Violence between Family Members

No abstract available for this article.     

Applying the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model to Micro-Level Analyses of Marital Partner Affect During Couple Conversations: An Exploratory Investigation

For years observational techniques along with other methods have sought to explore the relationships of couple interactional exchanges to marital quality and longevity. However, many of the previous methodological procedures used might be inadequate at capturing the influential micro-dimensional nuances of interpartner couple affective stability and reciprocity. This study explored the dyadic patterns in 23 married couples' continuous affect ratings during two communication episodes. Multilevel modeling was used to assess the structure in the stability of one's own affect and the influence of partner affect over 3-, 6-, and 9-second time lags. Implications regarding the use of nested models to explore patterns of actor and partner effects are discussed.     

An Exploration of the Construction of Commitment Leading to Marriage

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how newly married couples construct and reconstruct commitment through events in courtship and early marriage. Fifteen newly married couples, 30 participants, were interviewed individually. Through the use of grounded theory six different themes (friendship, gradual process, positive examples, negative examples, planning for the future, and words of affirmation) emerged in the construction, origination, and communication of commitment. The results of this study have specific implications for theory, research, and practice with young adult couples. The concept of resilient commitment is introduced and briefly discussed.     

Perceptions of Parental Intimate Relationships and Their Affects on the Experience of Romantic Relationship Development Among African American Emerging Adults

The quality of romantic relationships that parents maintain has an impact on their children. Emerging adult children base their relationships on similar values and/or opposing beliefs of their parental romantic relationships. This phenomenological study aimed to identify how African American emerging adults experience their parental romantic relationships and how they find meaning in the romantic relationships of their parents. Results suggest that African American emerging adults develop both positive and negative perceptions about romantic relationships from their parents’ relationships, which affect the way these adults perceive, develop, and maintain their own romantic unions. African American emerging adults also find meaning in their parental couple relationships as they share similar experiences in their relationship quality, mate choice, and/or personal or mate characteristics and personality traits as their parents.     

“Want to Stay Over?” Demographic,Intrapersonal, and Relational Differences Among Those Who Date,Stay-Over,and Cohabit

This study explored the potential uniqueness of staying over, or spending the night with a romantic partner, as a relationship status. Using a recent sample of 2,304 individuals in romantic relationships, we explored how staying over might be associated with demographic, intrapersonal, and relational characteristics. Results suggested that individuals in “stay-over relationships” were similar to those in dating relationships and that cohabiters, defined as those who lived with a romantic partner in the same residence, were the most likely to differ from those in other types of relationships on demographic, intrapersonal, and relational assessments. Staying over in the absence of cohabitation was not associated with differences in relationship outcomes once controls were taken into account, but cohabiters who were not spending the night together did report lower relationship satisfaction compared with cohabiters spending most nights together.     

From interpersonal to extended fusion: relationships between fusion with siblings and fusion with the country / Desde la fusión interpersonal a la fusión extendida: Relaciones entre la fusión con los hermanos y la fusión con el país

Abstract

Identity fusion is a visceral feeling of oneness with a group. Although research on identity fusion focuses on the alignment of individuals with groups, we propose that fusion can develop between two individuals. In particular, we explore for the first time identity fusion between siblings and its relation with endorsement of extreme behaviour to protect the sibling. In a study conducted with 761 couples of siblings we found that fusion with the sibling is positively associated with willingness to fight and die for the sibling. Additionally, we address the relation between interpersonal and extended fusion. Specifically, a positive association between fusion with the sibling and fusion with the country emerged. The hypothesis that extended fusion might require the projection of interpersonal ties to a large category is discussed.     

Attitudes of the Elderly Towards Living Arrangements

The aim of this paper is twofold:(1) to present evidence supporting the contention that the significant rise in older people living alone has been influenced by transformations in societal values, attitudes and norms, and (2) to discuss several key methodological issues that appear when subjective variables such as privacy, independence and social expectations are integrated into our research to explain housing and living arrangement decisions. In particular, attention is devoted to individual rationalizations of current living arrangements as well as causal direction and independence of the attitudinal factors. The data used in this work were drawn from a 1983 study based on living arrangement decision-making among the elderly.     

Social Relationships of African American and Hispanic Older Assisted Living Residents: Exploring the Role of Race and Ethnicity

African American and Hispanic older adults are underrepresented in assisted living communities, so little is known about how they experience social relationships in these settings. The purpose of the study was to explore resident-to-resident and resident-to-staff relationships experienced and perceived by African American and Hispanic older residents in assisted living settings. In-depth interviews with 15 African American and 15 Hispanic older adults were conducted in seven assisted living communities in Central Florida. Three salient themes emerged using a grounded theory approach: formation of relationships: emotional vs. instrumental support; language as a facilitator or barrier; and avoidance of inter-racial relationships. Implications for providing culturally competent services in assisted living communities with diverse populations are discussed.