts to the danger

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) has become a problem of a great magnitude as it is a leading cause of death for women according to the World Health Organization. This paper presents a novel Early Warning System (EWS) for locating and protecting potential victims of IPV in which the victims' environment plays a central role. Specifically, based on Markov random fields, our EWS measures the danger through the perception that the victims' surroundings have. This new standpoint is of particular relevance since most of the IPV victims do not have a clear perception of the approaching danger. The EWS has been designed without geographical constrains to be appropriate for use in every country of the world (universal EWS). Importantly, it may be rewritten into computational terms thereby providing a real tool for police investigations. Connections with text mining and sentiment analysis may provide additional devices based on this model.

Gender and Conflict Resolution Strategies in Spanish Teen Couples: Their Relationship With Jealousy and Emotional Dependency

Previous research has pointed to the need to address the study of violence in teen couples. However, research has not delved into the study of the variables related to the different types of violence employed by boys and girls. The purpose of this study was to test whether gender, jealousy, and dependency predict specific strategies for conflict resolution (psychological aggression and mild physical aggression). Another objective of the study was to test gender differences in the conflict resolution strategies used by Spanish teen couples and to test the association between these variables and jealousy and emotional dependency. A sample of 296 adolescent high school students between 14 and 19 years of age of both genders from the south of Spain participated in this study. Hierarchical regression models were used to estimate the relationship between psychological aggression and mild physical aggression, and jealousy, and dependency. Results showed that jealousy correlated with psychological aggression and mild physical aggression in girls but not in boys. Psychological aggression and mild physical aggression were associated with dependency in boys. Girls scored higher in psychological aggression and jealousy than did boys. Finally, the interaction between jealousy and dependency predicted psychological aggression only in girls. These results highlight the need to address the role of the interaction between dependence and jealousy in the types of violence employed in teen dating. However, it is necessary to delve into the gender differences and similarities to develop appropriate prevention programs.