Thank You for Changing: Gratitude Promotes Autonomous Motivation and Successful Partner Regulation

Romantic partners often attempt to improve their relationship by changing each other's traits and behaviors, but such partner regulation is often unsuccessful. We examined whether gratitude expressed by agents (i.e., partners requesting change) facilitates greater regulation success from targets (i.e., partners making change) by encouraging targets' autonomous motivation. Across studies, including observational (Study 1, N = 111 couples), preregistered longitudinal (Study 2, N = 150 couples), and experimental (Study 3a, N = 431; Study 3b, N = 725) designs, agents' gratitude for targets' efforts was linked to greater targets'-and less consistently agents'-reported regulation success. These effects were consistently mediated by greater target autonomous motivation, and generally persisted when accounting for how agents communicated their change request and other positive responses to targets' efforts (e.g., positivity and support). Gratitude for targets' efforts appears to be an important tool for promoting change success.

The attenuating effect of perspective taking on negative behavior in relationship interactions

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

Constructive conflict resolution requires tailored responsiveness to specific needs

Conflict affords an opportunity for relationship partners to demonstrate that they can be responsive to each other's needs. Understanding what constitutes responsiveness during conflict requires taking a dyadic perspective to identify how partners can tailor responses to address actors' specific needs. The present article reviews recent evidence showing that perceived responsiveness emerges from dyadic patterns involving how both partners and actors behave, and that partners' responsiveness during conflict involves different kinds of behaviors depending on actors' behavior and needs. These dyadic patterns emphasize that building tailored responsiveness to promote conflict resolution requires couples being able and willing to identify, communicate, and respond to each other's specific needs.

Using Observational Dyadic Methods in Youth Mentoring Research: Preliminary Evidence of the Role of Actors' and Partners' Self-disclosure in Predicting Relationship Quality

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

Feeling loved as a strong link in relationship interactions: Partners who feel loved may buffer destructive behavior by actors who feel unloved

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

Actor and partner power are distinct and have differential effects on social behavior

Interpersonal power involves how much actors can influence partners (actor power) and how much partners can influence actors (partner power). Yet, most theories and investigations of power conflate the effects of actor and partner power, creating a fundamental ambiguity in the literature regarding how power shapes social behavior. We demonstrate that actor and partner power are distinct and have differential effects on social behavior. Six studies (total N = 1,787) tested whether actor and partner power independently predicted behavioral inhibition (expressive suppression) and communal behavior (prioritization of partners' needs) within close relationships, including during couples' daily life (Study 1), lab-based social interactions (Studies 1-5; 1,012 dyadic interactions), and general responses during conflict (Studies 5 and 6). Actor power was negatively associated with behavioral inhibition, indicating that actors' low power prompts self-focused inhibition to prevent negative outcomes that low power actors are unable to control. Partner power was positively associated with actors' communal behavior, indicating that high partner power prompts other-focused behavior that prioritizes partners' needs and goals. These differential effects of actor and partner power replicated in work-based relationships with bosses/managers (Study 6). Unexpectedly, partner power was negatively associated with actors' behavioral inhibition within close relationships, consistent with a desire to prevent negative outcomes for low power partners. We present a framework that integrates the approach-inhibition and agentic-communal theories of power to account for the differential effects of actor and partner power. We describe the implications of this framework for understanding the effects of power in both close and hierarchical relationships. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Enduring COVID-19 lockdowns: Risk versus resilience in parents' health and family functioning across the pandemic

Have the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic risked declines in parents' health and family functioning, or have most parents been resilient and shown no changes in health and family functioning? Assessing average risk versus resilience requires examining how families have fared across the pandemic, beyond the initial months examined in prior investigations. The current research examines changes in parents' health and functioning over the first 1.5 years of the pandemic. Parents (N = 272) who had completed general pre-pandemic assessments completed reassessments of psychological/physical health, couple/family functioning, and parenting within two mandatory lockdowns in New Zealand: at the beginning of the pandemic (26 March-28 April 2020) and 17 months later (18 August-21 September 2021). Parents exhibited average declines in psychological/physical health (greater depressive symptoms; reduced well-being, energy and physical health) and in couple/family functioning (reduced commitment and family cohesion; greater problem severity and family chaos). By contrast, there were no average differences in parent-child relationship quality and parenting practices across lockdowns. Declines in health and couple/family functioning occurred irrespective of pre-pandemic health and functioning, but partner support buffered declines in couple/family functioning. The results emphasize that attending to the challenges parents and couples face in the home will be important to mitigate and recover from the impact of the pandemic on parents' and children's well-being.

Do stressful life events impact long-term well-being? Annual change in well-being following different life events compared to matched controls

Available longitudinal evidence suggests that personal growth following adversity may not be as prevalent as suggested in cross-sectional research. Firm conclusions regarding resiliency versus post-traumatic growth following adverse events are further tempered by the restricted range of outcomes assessed when examining resilience, the focus on specific adverse events or cumulative adversity scores that hinder comparisons between event types, and the relative scarcity of analyses including matched control groups. The current study addresses these gaps by leveraging longitudinal panel data comparing annual change in well-being from 2018 to 2019 for people who experienced a major life stressor relative to propensity score matched controls who did not experience such stressors over the same period. Moreover, independent comparisons are conducted across three distinct event categories: traumatic interpersonal events (N matched pairs = 1,030), job loss (N matched pairs = 1,361), and birth (N matched pairs = 1,225), and five self-reported well-being indicators: life satisfaction, felt belongingness, self-esteem, meaning in life, and gratitude. Results indicate that people's well-being (across all five indicators) remained consistent over the year in independent analyses of samples experiencing each of the three types of events, and did not differ from matched controls. These findings indicate high population levels of psychological resilience, in the sense that people did not decrease in annual well-being following various life events. These findings also fail to detect significant evidence for possible post-traumatic growth, insofar as such growth might relate to a broad range of different aspects of well-being.

Feminine Gender Role Discrepancy Strain and Women's Self-Esteem in Daily and Weekly Life: A Person x Context Perspective

Social pressures to adhere to traditional feminine roles may place some women at risk of experiencing gender role discrepancy strain, when they behave, think, or feel in ways discrepant from feminine gender role expectations. The current research examines how person-level propensity to experience feminine gender-role discrepancy strain—feminine gender role stress (FGRS)—and contextual experiences of discrepancy strain—feeling less feminine in daily or weekly life—combine to undermine women’s self-esteem. After completing measures of FGRS, undergraduate women reported their feelings of femininity and self-esteem each day for 10 days (Study 1, N = 207, 1,881 daily records) or each week for 7 weeks (Study 2, N = 165, 1,127 weekly records). This repeated assessments design provided the first tests of whether within-person decreases in felt-femininity were associated with lower self-esteem, particularly for women who were higher in FGRS. Both higher FGRS and within-person decreases in daily/weekly felt-femininity were associated with lower self-esteem, but higher FGRS combined with daily/weekly decreases in felt-femininity predicted the lowest self-esteem (a person x context interaction). These results illustrate the importance of considering how person-level predispositions and contextual experiences of gender-role discrepancy strain combine to influence self-relevant outcomes for women.

How far is the reach of personality in relationship functioning during COVID-19? Reply to Pfund and Hill (2022)

Pfund and Hill (2022) suggest that individual resilience factors such as agreeableness and conscientiousness are likely to promote better relationship functioning as couples navigate the pandemic. Although we agree that more fully incorporating individual resilience factors would strengthen our adapted vulnerability-stress-adaptation (VSA) model, neither agreeableness nor conscientiousness reliably predict relationship functioning. In line with the VSA model, we emphasize the importance of a Person × Context approach that examines the potential effects of personality factors within couples' specific situational contexts during and after the pandemic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Monthly Trends in the Life Events Reported in the Prior Year and First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic in New Zealand

The current study examines changes in the economic, social, and well-being life events that women and men reported during the first 7 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Analyses compared monthly averages in cross-sectional national probability data from two annual waves of the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study collected between October 2018–September 2019 (N = 17,924), and October 2019–September 2020 (N = 41,653), which included the first 7 months of the pandemic (Mar–Sep 2020). Results indicated that people (particularly women) reported increased job loss in the months following an initial COVID-19 lockdown relative to the same months the year earlier. Women also experienced an increase in family troubles when restrictions eased and reported increased negative lifestyle changes that persisted throughout the first 7 months of the pandemic. The proportion of people experiencing many other life events (e.g., mental health, financial concerns) in New Zealand did not differ reliably from the pre-pandemic monthly baseline. These results highlight resilience to many potential negative life events within the first 7 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the pandemic did not affect everyone equally, and the burden of increased negative events appears more heavily borne by women. As the pandemic continues more than 18 months from initial community transmission of COVID-19, our findings provide important insight into the impact of the pandemic on potential negative life events, especially among women, that may have critical consequences for mental health, gender equality, and social well-being over time.

Depressive Symptoms, External Stress, and Marital Adjustment: The Buffering Effect of Partner's Responsive Behavior

Guided by theory emphasizing that partner responsiveness underlies well-functioning romantic relationships, we examined whether partners' responsive behavior buffered the degree to which a personal vulnerability (depressive symptoms) and external stress predicted declines in relationship adjustment. Using an existing dataset, we tested whether individuals' depressive symptoms and stress interacted with observer-coded partner responsive behavior during marital conflict discussions to predict change in marital adjustment at the next time point (N = 195 couples Time 1 to Time 2, 158 couples Time 2 to Time 3). Individuals experiencing greater (a) depressive symptoms or (b) stress showed sharper declines in marital adjustment. However, as predicted, the negative effects of both depressive symptoms and stress were attenuated when partners displayed high behavioral responsiveness. These findings underscore the importance of adopting a dyadic perspective to understand how partners' responsive behavior can overcome the harmful effects of personal and situational vulnerabilities on relationship outcomes.

Sexist attitudes predict family-based aggression during a COVID-19 lockdown

The current research examined whether men's hostile sexism was a risk factor for family-based aggression during a nationwide COVID-19 lockdown in which families were confined to the home for 5 weeks. Parents who had reported on their sexist attitudes and aggressive behavior toward intimate partners and children prior to the COVID-19 pandemic completed assessments of aggressive behavior toward their partners and children during the lockdown (N = 362 parents of which 310 were drawn from the same family). Accounting for pre-lockdown levels of aggression, men who more strongly endorsed hostile sexism reported greater aggressive behavior toward their intimate partners and their children during the lockdown. The contextual factors that help explain these longitudinal associations differed across targets of family-based aggression. Men's hostile sexism predicted greater aggression toward intimate partners when men experienced low power during couples' interactions, whereas men's hostile sexism predicted greater aggressive parenting when men reported lower partner-child relationship quality. Novel effects also emerged for benevolent sexism. Men's higher benevolent sexism predicted lower aggressive parenting, and women's higher benevolent sexism predicted greater aggressive behavior toward partners, irrespective of power and relationship quality. The current study provides the first longitudinal demonstration that men's hostile sexism predicts residual changes in aggression toward both intimate partners and children. Such aggressive behavior will intensify the health, well-being, and developmental costs of the pandemic, highlighting the importance of targeting power-related gender role beliefs when screening for aggression risk and delivering therapeutic and education interventions as families face the unprecedented challenges of COVID-19. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Women's attractiveness contingent self-esteem, romantic rejection, and body dissatisfaction

The centrality of attractiveness to social evaluations of women puts women at particular risk of body dissatisfaction. However, it is less clear who these social standards most affect and the situations in which they are most salient. Women whose self-esteem is more contingent on standards of attractiveness (ACSE) should be particularly vulnerable to body dissatisfaction, particularly in contexts that provide negative attractiveness-relevant feedback such as romantic rejection. The current research tested whether women higher in ACSE experienced greater body dissatisfaction in the context of naturally-occurring experiences of romantic rejection. In Study 1, women (N = 168) identified and recalled a range of prior rejection experiences and reported their body dissatisfaction. Women higher in ACSE recalled greater body dissatisfaction in the context of romantic rejection. In Study 2, women (N = 101) recorded daily experiences of romantic rejection and body dissatisfaction (N = 885 daily records). Women higher in ACSE experienced greater within-person increases in body dissatisfaction on days they reported romantic rejection. The results emphasize the relevance of romantic rejection for understanding women's body dissatisfaction and help explain inconsistencies in the literature by illustrating that higher ACSE is associated with greater body dissatisfaction in contexts that provide negative attractiveness-related feedback.

Emotion regulation and psychological and physical health during a nationwide COVID-19 lockdown

The current research tests the links between emotion regulation and psychological and physical health during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Study 1, parents (N = 365) who had reported on their psychological and physical health prior to the pandemic completed the same health assessments along with their use of emotion regulation strategies when confined in the home with their school-aged children during a nationwide lockdown. In Study 2, individuals (N = 1,607) from a nationally representative panel study completed similar measures of psychological and physical health and use of emotion regulation strategies one-year prior to the lockdown and then again during the lockdown. Accounting for prepandemic psychological health, greater rumination and emotional suppression were independently associated with poorer psychological health (greater depressive symptoms and psychological distress, lower emotional and personal well-being), even when controlling for the emotional challenges of the pandemic (emotion control difficulties, perceived support; Studies 1 and 2) and a range of demographic covariates (Study 2). Greater rumination was also associated with greater fatigue in both studies, but greater rumination and emotional suppression were only independently associated with poorer perceptions of physical health in Study 2. The results for cognitive reappraisal were mixed; positive associations with personal well-being and general health only emerged in Study 2. The results provide evidence that key models in affective science help explain differences in psychological and physical health within the throes of a real-world demanding context and thus offer targets to help facilitate health and resilience during the pandemic (and other crises). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Parents' distress and poor parenting during a COVID-19 lockdown: The buffering effects of partner support and cooperative coparenting

The COVID-19 pandemic is placing demands on parents that may amplify the risk of parents' distress and poor parenting. Leveraging a prepandemic study in New Zealand, the current research tested whether parents' psychological distress during a mandated lockdown predicts relative residual changes in poorer parenting and whether partner support and cooperative coparenting buffer this potentially detrimental effect. Participants included 362 parents; 310 were from the same family (155 dyads). Parents had completed assessments of psychological distress and parenting prior to the pandemic and then reported on their distress, parenting, partner support, and cooperative coparenting during a nationwide COVID-19 lockdown. Parents' distress during the lockdown predicted relative residual increases in harsh parenting, but this effect was buffered by partner support. Parents' distress also predicted residual decreases in warm/responsive parenting and parent-child relationship quality, but these effects were buffered by cooperative coparenting. Partner support and cooperative coparenting are important targets for future research and interventions to help parents navigate challenging family contexts, including COVID-19 lockdowns. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Biased memories contribute to the links between stress and depressive symptoms

Perceived stress undermines emotional wellbeing, and poorer emotional wellbeing may intensify perceived stress. The current studies examined whether biased memories contribute to the possible reciprocal links between perceived stress and depressive symptoms. Two longitudinal studies compared the stress people perceived for several weeks (Study 1, N = 308) or during a conflict interaction (Study 2, N = 261) with memories of perceived stress gathered in subsequent weeks. People with low depressive symptoms remembered their past as involving less perceived stress than they initially experienced (positive bias). By contrast, people with average or higher levels of depressive symptoms remembered their past as involving exactly as much perceived stress as initially experienced (depressive realism) or, at very high levels of depressive symptoms, more perceived stress than initially experienced (negative bias). These memory biases had important implications. Accounting for initial levels of perceived stress, more negative memories of perceived stress predicted greater weekly depressed mood (Study 1) and greater depressive symptoms across time (Study 2). Evaluating whether life has involved as much perceived stress as now remembered may help facilitate emotional wellbeing in the face of rising perceived stress and depressive symptoms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Conflict-coparenting spillover: The role of actors' and partners' attachment insecurity and gender

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

Depressive symptoms, stress, and poorer emotional support when needed by intimate partners

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

Implications of social isolation, separation, and loss during the COVID-19 pandemic for couples' relationships

The broad isolation, separation, and loss resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic raise risks for couples' relationship quality and stability. Guided by the vulnerability–stress–adaptation model, we suggest that how pandemic-related loss, isolation, and separation impact couples' relationships will vary depending on the amount and severity of pandemic-related stress, together with enduring personal vulnerabilities (e.g. attachment insecurity), both of which can disrupt adaptive dyadic responses to these challenges. A review of emerging research examining relationship functioning before and during the initial stages of the pandemic offers support for this framework. We draw on additional research to suggest pathways for mitigating relationship disruptions and promoting resilience.

Relationship problems, agreement and bias in perceptions of partners' parental responsiveness, and family functioning

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

A dyadic perspective of expressive suppression: Own or partner suppression weakens relationships

In the current research, we apply a dyadic perspective of expressive suppression (ES) to test whether ES represents a weak link, such that either actors' or partners' ES is sufficient to undermine relationship satisfaction. Our primary aim was to test this weak-link pattern by modeling Actor × Partner ES interactions on relationship satisfaction. To maximize power, we conducted integrative data analyses across four existing dyadic samples (N = 427 couples) that included self-reports of habitual ES and relationship satisfaction. Our second aim was to examine the role of conflict resolution ability as one potential mechanism for the ES weak-link pattern on satisfaction. These integrative data analyses involved two dyadic samples (N = 242 couples) that included self-reports of conflict resolution ability. Significant Actor × Partner ES interactions revealed a weak-link pattern: greater actors' or partners' ES was associated with lower relationship satisfaction. Accordingly, actors' lower ES was associated with higher satisfaction only when partners' ES was also low. This ES weak-link pattern also emerged for conflict resolution ability, which provided evidence that reduced conflict resolution ability is one interpersonal process that contributes to the weak-link pattern on satisfaction. ES likely operates as a weak link because actors' or partners' ES interferes with the coordination, cooperation, and connection needed to manage relationship challenges and sustain healthy relationships. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Infants' attachment insecurity predicts attachment-relevant emotion regulation strategies in adulthood

Infant attachment is theorized to lay the foundation of emotion regulation across the life span. However, testing this proposition requires prospective designs examining whether attachment assessed in infancy predicts emotion regulation strategies observed in adult relationships. Using unique data from the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation, we examined whether infant attachment assessed at 12 and 18 months in the Strange Situation were associated with attachment-relevant emotion regulation strategies coded from video-recorded conflict discussions with romantic partners at ages 20, 23, 26, and/or 35. The current research first integrated the developmental and emotion regulation literatures to identify three specific attachment-relevant emotion regulation strategies. Balanced-regulation involves being open, approach-orientated, and engaging in collaborative problem-solving. Hypo-regulation involves suppressing emotions, disengaging from close others, and engaging in superficial problem-solving. Hyper-regulation involves exaggerating emotional expressions, ruminating, and being self-focused in processing issues. Compared to stable secure infants (secure at 12 and 18 months), stable insecure infants (insecure at 12 and 18 months) displayed worse balanced-regulation and greater hypo-regulation strategies, and unstable insecure infants (insecure at 12 or 18 months) displayed greater hyper-regulation strategies, in relationship-threatening situations 20-35 years later. Conceptually replicating these results, greater friendship insecurity at age 16 predicted worse balanced-regulation and greater hypo- and hyper-regulation strategies during relationship-threatening situations in adulthood. These findings highlight that infant attachment insecurity is associated with distinct emotion regulation strategies in adulthood 20-35 years later. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Partners’ Attachment Insecurity and Stress Predict Poorer Relationship Functioning During COVID-19 Quarantines

The COVID-19 pandemic presents acute, ongoing relationship challenges. The current research tested how (1) preexisting vulnerabilities assessed prior to the pandemic (attachment insecurity) and (2) stress as couples endured a mandated quarantine predicted residual changes in relationship functioning. Controlling for prequarantine problems, relationship quality, and family environment, greater partners’ attachment anxiety predicted greater relationship problems, lower relationship quality, and a less stable and cohesive family environment when people were experiencing more stress. Greater partners’ attachment avoidance predicted lower problem-solving efficacy and family cohesion. The effects of partners’ preexisting vulnerabilities and pandemic-related stress demonstrate the utility of key models in relationship science in identifying who is at most risk of relationship problems in the unprecedented context of a mandated quarantine. The results emphasize that the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on relationship functioning will be shaped by the characteristics of partners with whom people are confined with during the pandemic.

Maternal and paternal confidence in vaccine safety: Whose attitudes are predictive of children's vaccination?

Relatively little is known about the differential impact of maternal and paternal perceptions of vaccine safety on children's vaccination status in New Zealand. Using a sample of 68 couples from the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (NZAVS), the present study investigated the distinct influence of mothers' and fathers' confidence in the safety of childhood vaccinations following the national immunisation schedule on their reports of children's vaccination status. Actor-Partner Interdependence Modelling revealed that mothers', but not fathers', vaccine confidence predicted children's vaccination status, regardless of who reported their children's vaccination status. Higher maternal vaccine confidence increased the likelihood of child full vaccination status, but paternal vaccine confidence showed no unique significant effects. As women tend to express lower vaccine confidence than men, it is imperative to further investigate the key drivers of their low confidence and develop target interventions accordingly. Encouraging fathers' involvement in the vaccination decision-making process may also be beneficial in increasing the likelihood of childhood vaccination uptake.

Attachment anxiety and the curvilinear effects of expressive suppression on individuals' and partners' outcomes

Suppressing the expression of negative emotions tends to undermine individuals' and their partners' wellbeing. However, sometimes expressive suppression may be relatively innocuous given that individuals commonly withhold negative emotions in order to maintain close relationships, and this may be especially the case when expressive suppression is enacted by people who exhibit amplified expressions of negative emotions, such as those high in attachment anxiety. The current research examined when and for whom expressive suppression may be more or less costly by testing whether the curvilinear effect of individuals' expressive suppression on individuals' and partners' outcomes is moderated by individuals' attachment anxiety. Our results across 3 dyadic studies revealed a linear effect of expressive suppression when predicting individuals' outcomes: greater expressive suppression had costs for individuals (lower relationship satisfaction, reported responsiveness and discussion success, and greater discussion threat). Furthermore, in 4 of the 5 models, a moderated curvilinear effect of expressive suppression emerged when predicting partners' outcomes. For individuals low in attachment anxiety, low levels of expressive suppression did not incur costs for their partners' relationship satisfaction, perceptions of individuals' responsiveness, discussion success, and discussion threat. Once expressive suppression surpassed moderate levels, however, greater expressive suppression had a detrimental effect on partners' outcomes. In contrast, for individuals high in attachment anxiety, the negative effect of moderate-to-high levels of expressive suppression on partners' outcomes was attenuated. These novel results demonstrate how considering curvilinear methods can uncover when and for whom expressive suppression may be more or less costly in intimate relationships. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Applying relationship science to evaluate how the COVID-19 pandemic may impact couples' relationships

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

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide lockdown on trust, attitudes toward government, and well-being

The contagiousness and deadliness of COVID-19 have necessitated drastic social management to halt transmission. The immediate effects of a nationwide lockdown were investigated by comparing matched samples of New Zealanders assessed before (N_prelockdown = 1,003) and during the first 18 days of lockdown (N_lockdown = 1,003). Two categories of outcomes were examined: (a) institutional trust and attitudes toward the nation and government and (b) health and well-being. Applying propensity score matching to approximate the conditions of a randomized controlled experiment, the study found that people in the pandemic/lockdown group reported higher trust in science, politicians, and police, higher levels of patriotism, and higher rates of mental distress compared to people in the prelockdown prepandemic group. Results were confirmed in within-subjects analyses. The study highlights social connectedness, resilience, and vulnerability in the face of adversity and has applied implications for how countries face this global challenge. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Is Low Power Associated with Submission During Marital Conflict? Moderating Roles of Gender and Traditional Gender Role Beliefs

Lower power during marital interactions predicts greater aggression by men, but no research has identified women's response to lower power. We tested whether women who experienced lower situational power during conflict exhibited greater submission, especially if they held traditional gender role beliefs and thus accepted structural gender differences in power. Newlywed couples (Time 1 N = 204 couples) completed questionnaires and discussed an area of conflict 3 times over 3 years. Individuals who perceived lower power during couples' discussions evidenced greater submission, but this effect was more pronounced for wives, especially wives who held traditional gender role beliefs. Among those with traditional gender role beliefs, greater submission together with lower power predicted lower marital adjustment over time. These results highlight that the low power-submission link, and associated implications for marital adjustment, need to be evaluated in the context of power-relevant situations, gender, and broader power-related beliefs about gender roles.

Men's Hostile Sexism and Biased Perceptions of Partners' Support: Underestimating Dependability Rather Than Overestimating Challenges to Dominance

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

Reconsidering “Best Practices” for Testing the Ideal Standards Model: A Response to Eastwick, Finkel, and Simpson (2018)

Eastwick, Finkel, and Simpson (2018) advanced recommendations for “best practices” in testing the predictive validity of individual differences in the extent to which perceptions of partners match ideal standards (ideal-partner matching). We respond to their article evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of different tests, presenting new analyses of existing data, and setting out conclusions that differ from Eastwick et al. We (a) argue that correlations between ideal standards for attributes in partners and corresponding partner perceptions are relevant to the ideal standards model (ISM), (b) show that important methodological and statistical issues qualify their interpretations of prior research, (c) illustrate a new analytic approach used in the accuracy literature that tests (and controls for) confounds highlighted by Eastwick et al., and (d) provide evidence that the direct-estimation measure of ideal-partner matching is a valid and useful method. We conclude with a cautionary note on the concept of best practices.

Behavioral variability reduces the harmful longitudinal effects of partners' negative-direct behavior on relationship problems

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

Gender differences in the associations between relationship status, social support, and wellbeing

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

Perceptions of romantic partners' emotional suppression are more biased than accurate

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

Does expressing emotions enhance perceptual accuracy of negative emotions during relationship interactions?

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

Facilitating autonomy in interdependent relationships: Invisible support facilitates highly avoidant individuals' autonomy

Maintaining autonomy in interdependent relationships is challenging, particularly for people high in attachment avoidance, who prioritize independence. Invisible support involves indirect, subtle behaviors that minimize the salience of dependence and encourage self-driven problem solving and thus should facilitate autonomy. The current research tested whether partners' invisible support during couples' discussions of personal goals (N = 200 dyadic discussions) facilitated goal-related autonomy immediately and across time for recipients high in attachment avoidance. Highly avoidant individuals experienced lower autonomy immediately after dependence-based discussions with their partners, but they experienced the same levels of autonomy as did those low in avoidance when their partners provided greater invisible support. Furthermore, highly avoidant individuals generally experienced lower commitment, but they experienced the same levels of commitment as did those low in avoidance when they experienced greater autonomy. The results illustrate how bridging self-determination and attachment theories advances understanding of how to facilitate need fulfillment in intimate relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Attachment insecurity and power regulation in intimate relationships

Power and dependence are fundamental to the development of attachment insecurity and attachment insecurity is central in defining different ways people regulate power. This paper applies an integrated power and attachment perspective to advance understanding of the diverse ways people attempt to negotiate dependence and power in adult relationships. The paper demonstrates how: (1) power is integral to the concerns and goals underlying attachment avoidance and anxiety, (2) the situations that activate attachment strategies represent specific power-relevant concerns and goals, (3) the reactions associated with avoidance and anxiety reflect distinct strategies to regulate dependence and control, and (4) partners counter with their own power regulation attempts. The integrative model presented generates new insights into both power and attachment dynamics.

An interdependence account of sexism and power: Men's hostile sexism, biased perceptions of low power, and relationship aggression

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

Does support need to be seen? Daily invisible support promotes next day relationship well-being

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

Promoting Youth Mental Health via Text-Messages: A New Zealand Feasibility Study

BACKGROUND

A growing body of research has documented the positive effects of gratitude programs on participants' mental health and well-being. For children and adolescents, these programs typically rely on school-based group designs tied with a health curriculum, whereas innovative technology-based programs are relatively understudied.

METHODS

This experiment investigated the feasibility and efficacy of a gratitude text-messaging program for promoting adolescent mental health relative to a positive reflective control condition.

RESULTS

Young people showed positive changes over the course of the program in their general sense of gratitude, subjective well-being, and reduced depressive symptoms, with some evidence that those with higher levels of depressive symptoms benefited more from the gratitude program. However, there were no significant differences across the two groups in the magnitude of these mental health changes. Participants in both conditions valued and were highly engaged with the interactive text-messaging approach.

CONCLUSION

This interactive e-health promotion strategy seemed to promote strong engagement and showed promising effectiveness with young people, with some challenges to feasibility due to the labor intensive nature of sending and responding to a large number of text-messages. The importance of carefully considering risk management strategies when developing such programs was also highlighted.

Perceived regard, expressive suppression during conflict, and conflict resolution

The way emotions are expressed during relationship conflict should play an important role in facilitating conflict resolution, but the risk of rejection that conflict poses may promote expressive suppression, which could impede conflict resolution. In the current research, the authors applied a risk regulation perspective to understand when expressive suppression will occur during conflict. They predicted that (a) perceiving lower regard from the partner during conflict would predict greater expressive suppression, and (b) greater expressive suppression would undermine conflict resolution. In Study 1, individuals engaged in a conflict discussion with their romantic partner (N = 180 couples) and then reported the degree to which they felt regarded by their partner and generated a solution to the conflict during the discussion. Independent coders rated how much individuals attempted to suppress their emotional expressions during the conflict. In Study 2, individuals reported on their relationship conflict, perceived regard, expressive suppression, and conflict resolution every day across a 3-week period (N = 73 couples). In both studies, perceiving lower positive regard during conflict was associated with greater expressive suppression. Greater expressive suppression was, in turn, associated with lower conflict resolution. These associations were not due to greater stress/upset or negative emotions, greater withdrawal, greater attachment insecurity, or lower positive regard for the partner. These within-situation associations suggest that expressive suppression may often arise to bypass the risk of rejection that occurs when people feel less positively regarded by their partner, but expressive suppression may also put relationships at further risk by undermining conflict resolution. (PsycINFO Database Record

"You're forgiven, but don't do it again!" Direct partner regulation buffers the costs of forgiveness

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

Expressive suppression tendencies, projection bias in memory of negative emotions, and well-being

The current research extends prior research linking negative emotions and emotion regulation tendencies to memory by investigating whether (a) naturally occurring negative emotions during routine weekly life are associated with more negatively biased memories of prior emotional experiences-a bias called projection; (b) tendencies to regulate emotions via expressive suppression are associated with greater projection bias in memory of negative emotions; and (c) greater projection bias in memory is associated with poorer future well-being. Participants (N = 308) completed a questionnaire assessing their general tendencies to engage in expressive suppression. Then, every week for 7 weeks, participants reported on (a) the negative emotions they experienced across the current week (e.g., "This week, I felt 'sad'"), (b) their memories of the negative emotions they experienced the prior week (e.g., "Last week, I felt 'sad'"), and (c) their well-being. First, participants demonstrated significant projection bias in memory: Greater negative emotions in a given week were associated with remembering emotions in the prior week more negatively than those prior emotions were originally reported. Second, projection bias in memory of negative emotions was greater for individuals who reported greater tendencies to regulate emotions via expressive suppression. Third, greater projection bias in memory of negative emotions was associated with reductions in well-being across weeks. These 3 novel findings indicate that (a) current negative emotions bias memory of past emotions, (b) this memory bias is magnified for people who habitually use expressive suppression to regulate emotions, and (c) this memory bias may undermine well-being over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

The Dyadic Nature of Self-Evaluations: Self-Esteem and Efficacy Shape and Are Shaped by Support Processes in Relationships

The current research tested an important way one person’s self-evaluations could shape their intimate partner’s self-evaluations. We predicted that greater self-esteem would predict greater efficacy and esteem support when partners needed support, which would facilitate greater efficacy and self-esteem in partners. We examined these processes within discussions in which one partner could provide support (support provider) to the other (support recipient). Study 1 illustrated that self-esteem was specifically associated with esteem support. Study 2 demonstrated that support providers higher in self-esteem experienced greater efficacy during couples’ support discussions and thus delivered greater esteem support to their partners. Greater esteem support, in turn, was associated with recipients experiencing greater efficacy within couples’ discussions and greater self-esteem across time. Analyses of alternative explanations indicated these processes were unique to self-esteem and esteem support. The results provide initial evidence that self-esteem and efficacy shape, and are shaped by, esteem-related support processes within relationships.

When power shapes interpersonal behavior: Low relationship power predicts men's aggressive responses to low situational power

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