Intimate Relationships

The study examined differences between college stu- dents from divorced and intact families on several measures of intimate relationships. Analyses indicated that students from divorced families had more sexual partners and desired more sexual involvement when going steady than students from intact families. Regression analyses indicated that, for students from both divorced and intact families, parental marital conflict was a significant predictor of total number of sexual partners and negative attitudes toward marriage. In addition, parents' marital status was a significant predictor of sexual involvement while going steady and a significant predictor of self perceptions of socialbility and morality. For students from divorced families, conflict after the divorce was a significant predictor of sexual involvement while going steady and negative attitudes toward marriage. Number of years since the divorce occurred was also a significant predictor of sexual involvement desired after several dates, relationship beliefs, and attitudes toward marriage for students from divorced families. Implications of these results are discussed in terms of college students' development of intimate relationships.     

Developmental Features in Intimate Relationships

Observation of multiple major intimate relationships reveals developmental features that occur in the sequence of many relationships and also in the individuals who progress through the relationships. Three phases of intimate relationships are defined, corresponding roughly to first marriages, second marriages or other ties, and subsequent intimate partnerships. Not only does the nature of the relationship change as a given individual progresses through the three phases, the person also changes in a predictable fashion.     

Issues in the Study of Deviance*

Several issues in the study of deviance are discussed: the definition of deviance; the significance of the deviant act; cultural relativism; the influence of social structures and causation. By using departures from rules to define deviance, sociologists may repeat fallacies of formalistic jurisprudence. Deviance is best left undefined, and preferably delimited ontologically in terms of middle range theory. Spector and Kitsuse's revisionist theory is judged insufficient for macro-analysis of deviance because they fail to reconcile the influence of objective and subjective factors. Cottrell's choice and feedback model is advocated as a means to study the dynamic process wherein values are aggregated in the social definition of deviance. The problem of bringing objective factors into this analysis is solved by showing how changing costs alter the order in which values are satisfied and thus change the overt pattern of societal reaction.     

Organizational Responses to Imputations of Deviance*

This paper proposes that the study of deviance be expanded to include organizations as actors to which deviance may be imputed. In contrast to traditional empirical studies which tend to emphasize powerless persons who passively accept attributions of deviance, this study focuses on powerful actors who actively defend themselves. Attention is focused on the types of accounts offered by one organization, the Central Intelligence Agency, in reaction to imputations of deviance to it at key times since its founding in the late 1940s. The various accounts have been aided by powerful third parties willing to use their resources in support of justifying and excusing claims by the CIA. As a result, the agency has escaped virtually unscathed from attempts to label it as deviant.     

Sexual Transformations and Intimate Behaviors in Romantic Relationships

To understand the association between sexual transformations (i.e., changes in sexual behavior for the partner), intimate behaviors, and relationship quality among couples in romantic relationships, this study used Actor Partner Interdependence Models to examine frequency of sexual transformations, feelings about sexual transformations, and intimate behaviors as predictors of relationship satisfaction among 96 couples (N = 192). Sexual transformations were also examined as a moderator of the association between intimate behavior and relationship satisfaction. Results indicated that relationship satisfaction was positively associated with partners’ frequent sexual transformations, actors’ positive feelings about sexual transformations, and intimate behavior from the partner. Further, in less intimate relationships, relationship satisfaction was greater when partners reported making more sexual transformations.     

Alienation and Deviance: Strain Theory Reconsidered*

This paper proposes a way in which the concepts of alienation and anomie may be related in a single dimension of social experience and offers a refinement and expansion of traditional strain theories of deviance causation. It is argued that both alienated and anomic social actors seek a common goal–a sense of effective interaction with their environment; an experience of personal competence. Anomic persons are those who perceive the demands of primary roles as confusing and beyond their abilities and who respond by seeking to maximize certainty, security, and stability in social interaction. By contrast, alienated individuals are those who experience primary role requirements as simple but stifling and restrictive, bereft of meaningful challenges. These latter persons seek greater freedom and opportunities for creativity and self-expression. The ways in which deviance may emerge as these alienated persons adapt to the perceived discrepancy between their abilities and responsibilit ies are outlined and illustrated following the adaptive modes suggested by Merton for anomic persons.     

Creating Deviance Rules: A Macroscopic Model*

In this paper we propose a macrolevel model for analyzing the creation of deviance rules. We begin by placing the phenomenon within the context of the social factist and social definitionist sociological traditions, identifying the insights and difficulties the social problems literature presents for explaining deviance rule creation. We suggest that the theoretical difficulties can be resolved by placing the process within a sociology of knowledge framework. The consequent dialectical model of deviance designation is based on the assumption that society is composed of a number of general interests in varying degrees of conflict with prevailing definitions of deviance representing outcomes of previous contests. This balance or accommodation becomes vulnerable with the introduction or increase in strain which is a potential resource for interest groups desiring a new definition. The outcome of the ensuing conflict is seen as dependent on the ability of the combatants to employ resources in the battle. We conclude by identifying the advantages the model has for studying the deviance rule creation process.     

Formal and Informal Social Controls of Employee Deviance*

Using the phenomenon of deviance by employees against the rules of the formal work organization as the behavior of interest, the differential saliences of both formal (i.e., management) and informal (i.e., co-worker) sanction severity are empirically compared. As hypothesized, the perceived threat of informal sanctions by one's fellow co-workers explains both property deviance and production deviance far better than the perceived severity of the more formal responses initiated by management. Further, if the two forms of social control are causally ordered, we find that management actions to constrain deviant employees do have an effect, albeit indirect, in that formal sanctions operate on deviance indirectly by shaping the informal sanctions.     

Perfectionism,Coping, and Quality of Intimate Relationships

The present study examined the associations among perfectionism, marital coping, and marital functioning in a community sample of 76 couples. A theoretical model was tested in which maladaptive coping mediates the relationship between trait perfectionism and poorer marital functioning. As predicted, one of the interpersonal dimensions of perfectionism, socially prescribed perfectionism, was associated with maladaptive marital coping and poorer marital adjustment for both the self and the partner, even after controlling for depression and neuroticism. Finally, the use of negative coping strategies mediated the relationship between socially prescribed perfectionism and poorer marital functioning for both the self and the partner. Overall, this study highlights the importance of spouse‐specific forms of perfectionism in marital adjustment.     

Sex and Deviance: an Assessment of Major Sociological Variables*

This paper empirically examines the claim that many theories of deviance only have utility for explaining deviance committed by males because their conceptual development was tainted with inattention to females. Five variables representing the essence of major theories of deviant behavior are measured for a self-report sample of 1993 cases. Each variable is tested to determine how well it can account for deviance among females compared to males. In volume of deviance more males than females were classified as deviant but the underlying processes which the five theoretical variables address operated equally for members of both sexes. These findings support the position that the processes by which females come to commit deviance is similar to the processes for males. The findings suggest that exclusive focus on females is unlikely to yield more adequate explanations of female deviance.     

How Intimate Relationships Are Impacted When Heterosexual Men Crossdress

Abstract

Few studies have been conducted to understand the phenomenon of transvestism, or crossdressing, as it is commonly referred. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of crossdressing on a person's dating/love relationships and sexual practices. The study was comprised of a non-random sampling of 21 male heterosexual cross-dressers who reside in Maine and New Hampshire.

Most of the men had identified themselves as crossdressers for decades. Almost all of the respondents had an entire femme persona with name, and regularly appeared in public crossdressed. Most of the men were married to women who were tolerant or accepting of their activity. The most negative responses were from wives who had found out about their husband's crossdressing years into their marriage. Feelings of anger, betrayal and fear were typical reactions by these women. The most common concern expressed by the crossdressers' partners was having others find out about their husband's behavior. Implications, as well as the limitations of this study, are discussed.     

Deviance and Definitional Processes: a Conceptual and Empirical Analysis*

The failure of the labeling perspective to account for informal reaction processes is noted. Viewing informal labeling in terms of emergence and the documentary method, definitional processes are divided into two categories: (1) intra-situational definitions concerning the practical problems of negotiating an inter-actional encounter, and (2) trans-situational definitions in which the actor is evaluated in terms of cultural knowledge and prior experience. A repeated measures experimental study is discussed which indicates that intra-situational and trans-situational definitions are differentially responsive to variations over time in the typicality of an actor's behavior. Implications for the concept of “aligning actions” are discussed.     

A Causal Model of Secondary Deviance: the Case of Homosexuality*

The causal structure of a theory of secondary deviance is fitted to data from a sample of 148 male homosexuals. The model suggests that if one perceives others reacting to him on the basis of the homosexual stereotype, his self definition may incorporate the stereotype. These responses, and the accompanied feelings of stigma, are likely to produce stress. As an adaptation, the individual may shift his reference associations to homosexual groups. While providing for a more positive identity, the ultimate outcome of these associations is often the adoption of a role consistent with the stereotype (i.e., secondary deviance). The basic concepts of the theory are operationally defined in terms of Likert-type scales. Dichotomizing the variables on the basis of median scale scores, a log-linear technique of causal inference is used to test the propositions. Offering support for the theory, the analysis suggests that secondary deviance is caused by association in homosexual groups which is caused by perceived societal rejection. Self definition is shown not to be related to secondary deviance, but is affected by perceived rejection and may affect and be affected by homosexual association. Implications for the labeling, anomie, and social and cultural support theories from which the model originated are also discussed.     

Violent Behavior in Interpersonal Relationships*

Like all interpersonal behavior, violent behavior is constructed within a situation by its participants. Structural determinants have insufficient explanatory power precisely because they do not account for the large amount of variation among actors and between situations. As an alternative, the violations of relational rules are examined, for such violations may be perceived as threats to the situated identities of the participants. The subsequent negotiation of identities and implementation of threat-reduction tactics precede and facilitate violent encounters. The movement from a heightened identity threat to the initiation of violence as a threat-reducing tactic may then be accounted for in terms of the following structural variables: subculture of violence, experience, intoxicants, audience, cost of failure.     

Status Compatibility,Physical Violence,and Emotional Abuse in Intimate Relationships

This article analyzing national data (N = 7,408) examines the connection between men's and women's relative economic contributions in families and the risk of husband‐to‐wife physical violence and emotional abuse. Family violence researchers have conceptualized the association between economic variables and the risk of intimate partner violence with respect to the structural dimensions of sociodemographic factors, whereas feminist researchers connect economic power to family dynamics. Marital dependency and stress frustration theories treat income, education, and employment as socioeconomic resources, whereas some feminist research points to the need for research that treats these economic variables as symbolic resources. Although income and educational attainment reduce women's risk of physical violence and emotional abuse by husbands, I find that status incompatibilities between partners that favor women increase the likelihood of emotional abuse.     

Economic Interests and the Vindication of Deviance: Tobacco in Seventeenth Century Europe*

Sociologists have tended to neglect vindication, the process by which deviant behavior becomes redefined as respectable or legitimate. The few studies emphasize the importance of moral persuasion in bringing about vindication. Tobacco's early history suggests that economic interests can also play an important role. In the early seventeenth century, Europeans viewed tobacco as a deviant drug; but in spite of continued moral opposition, it was vindicated by the end of the century because powerful persons and agencies discovered that supporting the trans-Atlantic tobacco trade was in their economic interest.     

A Scoping Review of Challenges in Adult Intimate Relationships After Childhood Sexual Abuse

Childhood sexual abuse is a severe problem worldwide. Childhood sexual abuse can be detrimental to children and their abilities to cope with and communicate in their subsequent adult intimate relationships. The aim of this review was to generate and summarize knowledge about how childhood sexual abuse manifests in adult intimate relationships so healthcare professionals can incorporate this knowledge into treatment and care. A scoping review methodology was selected because it supports examination of the extent, range, and nature of research activity. A content analysis of the studies included in this review led to three thematic categories of challenges in adult intimate relationships after childhood sexual abuse: (a) relationship satisfaction, (b) sexual satisfaction, and (c) communication and trust.     

Attachment Repair in Couples Therapy: A Prototype for Treatment of Intimate Relationships

This paper describes a prototype for the treatment of intimate relationships that takes into account how to evaluate attachment styles in the couple relationship and in psychotherapy, and how to integrate this understanding into clinical practice. It is important for the couple’s therapist to understand attachment, its neurobiological underpinnings, and its origins in early development. Secure attachment in an adult relationship may be challenged if one or both partners have experienced disruption of a primary attachment relationship. The goal of successful treatment is to restore the normative growth of intimacy, empathy, understanding, healthy dependency, and connection.