Sexual Synchrony During Partnered Sex

There is growing interest in understanding how sexual arousal unfolds between partners, and how this may change over the course of a relationship and in the face of sexual distress. To capture the variable, dynamic, and dyadic nature of sexual responding, this paper introduces the concept of sexual synchrony, defined as the temporal, reciprocal, and coordinated interchange between partners' subjective and genital sexual arousal. Sexual synchrony is a key mechanism for understanding how partners experience and adapt their sexual arousal responses as they evolve over time. Its relevance lies in examining the mechanisms that may disrupt and facilitate synchrony and exploring how it may contribute to sexual well-being by enabling partners to mutually regulate their sexual arousal within and across sexual interactions. The paper also discusses how sexual synchrony may evolve throughout relationship development and its potential role in sexual problems, offering valuable insights into improving sexual relationships. Suggestions are provided for future research, together with a discussion of the methodological and statistical issues involved when examining sexual dynamics. Understanding how partners jointly regulate their sexual responses allows the development of dyadic models of sexual arousal which will inform treatments for improving couples' (sexual) well-being. The study of sexual synchrony also exemplifies the importance of translational research that is relevant across disciplinary borders.

An Integrative Framework for Capturing Emotion and Emotion Regulation in Daily Life

When studying emotion and emotion regulation, typical approaches focus on intrapersonal processes. Although this emphasis clarifies what transpires within a person, it does not capture that much of emotional experience and regulation occurs between people. In this commentary, we highlight how the Cognitive-Affective Processing System (CAPS) approach-originally developed by Mischel and Shoda and extended to dyadic interactions by Zayas, Shoda, and Ayduk-can provide a unifying framework for understanding the complexity of everyday affective experiences. We discuss how this framework can be fruitfully applied to the study of emotion and emotion regulation broadly, and particularly to interpersonal emotion regulation, by considering both the mediating psychological processes within individuals, as well as the behavioral processes that transpire between individuals. To illustrate these points, we discuss some of the thought-provoking work in the special double issue on the Future of Affective Science edited by Shiota et al. (2023), and we offer forward-thinking suggestions and propose future research directions informed by the CAPS approach. By employing the CAPS framework, we can better capture the complexity of everyday affective experiences and synthesize the growing body of research in affective science.

Multilevel Latent Differential Structural Equation Model with Short Time Series and Time-Varying Covariates: A Comparison of Frequentist and Bayesian Estimators

Continuous-time modeling using differential equations is a promising technique to model change processes with longitudinal data. Among ways to fit this model, the Latent Differential Structural Equation Modeling (LDSEM) approach defines latent derivative variables within a structural equation modeling (SEM) framework, thereby allowing researchers to leverage advantages of the SEM framework for model building, estimation, inference, and comparison purposes. Still, a few issues remain unresolved, including performance of multilevel variations of the LDSEM under short time lengths (e.g., 14 time points), particularly when coupled multivariate processes and time-varying covariates are involved. Additionally, the possibility of using Bayesian estimation to facilitate the estimation of multilevel LDSEM (M-LDSEM) models with complex and higher-dimensional random effect structures has not been investigated. We present a series of Monte Carlo simulations to evaluate three possible approaches to fitting M-LDSEM, including: frequentist single-level and two-level robust estimators and Bayesian two-level estimator. Our findings suggested that the Bayesian approach outperformed other frequentist approaches. The effects of time-varying covariates are well recovered, and coupling parameters are the least biased especially using higher-order derivative information with the Bayesian estimator. Finally, an empirical example is provided to show the applicability of the approach.

Interpersonal dynamics of vocal fundamental frequency in couples: Depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and relationship distress

Given the bidirectional association between psychopathology and relationship distress, an in-depth understanding of couples' interaction processes that contribute to psychopathology is needed. This study examined the interpersonal dynamics of vocally-encoded emotional arousal (fundamental frequency, f0) during couple conversations and their associations with depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and relationship distress. Data from eight samples were pooled (N = 404 couples) to examine (a) overall trajectories of f0 across the interaction and (b) moment-by-moment intraindividual changes in and interpersonal reactivity to partners' f0. Multilevel growth models and repeated-measures actor-partner interdependence models demonstrated that individuals with more severe depression showed more synchronizing reactivity to their partners' f0 on a moment-by-moment basis, and their overall baseline level of f0 was lower. More severe relationship distress was associated with more steeply increasing trajectories of f0 and with greater synchronizing reactivity to partners' f0. Relative differences in depressive symptoms between the two members of a couple were associated with interpersonal dynamics of f0 as well. There were no associations with anxiety symptoms. Thus, depressive symptoms were associated with characteristic interpersonal dynamics of vocally-encoded emotional arousal; yet, most consistent associations emerged for relationship distress, which future studies on individual psychopathology should take into account.

A Comprehensive Scoping Review of Empirical Studies on Earned Secure Attachment

Earned-Secure Attachment (ESA) can be defined as the process by which individuals with insecure childhood attachment rise above malevolent childhood experiences to develop secure relationships pattern in adulthood. To our knowledge, no previous review has summarized findings from empirical literature about this topic. To fill this gap, we conduct a preregistered scoping review (research published until 2023) following the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews, to find how ESA has been defined, assessed, and studied in the empirical literature. Four databases were searched (Scopus, PsycInfo, PubMed and Web of Science), 24 studies were included in the review and were assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Findings from our review reveal a more formal than substantial agreement on the conceptualization of ESA and the conclusions that can be made, considering the heterogeneity of our results, are only preliminary. Developmental factors, the association between ESA and depressive symptoms and the role of fathers remain poorly defined, although the importance of secondary attachment figures and reflective functioning as factors that may contribute to earned-security in attachment is clear. Recommendations and future steps for researchers and practitioners are highlighted.

The role of perceived negative partner behavior in daily snacking behavior: A dynamical systems approach

Past work suggested that psychological stress, especially in the context of relationship stress, is associated with increased consumption of energy-dense food and when maintained for long periods of time, leads to adverse health consequences. Furthermore, this association is moderated by a variety of factors, including emotional over-eating style. That being said, few work utilized a dynamical system approach to understand the intraindividual and interindividual fluctuations within this process. The current study utilized a 14-day daily diary study, collected between January-March 2020, where participants reported their partner's negative relationship behavior and their own snacking behavior. A differential equation model was applied to the daily dairy data collected. Results showed that snacking behavior followed an undamped oscillator model while negative relationship behavior followed a damped coupled oscillator model. In other words, snacking behavior fluctuated around an equilibrium but was not coupled within dyadic partners. Negative relationship behavior fluctuated around an equilibrium and was amplified over time, coupled within dyadic partners. Furthermore, we found a two-fold association between negative relationship behavior and snacking: while the association between the displacement of negative relationship behavior and snacking was negative, change in negative relationship behavior and snacking were aligned. Thus, at any given time, one's snacking depends both on the amount of negative relationship behaviors one perceives and the dynamical state a dyad is engaging in (i.e., whether the negative relationship behavior is "exacerbating" or "resolving"). This former association was moderated by emotional over-eating style and the latter association was not. The current findings highlight the importance of examining dynamics within dyadic system and offers empirical and methodological insights for research in adult relationships.

Do Parents' Internal Processes and Feelings Contribute to the way they Report Their Children's Mental Difficulties on the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)?

The way parents report their child's emotional and behavioral difficulties is important both for identifying the child's needs, diagnosis, and prevention. This study examined to what extent parents' internal processes predict the way in which parents report their child's emotional and behavioral difficulties on the SDQ, as mediated by parental feelings. Parents of children who were referred to a community mental health clinic completed a self-report questionnaire including the following scales: adulthood attachment style, self-regulation difficulty, personal well-being, self-compassion parental feelings, and their child's emotional-behavioral difficulties. Study findings indicated that parents' internal processes do not directly predict parents' report of their children's mental difficulties on the SDQ, only when mediated by parental feelings. These findings highlight the significance of parental feelings in reporting children's behavioral and emotional difficulties. It also contributes to the body of knowledge concerning the importance of caring for parents' needs and feelings and overall parenthood.

Attachment and sleep quality in adults: A multilevel meta-analysis of actor and partner effect

Within the context of sleep, attachment is hypothesized to play a central role in regulating bedtime affect and arousal. While previous studies have suggested a link between attachment and sleep quality, a meta-analysis specifically examining this association in adults has been lacking. To address this gap, we conducted a series of multilevel meta-analyses of 28 studies on this topic. Our results indicated a correlation between attachment anxiety and an individual's own sleep quality (r = -0.16, p < 0.001), as well as their partner's sleep quality (r = -0.10, p < 0.05). There was also a negative correlation between attachment avoidance and an individual's sleep quality (r = -0.15, p < 0.001) as well as their partner's sleep quality (r = -0.16, p < 0.01). Additionally, the relationships were moderated by several variables, including age, sleep measurement, and gender. Further analysis indicated that attachment anxiety was associated with poorer subjective sleep quality (PSQI) (r = -0.23, p < 0.001), longer sleep latency (r = -0.10, p < 0.05), increased wakefulness after sleep onset (r = -0.09, p < 0.05), and greater daytime sleepiness (r = -0.20, p < 0.01). Attachment avoidance was associated with poorer self-reported sleep quality (PSQI) (r = -0.16, p < 0.001), longer time to fall asleep (r = -0.15, p < 0.05), and increased daytime sleepiness (r = -0.15, p < 0.05). In summary, the findings of the current study supported the association between attachment insecurity and poorer sleep quality in both individuals and their partners. These findings hold important implications for future interventions aimed at improving sleep quality by addressing attachment-related concerns.

Dyadic contagion in cognitive function: A nationally-representative longitudinal study of older U.S. couples

Later-life cognitive function is strongly influenced by one's environment. At this life stage, a partner's behaviors and attributes-including their own cognitive status-are a key environmental determinant. A recent "social allostasis" theory also yields specific predictions on patterns of mutual influence-or "contagion"-in cognitive function. Yet, no population representative studies have examined these coupled dynamics. Using recently developed fixed-effects cross-lagged panel modeling (FE-CLPM) methods and ten-year data from the Health and Retirement Study-nationally-representative of U.S. adults over 50-the current study filled this gap. Results supported dyadic cognitive contagion over the long- but not short-run. Short-term associations suggested intriguing "cognitive cycling" possibilities among both men and women that need further investigation. Overall, results supported a theoretical model of coupled "cognitive careers," and relational inducement of allostatic load. Especially among men, recurrent impulses also cumulatively induced substantial path-dependent cognitive improvements, supporting the added value of repeated over one-time interventions. Theoretical and substantive implications are discussed.

High Heart Rate Variability Buffers the Effect of Attachment Insecurity on Sleep Quality

OBJECTIVE

Sleep quality is an important health-protective factor. Psychosocial factors, including attachment orientation, may be valuable for understanding who is at risk of poor sleep quality and associated adverse health outcomes. High attachment anxiety is reliably associated with adverse health outcomes, whereas high attachment avoidance is associated with adverse health outcomes when co-occurring with poor self-regulatory capacity, indexed by heart rate variability (HRV). We examined the associations between attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, HRV, and sleep quality.

METHODS

Using longitudinal data from a sample of 171 older adults measured four times over 1 year ( M = 66.18 years old; 67.83% women), we separated the between-person variance (which we call "trait") and within-person variance (which we call "state") for attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, and HRV (via the root mean square of successive differences). Sleep quality was measured with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index.

RESULTS

Higher trait attachment anxiety was associated with poorer global sleep quality ( B = 0.22, p = .005). Higher state attachment avoidance was associated with poorer sleep quality ( B = -0.13, p = .01), except for those with higher trait HRV. Higher state attachment anxiety was associated with poorer sleep quality ( B = -0.15, p = .002), except for those with higher or mean trait HRV. Higher trait attachment anxiety was associated with poorer sleep quality ( B = -0.31, p = .02), except for those with higher trait HRV.

CONCLUSIONS

High trait HRV mitigated the adverse effects of attachment insecurity on sleep quality. Our results suggest that people with high trait HRV had greater self-regulation capacity, which may enable them to enact emotion regulation strategies effectively.

Prairie voles as a model for adaptive reward remodeling following loss of a bonded partner

Loss of a loved one is a painful event that substantially elevates the risk for physical and mental illness and impaired daily function. Socially monogamous prairie voles are laboratory-amenable rodents that form life-long pair bonds and exhibit distress upon partner separation, mirroring phenotypes seen in humans. These attributes make voles an excellent model for studying the biology of loss. In this review, we highlight parallels between humans and prairie voles, focusing on reward system engagement during pair bonding and loss. As yearning is a unique feature that differentiates loss from other negative mental states, we posit a model in which the homeostatic reward mechanisms that help to maintain bonds are disrupted upon loss, resulting in yearning and other negative impacts. Finally, we synthesize studies in humans and voles that delineate the remodeling of reward systems during loss adaptation. The stalling of these processes likely contributes to prolonged grief disorder, a diagnosis recently added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Psychiatry.

Exploring associations among baseline emotion regulation and change in relationship satisfaction among couples in a randomized controlled trial of emotionally focused therapy compared to usual care

BACKGROUND

Data from a two-arm randomized controlled trial of emotionally focused therapy (EFT) compared to usual care were used to examine whether baseline emotion regulation influences relationship satisfaction for female and male partners. This is clinically relevant as clinicians have debated whether clients' initial emotion regulation skills predict positive outcomes in EFT.

METHODS

Dyadic multilevel modeling was used to determine whether baseline emotion regulation predicted both initial levels and change in relationship satisfaction and whether that relationship differed by treatment group (i.e., EFT or usual care).

RESULTS

Baseline emotion regulation difficulties were associated with lower initial relationship satisfaction. However, baseline emotion regulation difficulties were not associated with change in relationship satisfaction over the course of treatment and this relationship did not differ by treatment group.

CONCLUSIONS

Results demonstrate that partners with diverse presentations of emotion regulation at baseline may benefit from couple therapy.

Loneliness and Marital Quality as Predictors of Older Adults' Insomnia Symptoms

The current study examined associations between marital quality, loneliness, and sleep within a nationally representative sample of older adults who participated in Wave 2 of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP). Participants (N = 559) had a spouse or partner and completed a novel sleep module that included subjective (i.e., insomnia symptoms) and objective (i.e., wake after sleep onset;WASO) markers of sleep. Upon controlling for demographics and markers of mental and physical health, a distinct pattern of findings emerged for subjective versus objective markers of sleep. Regarding subjective sleep, older adults who experienced greater loneliness reported more insomnia symptoms, but only when spousal emotional support was low-moderate. Regarding objective sleep, older adults who reported more affectionate touch from their spouse experienced less WASO. Collectively, these findings identify specific aspects of marital quality that may have unique implications for partnered older adults' subjective and objective sleep quality.

Interaction between varying social ties on health: Perceived partner responsiveness and institutional trust

The interplay between different forms of social relationships, that is, perceived partner responsiveness and institutional trust, on subjective health evaluations was examined for the first time. There were 1241 respondents who had a romantic relationship. After adjusting for the covariates, findings suggested that greater perceived partner responsiveness and institutional trust led respondents to report better subjective health. The positive link between perceived partner responsiveness and subjective health was more pronounced among the respondents reporting a lower level of institutional trust. Such an interaction could be an indicator pointing out the compensatory role of close relationship dynamics. Given that finding, public health authorities and practitioners could be encouraged to be aware of the adaptive function of social ties on health and focus on maintaining the strength of intimate social ties and building trust between authority gradients. This suggestion could especially be adaptive not only during "normal" times but also during post-disaster circumstances (e.g., COVID-19).

The Role of Dyadic Sexual Desire Similarity in Predicting Sexual Behaviors in Cohabitating Couples: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study

Although researchers are increasingly paying attention to the dyadic nature of sexual desire and its relevance to sexual and relational outcomes, our understanding of how sexual desire operates on a couple level and how it may influence the occurrence of sexual activity in relationships remains limited. This study used ecological momentary assessments to explore to what extent similarity in levels of desire for sex with one's sexual partner, or dyadic sexual desire, was associated with sexual initiations, receptivity to one's partner's initiations, and partnered sexual activity, and how these associations were moderated by perceived partner support. Ninety-four cohabitating couples (M age = 26.30, SD = 7.60) provided six reports a day for 10 consecutive days. We used response surface analysis to examine the associations among both the degree and direction of (dis)similarity in partners' dyadic desire and each of the three outcome variables. Our results revealed that although partners tended to experience similar levels of desire on a moment-to-moment basis, similarity in desire levels was not associated with the three outcome variables. Rather, higher desire within couples predicted each partner's behavioral outcomes. At lower levels of perceived partner support, dyadic sexual desire was negatively associated with women's receptivity to sexual initiations by their partners, indicating high context-sensitivity of women's sexual responding. These findings offer new insights into the links between the similarity in partners' levels of dyadic desire and sexual behaviors in couples, suggesting the need for increased focus on maintaining desire and promoting perceived partner support in clinical practice.

Do insecure attachment styles predict prolonged grief symptoms? Significant null findings

Insecure attachment is proposed to be a risk factor in the development and persistence of severe grief. Although prior research demonstrates positive cross-sectional and longitudinal correlations between attachment styles and prolonged grief symptoms, controlled longitudinal analyses yield fewer convincing results. Therefore, we sought to further clarify the concurrent and longitudinal associations between these constructs. A sample of 225 bereaved Dutch adults (87% women; Mean age: 48.86 years) participated in a three-wave longitudinal survey including measures of attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance at baseline and prolonged grief symptoms at baseline and 6- and 12-month follow-up. Attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance were significantly positively correlated with prolonged grief symptoms at all time-points. However, multiple regressions, controlling for baseline symptoms, showed that attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, and their interaction did not predict residual change in prolonged grief symptoms. These findings cast doubt on the proposed role of insecure attachment styles in prolonged grief.

Promoting attachment security during the transition to college: A pilot study of emotionally focused mentoring

Attachment insecurity is a transdiagnostic marker of risk associated with interpersonal emotion dysregulation and adverse psychosocial outcomes across the lifespan. Few interventions target the enhancement of attachment security in late adolescence. Most programs focus on strengthening the adolescent-caregiver relationship; meanwhile, youth increasingly spend less time with their families and look to peer relationships as a source of connection, particularly as they transition to college. Drawing from the principles of Emotionally Focused Therapy, we developed a psychotherapeutic peer mentorship program to enhance attachment security for insecurely attached youth during the transition to college. We tested the preliminary efficacy of Emotionally Focused Mentorship (EFM) in an open pilot trial by pairing (N = 82) insecurely attached first-year college students (i.e., "mentees") with securely attached mentors. Across five weekly sessions, mentors helped mentees identify and express their emotions in close relationships by working through different relational scenarios. Attachment and mental health trajectories were self-reported three times over five weeks and analyzed using Bayesian growth curve models. Across five weeks, participants reported improvements in attachment anxiety and avoidance, emotion regulation difficulties, depressive symptoms, loneliness, and self-esteem. Participants who completed the intervention (n = 55) noted improvements in their psychological wellbeing and interpersonal relationships. Results are promising and highlight the need to conduct a randomized clinical trial to test if these effects are causal. Given rising mental health demands, trained peer mentors may be a cost-effective way to improve attachment and psychological outcomes for insecurely attached participants during the transition to college.

Adrenocorticotropic hormone secretion in response to anticipatory stress and venepuncture: The role of menstrual phase and oral contraceptive use

INTRODUCTION

Oral contraceptives (OCs) are primarily known for their effects on the reproductive system, but they can also impact the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. The present study aimed to compare plasma adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) responses to the anticipatory stress of participating in a scientific experiment and venepuncture in OC users versus naturally cycling (NC) women, with a focus on variations throughout the menstrual cycle.

METHODS

We recruited 131 young women (average age 20.5) and obtained blood samples to measure plasma ACTH concentrations immediately after venepuncture and again after 15 min of group activities designed to facilitate interpersonal attachment and stress-buffering.

RESULTS

ACTH levels decreased in 70% of all participants throughout the group activities. A two-way repeated measures ANOVA highlighted a significant interaction between time and OC use, indicating differential changes in ACTH levels during social interaction between OC users and NC women. Further, the post-hoc analysis revealed that a period of stress-buffering group activities significantly decreased ACTH levels in NC women during menstrual and secretory phases, but not during the proliferative phase. In contrast, OC users did not display a decrease during group activities, regardless of the phase.

CONCLUSION

This study underscores the influence of OC use on stress regulation, demonstrating that OCs not only modulate reproductive functions but also impact ACTH stress reactivity. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of considering hormonal contraceptive use and menstrual cycle phases when assessing female stress responses.

How our hearts beat together: a study on physiological synchronization based on a self-paced joint motor task

Cardiac physiological synchrony is regarded as an important component of social interaction due to its putative role in prosocial behaviour. Yet, the processes underlying physiological synchrony remain unclear. We aim to investigate these processes. 20 dyads (19 men, 21 women, age range 18-35) engaged in a self-paced interpersonal tapping synchronization task under different levels of tapping synchrony due to blocking of sensory communication channels. Applying wavelet transform coherence analysis, significant increases in heart rate synchronization from baseline to task execution were found with no statistically significant difference across conditions. Furthermore, the control analysis, which assessed synchrony between randomly combined dyads of participants showed no difference from the original dyads' synchrony. We showed that interindividual cardiac physiological synchrony during self-paced synchronized finger tapping resulted from a task-related stimulus equally shared by all individuals. We hypothesize that by applying mental effort to the task, individuals changed into a similar mental state, altering their cardiac regulation. This so-called psychophysiological mode provoked more uniform, less variable fluctuation patterns across all individuals leading to similar heart rate coherence independent of subsequent pairings. With this study, we provide new insights into cardiac physiological synchrony and highlight the importance of appropriate study design and control analysis.

Spinning Your Wheels: Psychological Overinvolvement and Actigraphy-Assessed Sleep Efficiency Following Marital Separation

BACKGROUND

This study investigated the ways in which adults reflect on their psychological experiences amid a recent marital separation and how these patterns of thought, manifest in language, are associated with self-reported negative affect and actigraphy-assessed sleep disturbance.

METHODS

In a sample of 138 recently separated adults assessed three times over five months, we examined within- and between-person associations among psychological overinvolvement (operationalized using verbal immediacy derived as a function of the language participants used to discuss their relationship history and divorce experience), continued attachment to an ex-partner, negative affect, and sleep efficiency.

RESULTS

The association between psychological overinvolvement and negative affect operated at the within-person level, whereas the associations between psychological overinvolvement and sleep disturbance, as well as negative affect and sleep disturbance, operated at the between-person level.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings shed light on the intraindividual processes that may explain why some people are more susceptible to poor outcomes after separation/divorce than others. Our findings suggest that individuals who express their divorce-related thoughts and feelings in a psychologically overinvolved manner may be at greatest risk for sleep disturbances after marital separation/divorce.

"Him Leaving Me - That is My Fear Now": A Mixed Methods Analysis of Relationship Dissolution Between Ugandan Pregnant and Postpartum Women Living with HIV and Their Male Partners

High rates of relationship dissolution among pregnant women living with HIV (PWLHIV) and their male partners might increase mothers' and children's vulnerability to financial hardship and poor health outcomes. This mixed methods analysis identified factors associated with separation between PWLHIV and their male partners. We utilized data from a randomized controlled trial ( www.ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03484533) of 500 PWLHIV attending antenatal care in Uganda and 237 male partners between 2018 and 2020 and followed until 12 months postpartum. Multivariate regression models estimated the impact of relationship factors on the adjusted relative risk of separation during follow up, and we conducted in-depth interviews with 45 women and 45 men enrolled in the trial. Overall, 23% of PWLHIV reported separation during the study period. HIV serodifferent status, financial burdens and gender expectations were sources of relationship conflict. Significant factors associated with separation included unmarried, non-cohabitating, shorter, polygamous relationships, as well as HIV non-disclosure and verbal abuse. Participants discussed potential positive and negative consequences of separation, including impact on their mental health, treatment continuation, financial security, and safety. Addressing relationship dynamics is essential to improve counseling messaging and support PWLHIV who are experiencing relationship conflict.

Socioemotional self- and co-regulation in functional seizures: comparing high and low posttraumatic stress

Functional seizures (FS) are seizure-like symptoms without electroencephalogram (EEG)-based epileptic activity. Those with FS often show emotion-related dysfunction and disrupted interpersonal relationships, in which posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms (PTS) may play a role. We sought to better understand trauma comorbidities and socioemotional processes in FS, including affectionate touch, a form of social connection linked to emotion regulation and awareness. We administered questionnaires online to a community sample of 89 trauma-exposed FS participants (FS diagnoses were self-reported), 51 with and 38 without clinical-level PTS (FS-PTShi, FS-PTSlo) and 216 seizure-free matched trauma-exposed controls (TCs), 91 with and 125 without clinical-level PTS (TC-PTShi, TC-PTSlo) per the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Checklist (PCL). As hypothesized, both FS-PTShi and FS-PTSlo reported more emotional avoidance (Brief Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire), more emotion regulation difficulties (Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale), and more perceived stress (Perceived Stress Scale) than PTS-matched counterparts. FS-PTShi also reported less reappraisal (Emotion Regulation Questionnaire), more loneliness (UCLA Loneliness Scale), and less frequent affectionate touch (Physical Affection Scale) during waking and surrounding sleep than TC-PTShi, whereas FS-PTSlo and TC-PTSlo did not differ. Neither FS group differed from PTS-matched controls in emotion suppression (Emotion Regulation Questionnaire) or comfort with social touch (Social Touch Questionnaire). Among FS, FS-PTShi reported more difficulties than FS-PTSlo on nearly all measures (non-significant trend for social support). Findings underscore potential synergistic effects of FS and PTS clinical symptoms in shaping experiences of one's emotions and social world, suggesting fostering meaningful connections with others, including via affectionate touch, is an important treatment target.

The moderating role of attachment in the association between physiological synchrony in married couples and supportive behavior in the transition to parenthood

Despite supportive behaviors playing a central role in intimate relationships, the extent to which physiological and psychological factors are involved in the quality of the observed spousal support, remains largely unknown. From a physiological stance, cardiac synchrony has been identified as an important component involved in dyadic interpersonal interactions. This study aims to examine whether individual differences in attachment determine, at least to some extent, whether cardiac synchrony enhances or impedes the quality of the observed spousal support. Specifically, this study examines whether attachment style moderates the biobehavioral link between positive cardiac synchrony and observed spousal support. A total of 58 couples expecting their first child participated in a supportive interaction while their cardiovascular responses were recorded, and the quality of their caregiving behaviors was coded. Results indicated that couples' cardiovascular dynamics were synchronized during the supportive interaction. Furthermore, attachment moderated the association between positive cardiac synchrony and the behavioral manifestation of support, such that cardiac synchrony was negatively associated with the quality of support when offered by caregivers with higher scores of attachment anxiety. Our findings show that for those caregivers who have higher levels of anxious attachment-being synchronized with their care seeking spouses is associated with difficulties in providing effective support. We discuss these findings in the context of the emotion regulation difficulties characteristic of anxious attachment patterns. These findings suggest that future work could benefit from performing comprehensive studies that consider physiological, behavioral, and psychological constructs simultaneously.

From Oxytocin to Compassion: The Saliency of Distress

Compassion is a warm response of care and concern for those who are suffering, which drives individuals to devote their resources for the sake of others. A prominent neuroevolutionary framework grounds compassion in the neurobiology of the mammalian caregiving system. Accordingly, it has been suggested that the oxytocinergic system, which plays a central role in parental caregiving and bonding, provides the neurobiological foundation for compassion towards strangers. Yet, the specific role of oxytocin in compassion is far from clear. The current paper aims to target this gap and offer a theoretical framework that integrates the state-of-the-art literature on oxytocin with research on compassion. We suggest that oxytocin mediates compassion by enhancing the saliency of cues of pain and distress and discuss the plausible underlying neurobiological substrates. We further demonstrate how the proposed framework can account for individual differences in compassion, focusing on the effects of attachment on caregiving and support. The proposed framework integrates the current scientific understanding of oxytocin function with compassion-related processes. It thus highlights the largely ignored attentional processes in compassion and taps into the vast variability of responses in social contexts involving pain and suffering.

History of the term 'appeasement': a response to Bailey et al. (2023)

This letter to the editor aims to address claims made by Bailey et al. [2023. Appeasement: Replacing Stockholm syndrome as a definition of a survival strategy. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 14(1), 2161038] about the history of the concept of appeasement in relation to mammalian survival responses as well as the fawn response, by offering a brief overview and analysis of the literature.

Coordination in interpersonal systems

Coordinated group behaviour can result in conflict or social cohesion. Thus having a better understanding of coordination in social groups could help us tackle some of our most challenging social problems. Historically, the most common way to study group behaviour is to break it down into sub-processes, such as cognition and emotion, then ideally manipulate them in a social context in order to predict some behaviour such as liking versus distrusting a target person. This approach has gotten us partway to understanding many important collective behaviours, but I argue that making major changes in the world will require a more integrated approach. In this review, I introduce dynamic systems theory, with a focus on interpersonal systems, where all the processes we typically study in individuals, such as cognition and emotion, become intertwined between social partners over time. I focus on the concept of coordination, defined as a temporal correlation between interacting components of a system (or systems) arising due to coupling between them. Finally, I show how this perspective could be used to guide investigations of social problems such as polarisation.

Loneliness and diurnal cortisol levels during COVID-19 lockdown: the roles of living situation, relationship status and relationship quality

Loneliness and social isolation have become increasing concerns during COVID-19 lockdown through neuroendocrine stress-reactions, physical and mental health problems. We investigated living situation, relationship status and quality as potential moderators for trait and state loneliness and salivary cortisol levels (hormonal stress-responses) in healthy adults during the first lockdown in Germany. N = 1242 participants (mean age = 36.32, 78% female) filled out an online questionnaire on demographics, trait loneliness and relationship quality. Next, N = 247 (mean age = 32.6, 70% female) completed ecological momentary assessment (EMA), collecting twelve saliva samples on 2 days and simultaneously reporting their momentary loneliness levels. Divorced/widowed showed highest trait loneliness, followed by singles and partnerships. The latter displayed lower momentary loneliness and cortisol levels compared to singles. Relationship satisfaction significantly reduced loneliness levels in participants with a partner and those who were living apart from their partner reported loneliness levels similar to singles living alone. Living alone was associated with higher loneliness levels. Hierarchical linear models revealed a significant cross-level interaction between relationship status and momentary loneliness in predicting cortisol. The results imply that widowhood, being single, living alone and low relationship quality represent risk factors for loneliness and having a partner buffers neuroendocrine stress responses during lockdown.

What happens when romantic couples discuss personal loss? Relational, emotional, and physiological impacts

Does talking about loss with a romantic partner have salutary personal and relationship effects? Prior evidence reveals the benefits of emotional disclosure in couple relationships, yet disclosure about loss has been overlooked in research on couple communication. Using a novel communication paradigm with young-adult heterosexual romantic partners (N = 114 couples), we investigated emotions, physiological arousal (skin conductance responses [SCR]), and relationship closeness when narrating a personal loss and listening to the partner's loss, and compared these loss discussions to discussions about desired relationship changes. Based on partners' self-reports, narrating loss elicited more vulnerable and, unexpectedly, more antagonistic emotions. Both narrating and listening to loss produced higher self-reported partner closeness, compared to discussing change. In support of the physiological benefits of disclosure, women's SCRs decreased over the discussion when they narrated their own loss. However, both women and men as listeners show a general trend of increasing SCRs over the discussion, suggesting the challenges of being a responsive partner. Moreover, in line with the putative protective effects of partners' biological interdependencies, partner closeness also was higher when both partners showed synchronous decreasing SCR as women narrated their loss. Although limited to young couples in relatively short relationships, these findings reveal some potential benefits of talking about loss in the context of romantic relationships. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Impact of Dark Triad on Anxiety Disorder: Parallel Mediation Analysis During Pandemic

The current study aimed to investigate the mediating role of loneliness, ASMR, on the relationship between narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy and anxiety disorder. The population of the study was professionals working in public and private sector organizations. Non-probability snowball technique was used. Data was collected from 512 professionals. A total of 653 questionnaires were distributed and 512 were used in the analysis yielding a response rate of 78.4%. PLS-SEM was used to analyze the data. Measurement and structural models were developed to test the reliability, and validity of the scales as well as hypotheses. Findings of the measurement model revealed that scales were reliable and valid while results of the structural model revealed that narcissism, psychopathy, COVID loneliness, and ASMR have a significant direct impact on anxiety disorder but Machiavellianism does not have a significant effect on anxiety disorder. In addition, COVID loneliness and ASMR mediated between narcissism and psychopathy but do not significantly mediate between Machiavellianism and anxiety disorder. The current study has extended the body of knowledge by bridging the two theories theory of attachment and cognitive dissonance theory. The current study has provided the primary evidence that COVID loneliness increases anxiety while ASMR (audio-visual) tingling sensations help to reduce anxiety disorder.

Grief Symptoms Promote Inflammation During Acute Stress Among Bereaved Spouses

The death of a spouse is associated with maladaptive immune alterations; grief severity may exacerbate this link. We investigated whether high grief symptoms were associated with an amplified inflammatory response to subsequent stress among 111 recently bereaved older adults. Participants completed a standardized psychological stressor and underwent a blood draw before, 45 min after, and 2 hr after the stressor. Those experiencing high grief symptoms (i.e., scoring > 25 on the Inventory of Complicated Grief) experienced a 45% increase in interleukin-6 (IL-6; a proinflammatory cytokine) per hour, whereas those experiencing low grief symptoms demonstrated a 26% increase. In other words, high grief was related to a 19% increase in IL-6 per hour relative to low grief. The grief levels of recently bereaved people were associated with the rate of change in IL-6 following a subsequent stressor, above and beyond depressive symptoms. This is the first study to demonstrate that high grief symptoms promote inflammation following acute stress.

Loneliness in Older Indian Dyads

BACKGROUND

Loneliness has been recognised as a major public health concern in older adults in developed nations, with little focus on low- and middle-income countries such as India. While the protective nature of social relationships on loneliness has been explored in the context of marriage, typically these benefits are examined in individual spouses rather than within the marital dyad.

METHODS

A sample of 398 opposite-sex married Indian couples (mean age 54.8 years) was obtained from the pilot wave of the Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI) conducted in 2010. These cross-sectional data were analysed using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model, with one's own and one's partner's cognitive function, functional limitations, depressive symptoms, employment status and contact with friends included as predictors of loneliness.

RESULTS

There were no gender differences in the pattern of associations. Depression was positively associated with loneliness with actor and partner effects being significant. One's partner being employed was associated with less loneliness.

CONCLUSIONS

The sample showed low levels of depression, loneliness, and reduced functionality; however, depression still predicted one's own and one's partner's loneliness. Future work using longitudinal data could examine the role of employment in loneliness, particularly within the context of gender roles.

Impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on inflammatory bowel disease: The role of emotional stress and social isolation

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic health condition exacerbated by negative emotional stress experiences. In the current study, we examined whether the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic coincided with an increase in stress experiences and accordingly an aggravation of disease activity in IBD patients. Sixty-three IBD patients (30 Crohn's disease or CD, 33 ulcerative colitis) completed an online survey during the COVID-19-related lockdown, assessing clinical disease activity, disease-related quality of life, presence of functional gastrointestinal symptoms, social isolation and stress experiences. Scores were then compared to pre-lockdown baseline screening. The pandemic yielded a significant baseline-to-lockdown increase in emotional stress and social isolation. Stress increments, particularly those occasioned by interpersonal tension and excessive interpersonal proximity, were associated with a worsening of functional gastrointestinal symptoms. Exacerbations of loneliness coincided with an escalation of CD activity, functional gastrointestinal symptoms and a decline in subjective health. Lastly, COVID-19 anxiety was significantly related to CD symptom severity and social dysfunction. The findings show that shifts in IBD expression are closely linked to changes in emotional stress experiences and interpersonal relatedness. As such, they contribute to a better understanding of inter-individual differences in IBD progression and provide leads for therapeutic interventions.

Understanding the effects of being separated from family on refugees in Australia: a qualitative study

OBJECTIVE

To understand the impact of family separation on refugees living in Australia.

METHOD

Thirteen participants with a refugee background and experiencing separation from family participated in a semi-structured qualitative interview. Interviews were coded and a thematic analysis was conducted using NVivo software.

RESULTS

Identified themes were organised under four domains. Domain 1 focused on the personal impact of family separation. Themes were the effects on mental health and functioning, driven by incessant worrying about the safety of family and the absence of key attachment figures, the specific effects of having missing family, alterations to self-identity and family dynamics. Domain 2 focused on themes relating to actions taken to find missing family, connect or reunite with separated family. Domain 3 highlighted the coping strategies, support mechanisms and protective factors used by participants. Domain 4 identified core beliefs about the importance of family unity, focusing on security, settlement and a happy future.

CONCLUSIONS

Family separation has an enduring effect on the wellbeing of refugees, with key pathways being ongoing fear and insecurity, disrupted social attachments and identity shifts in relation to the future self.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH

Refugees separated from or missing family struggle with ongoing stress and adjustment issues.

Physiological bases of secure base support provision in a longitudinal study of married older adult couples

Close others often serve as a source of support for our pursuit of personal goals. Although social psychological research indicates that individuals and relationships benefit when couple members provide each other with secure base support for personal goals, few studies have investigated the physiological bases of these types of support interactions. This study of married older adults examined support providers' cardiovascular challenge‐threat responses while they engaged in a laboratory social interaction about the most important goal that their partner (the target) wanted to make progress toward during the next year. Consistent with our hypothesis, support providers' cardiovascular challenge responses were positively associated with targets' ratings of their secure base support provision during the discussion. This study also used structural equation modeling to test a theoretical model of support providers' cardiovascular challenge responses as a physiological basis of secure base support provision that promotes targets' goal progress and thriving over time. Consistent with our theory, support providers' cardiovascular challenge responses were positively associated with targets' goal progress at Year 2 follow‐up. In turn, targets' goal progress at Year 2 predicted increases in targets' overall thriving from Year 1 to Year 3. This investigation provides novel evidence for attachment theory's assertion that biobehavioral caregiving system activation facilitates the provision of secure base support that promotes close others' goal progress and thriving over time. Results of this study also contribute to recent evidence that cardiovascular challenge responses are associated with social behaviors during dyadic interactions.

Our investigation implicates cardiovascular challenge‐threat responses as underlying the provision of secure base support. We advance earlier research on attachment theory by providing longitudinal evidence that support providers‘ cardiovascular challenge responses during a laboratory goal discussion represent activation of the biobehavioral caregiving system, which theoretically facilitates partners‘ goal progress (exploration) and thriving over time. These findings contribute to scarce research examining cardiovascular challenge‐threat response during social interactions and scarce research on attachment relationships and physiology in older adulthood.

The mediating effect of attachment insecurity on circadian consequences of childhood trauma

Circadian preferences have been associated with mental health as well as social and physical health in recent years. However, factors associated with circadian preferences have not been fully elucidated. The main aim of this study is to investigate the associations of childhood trauma and attachment styles with circadian preferences. A total of 673 participants were evaluated using the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ), the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire 28 (CTQ-28), and the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised (ECR-R) questionnaire. The results indicated that 14.9% (n = 100) of the participants were morning type, 20.6% (n = 139) were evening type, and 64.5% (n = 434) were intermediate type. Both childhood trauma and attachment-related anxiety/avoidance scores were associated with being evening type (p < .01). Moreover, attachment-related anxiety and avoidance fully mediated the association between childhood trauma and circadian preferences. The present study showed that attachment styles might be associated with circadian preferences. Further studies are needed to replicate these results and to infer explanatory mechanisms for these cross-sectional associations.

Spousal caregiving, widowhood, and cognition: A systematic review and a biopsychosocial framework for understanding the relationship between interpersonal losses and dementia risk in older adulthood

Accumulating research suggests that stressful life events, especially those that threaten close intimate bonds, are associated with an increased risk of dementia. Grieving the loss of a spouse, whether in the form of caregiving or after the death, ranks among 'life's most significant stressors', evoking intense psychological and physiological distress. Despite numerous studies reporting elevated dementia risk or poorer cognition among spousal caregivers and widow(er)s compared to controls, no review has summarized findings across cognitive outcomes (i.e., dementia incidence, cognitive impairment rates, cognitive performance) or proposed a theoretical model for understanding the links between partner loss and abnormal cognitive decline. The current systematic review summarizes findings across 64 empirical studies. Overall, both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies revealed an adverse association between partner loss and cognitive outcomes. In turn, we propose a biopsychosocial model of cognitive decline that explains how caregiving and bereavement may position some to develop cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. More longitudinal studies that focus on the biopsychosocial context of caregivers and widow(er)s are needed.

Grieving as a form of learning: Insights from neuroscience applied to grief and loss

Recent grief research suggests that the influential cognitive stress theory should be updated with evidence from cognitive neuroscience. Combining human and animal neuroscience with attachment theory, we propose that semantic knowledge of the everlasting nature of the attachment figure and episodic, autobiographical memories of the death are in conflict, perhaps explaining the duration of grieving and generating predictions about complications in prolonged grief disorder (PGD). Our gone-but-also-everlasting model emphasizes that grieving may be a form of learning, requiring time and experiential feedback. Difficulties before loss, such as spousal dependency or pre-existing hippocampal volume, can prolong learning and predict PGD. Complications such as avoidance, rumination, and stress-induced hippocampal atrophy may also develop after loss and create functional or structural mechanisms predicting PGD.

Conceptualizing Emotion Regulation and Coregulation as Family-Level Phenomena

The ability to regulate one’s emotions is foundational for healthy development and functioning in a multitude of domains, whereas difficulties in emotional regulation are recognized as a risk factor for a range of adverse outcomes in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Caregivers play a key role in cultivating the development of emotion regulation through coregulation, or the processes by which they provide external support or scaffolding as children navigate their emotional experiences. The vast majority of research to date has examined coregulation in the context of caregiver–child dyads. In this paper, we consider emotion regulation and coregulation as family-level processes that unfold within and across multiple family subsystems and explore how triadic and whole family interactions may contribute to the development of children’s emotion regulation skills. Furthermore, we will examine the implications of a family-centered perspective on emotion regulation for prevention of and intervention for childhood emotional and behavioral disorders. Because emotion regulation skills undergo such dramatic maturation during children’s first several years of life, much of our focus will be on coregulation within and across the family system during early childhood; however, as many prevention and intervention approaches are geared toward school-aged children and adolescents, we will also devote some attention to later developmental periods.

Partner's Perceived Social Support Influences Their Spouse's Inflammation: An Actor-Partner Analysis

Social support has been linked to lower cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. However, most studies have examined perceived support as an intrapersonal construct. A dyadic approach to social support highlights how interdependence between individuals within relationships, including partner perceptions and interactions, can influence one's health. This study's overall purpose was to test actor-partner models linking perceived social support to inflammation. Ninety-four cisgender married couples completed perceived support measures and had their blood drawn for CRP and IL-6 to produce an overall inflammatory index. The primary results indicate that only a partner's level of perceived support was related to lower inflammation in their spouse. Our sample size, although moderate for inflammatory studies, was probably not large enough to detect actor influences. These data highlight the importance of taking a dyadic perspective on modeling perceived support and its potential mechanism.

Activating the attachment system modulates neural responses to threat in refugees with PTSD

Social attachment systems are disrupted for refugees through trauma and forced displacement. This study tested how the attachment system mitigates neural responses to threat in refugees with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Refugees with PTSD (N = 28) and refugee trauma-exposed controls (N = 22) viewed threat-related stimuli primed by attachment cues during a functional magnetic resonance imaging scan. Group differences and the moderating effects of avoidant or anxious attachment style and grief related to separation from family on brain activity and connectivity patterns were examined. Separation grief was associated with increased amygdala but decreased ventromedial prefrontal cortical (VMPFC) activity to the attachment prime and decreased VMPFC and hippocampal activity to attachment primed threat in the PTSD (vs trauma-exposed control) group. Avoidant attachment style was connected with increased dorsal frontoparietal attention regional activity to attachment prime cues in the PTSD group. Anxious attachment style was associated with reduced left amygdala connectivity with left medial prefrontal regions to attachment primed threat in the PTSD group. Separation grief appears to reduce attachment buffering of threat reactivity in refugees with PTSD, while avoidant and anxious attachment style modulated attentional and prefrontal regulatory mechanisms in PTSD, respectively. Considering social attachments in refugees could be important to post-trauma recovery, based within changes in key emotion regulation brain systems.

You Mean the World to Me: The Role of Residential Mobility in Centrality of Romantic Relationships

Integrating the suffocation model of marriage with research on residential mobility, the current studies examined for the first time whether long-term romantic relationships are more central for residentially mobile (vs. stable) individuals (total N across three studies = 5,366; age range = 18–95). In Study 1, individuals who moved away from their place of birth (vs. not) were more likely to first confide in their spouse over other network members on important matters. In Study 2, history of frequent residential moves was associated with greater importance ascribed to romantic partners in the attachment hierarchy. In Study 3, the slope of perceived partner responsiveness predicting eudaimonic well-being got steeper as residential mobility increased. By showing the role of residential mobility in romantic relationships, our findings highlight the importance of studying socioecological factors to gain a deeper understanding of how relationship processes unfold.

Emotional Linkage as a Moderator of Emotional Reactivity Effect on Partners' Depressive Symptoms

Introduction: Romantic partners’ emotions show a degree of interdependence, a process that is often described as emotional linkage. The current study sought to test the effects of emotional linkage in emotionally reactive individuals (i.e., those who easily become emotionally aroused and find it hard to regulate their emotions) and their partners. Specifically, we examined the interplay between emotional linkage and reactivity in predicting partners’ depressive symptoms over time. Method: To assess emotional linkage and reactivity, we collected daily diary data from two samples of cohabiting couples (Ncouples=76 and 84 in samples 1 and 2, respectively). Partners’ depressive symptoms were assessed before and after the diary. Results: In dyads with low emotional linkage men's emotional reactivity predicted their greater depressive symptoms in Sample 1, and women's greater depressive symptoms in Sample 2. Discussion: The study's results suggest that dyads’ emotional linkage can moderate the negative effects of men's emotional reactivity on their and their partners’ psychological distress.

Affective regulation through touch: homeostatic and allostatic mechanisms

We focus on social touch as a paradigmatic case of the embodied, cognitive, and metacognitive processes involved in social, affective regulation. Social touch appears to contribute three interrelated but distinct functions to affective regulation. First, it regulates affects by fulfilling embodied predictions about social proximity and attachment. Second, caregiving touch, such as warming an infant, regulates affect by socially enacting homeostatic control and co-regulation of physiological states. Third, affective touch such as gentle stroking or tickling regulates affect by allostatic regulation of the salience and epistemic gain of particular experiences in given contexts and timescales. These three functions of affective touch are most likely mediated, at least partly, by different neurobiological processes, including convergent hedonic, dopaminergic and analgesic, opioidergic pathways for the attachment function, 'calming' autonomic and endocrine pathways for the homeostatic function, while the allostatic function may be mediated by oxytocin release and related 'salience' neuromodulators and circuits.

Couples' co-regulation dynamics as a function of perceived partner dyadic coping

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Perceptions of partners' dyadic coping (DC) behaviors are associated with lower stress and higher relationship well-being. Albeit well-documented, these associations have predominately relied on cross-sectional data, overlooking temporal associations during conversations of mutual stress. Based on the systemic transactional model of DC [Bodenmann, G. (2005). Dyadic coping and its significance for marital functioning. In T. Revenson, K. Kayser, & G. Bodenmann (Eds.), Couples coping with stress: Emerging perspectives on dyadic coping (pp. 33-50). American Psychological Association.], we hypothesized that co-regulatory dynamics would be displayed for couples who generally perceive high positive DC, whereas co-dysregulatory dynamics would be displayed for couples who generally perceive high negative DC.

DESIGN AND METHODS

Using video-prompted second-by-second recall of stress experience from 42 different-gender romantic couples, this study examined whether couples' co-regulation dynamics were moderated by perceived partner DC behaviors, measured at baseline.

RESULTS

On average, partners' stress ratings were coupled; females tended to coregulate males' stress and both partners' stress dampened over time. Perceived negative DC moderated the coregulation of stress, suggesting that females unidirectionally coregulated males' stress when (1) negative DC was low in both partners and (2) when females reported lower negative DC than males. However, coregulation did not occur when (1) negative DC was high in both partners and (2) females reported higher negative DC than males.

CONCLUSIONS

Implications for utilizing methods sensitive to temporal interpersonal emotion dynamics are presented.

Prenatal mother-father cortisol linkage predicts infant executive functions at 24 months

The present study investigated associations between prenatal mother-father cortisol linkage and infant executive functions. Data come from an international sample (N = 358) of predominantly white and middle- to upper-class first-time parents. During late pregnancy, parents collected diurnal salivary cortisol samples and reported on levels of psychological stress. At 24 months, children completed a battery of executive function tasks. Parent cortisol linkage was operationalized as the time-dependent, within-dyad association between maternal and paternal diurnal cortisol. Results indicated that prenatal linkage was positively related to infant executive functions, suggesting that stronger mother-father cortisol linkage was associated with higher executive function scores. Additionally, this relation was moderated by paternal average cortisol levels such that executive function scores were lower when fathers had higher average cortisol levels and linkage was weak. This association suggests that elevated paternal cortisol amplifies the negative relation between lower cortisol linkage and lower infant executive function scores. Importantly, these findings were observed while controlling for observational measures of caregiving and self-report measures of psychosocial functioning and infant social-emotional behavior. These results suggest that prenatal linkage of mother's and father's stress physiology plays a potentially important part in programming and regulating infant neurocognitive development.

Biological mechanisms underlying widowhood's health consequences: Does diet play a role?

The loss of a spouse is a highly stressful event that puts older adults at increased risk for morbidity and mortality. The risk is highest in the first year to 18 months post-loss; nevertheless, widow(er)s, in general, are at heightened risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) related morbidity and mortality, and to a lesser extent, non-CVD related morbidity and mortality. The primary goal of this article is to argue for a perspective that considers diet and emotion-induced autonomic, neuroendocrine, and immune dysregulation, in unison, to understand the mechanisms underlying morbidity and mortality in early widowhood. Toward this end, we first summarize our previously published work, as well as work from other investigatory teams, showing that compared with those who were not bereaved, widow(er)s have higher levels of pro-inflammatory cytokine production and more dysregulated autonomic and neuroendocrine activity than non-widow(er)s, independent of health behaviors such as diet. We highlight that a major gap in our current understanding of the biobehavioral mechanisms that underlie the widowhood effect is the role of diet and hypothesize that the adverse health impact of grief and associated negative emotions and diet may be more than additive. Therefore, we propose that diet may be a pathway by which widow(er)s are at higher CVD risk requiring further investigation.

Stability and Change of the Personality Traits Languidity and Flexibility in a Sample of Nurses: A 7-8 Years Follow-Up Study

The traits languidity (tendency to become tired/sleepy upon losing sleep) and flexibility (ability to sleep and work at odd times) have been implicated in shift work tolerance. However, there is a dearth of knowledge about their temporal stability. The aim of the present study was to explore these traits during a long follow-up (FU) period and identify factors related to potential changes in trait scores over time. In all, 1,652 nurses completed the Circadian Type Inventory-revised (CTI-r), which measures languidity and flexibility, at both 2008/2009 (baseline, BL) and again in 2016 (FU). The latent scores of these two constructs at BL, in addition to age, sex, childcare responsibility, marital status, night work status, and insomnia status, were regressed on the corresponding latent scores at follow-up using a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach. Stability was found for both languidity (rho = 0.59) and flexibility (rho = 0.58). Both composite scores declined significantly from baseline (20.62 and 12.48) to follow-up (19.96 and 11.77). Languidity at baseline was positively associated with languidity at follow-up (β = 0.89, p < 0.009). Undertaking childcare responsibility between baseline and follow-up was inversely related to languidity at follow-up (β = −0.09, p < 0.05). Starting night work was positively related to languidity at follow-up (β = 0.06, p < 0.05). Developing insomnia between baseline and follow-up (β = 0.15, p < 0.05) was positively, whereas remitting from insomnia during the same period was negatively (β = −0.11, p < 0.01) associated with languidity at follow-up. Flexibility at baseline was positively associated with flexibility at follow-up (β = 0.64, p < 0.05). Having childcare responsibility at baseline, but not at follow-up was inversely related to flexibility at follow-up (β = −0.05 p < 0.05). Becoming cohabitant with a partner between baseline and follow-up (β = −0.07, p < 0.05) was negatively associated with flexibility at follow-up. Starting night work between baseline and follow-up (β = 0.17, p < 0.01) and reporting night work at both baseline and follow-up (β = 0.18, p < 0.01) were both positively associated with flexibility at follow-up, whereas stopping working nights was negatively (β = −0.09, p < 0.05), associated with flexibility at follow-up. The personality traits languidity and flexibility show fairly high stability, albeit the mean scores were significantly reduced during the 7–8 years follow-up period. The results suggest that these personality traits are partly modifiable.

Relationship dissolution and psychopathology

Studies using probability samples have yielded cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between relationship dissolution and psychopathology, including depressive, anxiety, and substance use symptoms and disorders. The present review summarizes theory relevant to the association of relationship dissolution to psychopathology, discusses the time course over which postdissolution psychopathology may be most likely to manifest, and selectively reviews empirical findings regarding main and moderated associations between relationship dissolution and psychopathology. We conclude by acknowledging the need for continued study of the association between relationship dissolution and psychopathology, including research that rules out potential rival explanations (i.e., confounding variables) for this association and examines this association across cultures and types of intimate relationships (e.g., cohabiting relationships).

Interpersonal autonomic nervous system synchrony and its association to relationship and performance - a systematic review and meta-analysis

Interpersonal physiological synchrony is the spontaneous temporal coordination of physiological processes between several individuals. This type of synchrony is critical for human relationships, as it promotes two important outcomes: the quality of the relationships between synchronized individuals, and how well synchronized individuals perform together. Nonetheless a clear estimation of the size of the correlations between interpersonal physiological synchrony and relationship or performance outcomes is missing. To address this gap in knowledge was the main goal of the current meta-analysis. We focused on interpersonal physiological synchrony in measures of autonomic nervous system activity, and specifically we examined the distinct branches of the autonomic nervous system. We conducted two meta-analyses: (1) Estimating the association between interpersonal physiological synchrony and relationship outcomes (2) Estimating the association between interpersonal physiological synchrony and performance outcomes. In the first meta-analysis (i.e., relationships), the overall estimated correlation was small with a marginal significance (ES=0.09, p>.10) and high heterogeneity (I²=76.0%). In further sub-group analysis, we discovered a positive relationship for measures of sympathetic synchrony (ES=0.19, p=.02), a negative relationship for measures of parasympathetic synchrony(ES=-0.21, p=.03), and a positive relationship for measures of combined sympathetic and parasympathetic synchrony (ES =0.16, p=.02). As for the second meta-analysis (i.e., performance), the overall effect size of correlation was small (ES=0.26, p<.01) and heterogeneous (I²=52.7%). Our results emphasize the small effect sizes of the correlations between physiological synchrony and performance or relational outcomes, as well as the differential effects for synchrony in sympathetic versus parasympathetic activity. Combined with the high heterogeneity, our results point to the need for a rigorous a-priori scientific approach which distinguishes between different types of physiological synchrony.