Interaction of sex role self-concept with relationship quality and relationship beliefs in married, heterosexual cohabiting, gay, and lesbian couples

The relation between sex role self-concept (masculine, feminine, undifferentiated, and androgynous) and both relationship quality and dysfunctional relationship beliefs was examined in 370 monogamous partners who represented four types of couples (married, heterosexual cohabiting, gay, and lesbian). Analyses used both the individual partner and the couple as the unit of analysis. The individual partner analyses revealed that relationship quality and relationship beliefs differed by subjects' sex role self-concept. Androgynous and feminine subjects reported higher relationship quality than masculine and undifferentiated subjects; androgynous subjects had fewer "disagreement is destructive" beliefs than feminine subjects; and androgynous subjects had fewer "partner cannot change" beliefs than undifferentiated subjects. The couple analyses revealed a relation between partners' sex role self-concept only for the heterosexual cohabiting couples. For these couples, masculine men tended to pair with feminine or undifferentiated women, and androgynous partners tended to pair together. Relative to other couples, couples in which one or both partners were androgynous or feminine reported the highest relationship quality, whereas couples in which one or both partners were undifferentiated or masculine reported the lowest relationship quality. These effects did not vary by type of couple. The study concluded that sex role self-concept is a robust factor in appraisals of relationship quality. Relative to masculine and undifferentiated individuals, androgynous and feminine individuals report greater positive relationship functioning.     

Couple Therapy with Veterans: Early Improvements and Predictors of Early Dropout

Family services within Veterans Affairs Medical Centers fulfill an important role in addressing relationship distress among Veterans, which is highly prevalent and comorbid with psychopathology. However, even for evidence‐based couple therapies, effectiveness is weaker compared to controlled studies, maybe because many Veteran couples drop out early and do not reach the “active” treatment stage after the 3–4 session assessment. In order to improve outcomes, it is critical to identify couples at high risk for early dropout, and understand whether couples may benefit from the assessment as an intervention. The current study examined (a) demographics, treatment delivery mode, relationship satisfaction, and psychological symptoms as predictors of dropout during and immediately following the assessment phase, and (b) changes in relationship satisfaction during assessment. 174 couples completed questionnaires during routine intake procedures. The main analyses focused on 140 male Veterans and their female civilian partners; 36.43% dropped out during the assessment phase and 24.74% of the remaining couples immediately following the first treatment session. More severe depressive symptoms in non‐Veteran partners were associated with dropout during assessment. Relationship satisfaction improved significantly during the assessment phase for couples who did not drop out, with larger gains for non‐Veteran partners. No demographics or treatment delivery mode were associated with dropout. Although more research is needed on engaging couples at risk for early dropout and maximizing early benefits, the findings suggest that clinicians should attend to the civilian partner's and Veteran's depressive symptoms at intake and consider the assessment part of active treatment.     

The Effects of Differentiation and Attachment on Satisfaction and Acculturation in Asian-White American International Couple Relationships: Assessment With Chinese,South Korean,and Japanese Partners in Relationships With White American Partners in the United States

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of differentiation and attachment on acculturation and relational satisfaction in Asian partners in Asian-White American international couple relationships. Eighty-seven native-born Chinese, South Korean, and Japanese partners within an international couple relationship with a White American partner in the United States participated in this study. Regression results supported the hypotheses that differentiation and acculturation were significantly related to relationship satisfaction. Differentiation was also significantly associated with acculturation. Attachment style was not significantly associated with levels of relationship satisfaction or acculturation. Overall, the researchers found that differentiation and acculturation were important factors influencing the relationship satisfaction in Asian-White American international couples in the United States. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.     

The importance of similarity and understanding of partners' marital ideals to relationship satisfaction

This article extends earlier work on the association between relationship partners' similarity and understanding about marital ideals and relationship satisfaction by controlling for individual differences in stereotype endorsement or typical responding. For heterosexual couples we separated a measure of understanding into the general understanding of partners and understanding that is unique to the specific relationship partner. The measures of similarity and understanding were also separated into general similarity and understanding and into those that are unique between partners. We examined the contribution of each type of similarity and understanding to relationship satisfaction in 238 dating and married couples. Findings indicate that the more satisfied individuals believe that the partner endorses a “female” stereotype. Understanding does not relate to length of the relationship or satisfaction, but similarity in values does There is some indication that marital discord decreases with an increase in the male partners' understanding of their female partners.     

Couple communication in stepfamilies

Effective communication is assumed to help sustain couple relationships and is a key focus of most relationship education programs. We assessed couple problem-solving communication in 65 stepfamily and 52 first-time-marrying couples, with each group stratified into high risk and low risk for relationship problems based on family-of-origin experiences. Relative to partners in first-time couples, partners in stepfamily couples were less positive, less negative, and more likely to withdraw from discussion. Risk was associated with communication in first-time but not stepfamily couples. Stepfamily couples do not exhibit the negative communication evident in high-risk first-time-marrying couples, and available relationship education programs that focus on reducing negative communication are unlikely to meet the needs of stepfamilies.     

Longitudinal Associations Among Service Members’ PTSD Symptoms,Partner Accommodation,and Partner Distress

Romantic partners’ accommodation of trauma survivors’ posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms (e.g., participating in avoidance and safety behaviors, not expressing one’s thoughts and feelings) is a putative mechanism linking PTSD symptoms and partner distress, but this hypothesis has never been empirically tested. The current study investigated this proposed within-couple mediation process from service members’ PTSD symptoms to partners’ depressive symptoms and relationship satisfaction through partner accommodation, as well as between-couple associations among these constructs and the possible moderating role of partners’ conflict avoidance and helplessness (CAH) motivations for accommodating service members’ PTSD symptoms. We examined these questions in 272 male service member/female civilian couples assessed four times over an 18-month period using the multiple-group version of the random intercept cross-lagged panel model. Within couples, service members’ higher levels of PTSD symptoms at one time point significantly predicted partners being more accommodating at the next time point (βs = .14–.19), which, in turn, significantly predicted higher levels of partner depressive symptoms at the subsequent time point (βs = .09–.19) but did not predict partners’ subsequent relationship satisfaction. At the between-couple level, partner accommodation was significantly positively associated with partners’ depressive symptoms only among those endorsing high CAH motivations for accommodation (r = .50). In addition, accommodation was significantly negatively associated with partners’ relationship satisfaction regardless of CAH motivation level (rs = −.43 to −.49). These findings are discussed in light of the potential for couple-based treatments for PTSD to enhance partner individual and relational well-being.     

Couples in Therapy: Actor-Partner Analyses of the Relationships Between Adult Romantic Attachment and Marital Satisfaction

This study was the first to investigate the relationship between adult romantic attachment and marital satisfaction in a clinical sample of 172 distressed couples seeking therapy. Fifty-six therapy-seeking nondistressed couples were also assessed for comparison. Analyses of variance showed that attachment avoidance was a distinctive characteristic of distressed couples. Actor-partner analyses revealed that attachment avoidance (for men and women) and attachment anxiety (for women only) were predictive of marital dissatisfaction for distressed couples. Gender-stereotype discordant partner effects were also found. Results suggest that attachment orientations (especially avoidance) are relevant predictors of marital dissatisfaction in distressed couples seeking therapy, and that couple therapists can gain important information by assessing partners’ attachment orientations.     

The avoidance cocoon: Examining the interplay between attachment and caregiving in predicting relationship satisfaction

In the present research, we examined the hypothesis that low avoidance enables the activation of the caregiving system, and therefore, among people low in avoidance, caregiving would affect relationship satisfaction, whereas among people high in avoidance, caregiving would not affect relationship satisfaction. One‐hundred seventy‐nine Israeli adults, currently involved in romantic relationships, participated in Study 1, in which we examined whether attachment avoidance moderated the associations between caregiving and relationship satisfaction. In Study 2, we sought to replicate this finding in a sample of Israeli couples (N = 194). Finally, in Study 3 (N = 44), we examined links between attachment, caregiving, and relationship satisfaction over a period of 1 year among Israeli married couples. Results indicated that caregiving deactivation and/or hyperactivation predicted lower relationship satisfaction, yet only among people low in avoidance or among people whose partners were low in avoidance. Results are discussed in relation to the important interplay between behavioral systems on individual and dyadic levels. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Love in Action: An Integrative Approach to Last Chance Couple Therapy

This article presents an integrative approach to the special challenges of therapy with couples on the brink of dissolution or divorce—who often describe this therapy as their “last chance.” In some, one partner is considering ending the relationship, and in others, both partners are considering ending it. Often, these couples have had prior dissatisfying experiences in couple therapy. Four types of last chance couples are described: high‐conflict couples; couples in which partners have differing goals for their lives or different timelines for reaching shared goals; couples in which one or both partners have acted in a manner that violates the values, expectations, emotional comfort, or safety of the other; and couples in which there has been a gradual loss of intimacy. The Therapeutic Palette, a multiperspectival, theoretically eclectic integrative approach, is enlisted as a general framework for selecting and sequencing use of particular theories and their associated practices, based on the three “primary colors” of couple therapy: time frame/focus, level of directiveness, and change entry point. An additional complementary framework, the creative relational movement approach, is proposed to provide an integrative frame encompassing both language‐based and action‐based practices, suggesting that meaning is held and expressed as much through interaction or “relational motion” as it is through language. Principles of change are described. Due to the couple's level of crisis and desire for immediate evidence of possible improvement, priority is given to action‐based interventions in early stages of therapy, by engaging couples in “experiments in possibility.” Typical action approaches are described. An extended vignette follows.     

Attachment insecurities and interpersonal processes in Spanish couples: A dyadic approach

Several attachment‐related phenomena in Spanish couples using dyadic‐level analyses were examined. A sample of 295 heterosexual couples completed measures of attachment‐related anxiety and avoidance, self‐esteem, social self‐efficacy, and relationship satisfaction. Results, analyzed from a dyadic perspective using the actor–partner interdependence model (APIM), indicate that (a) there are actor but no partner effects of attachment insecurities on intrapersonal variables such as self‐esteem and social self‐efficacy, (b) there are actor and partner effects of avoidant attachment on relationship satisfaction, and (c) actor anxiety is associated with partner avoidance, and actor avoidance is associated with partner anxiety. Overall, the results reveal the importance of a dyadic perspective on couple members' attachment insecurities and their associations with intrapersonal and interpersonal processes and relationship adjustment. They also show that attachment variables and correlates studied mainly in English‐speaking countries are useful in understanding Spanish couple dynamics.     

Low intimacy as a mediator between depression and clinic couple relationship satisfaction

This study examined low intimacy as a mediator between partners' depression symptoms and low relationship satisfaction in a sample of 82 heterosexual couples who sought therapy at an outpatient clinic. Both the amount of intimate behavior that partners enact and the level of pleasure they experience from each other's intimate acts were assessed. Using an actor–partner interdependence model approach, path model analysis simultaneously included both partners' scores on measures of depression, intimate behavior, pleasure from partner's intimate behavior, and relationship satisfaction. Overall, female depression symptoms had a greater impact than male depression symptoms on the couple relationship. Male depression had little effect on intimacy, whereas the female partner's depression affected her pleasure from the male's intimate behavior and both partners' enactment of intimate behavior. The results indicate the importance of examining reciprocal influences between partners' functioning to understand and treat intimacy problems.     

Long‐term partners' relationship satisfaction and their perceptions of each other's attachment insecurities

In this research, we examined actors' and partners' perceptions of each other's attachment insecurities and the associations of these perceptions with relationship satisfaction. A sample of 148 heterosexual couples completed measures of self and partner attachment insecurities and relationship satisfaction. Results indicate that partners agree in their perceptions of their own and each other's attachment insecurities (anxiety and avoidance). Based on the actor–partner interdependence model (APIM), we also found that both actors' scores on avoidance and their perceptions of their partner's degree of avoidanc are associated with lower relationship satisfaction. Finally, we found that the way an actor perceives his or her partner's avoidance plays a mediational role in the association between partner's self‐reported avoidance and actor's relationship satisfaction.     

The Effectiveness of Couple and Individual Relationship Education: Distress as a Moderator

Current literature yields mixed results about the effectiveness of relationship education (RE) with low‐income participants and those who experience a high level of individual or relational distress. Scholars have called for research that examines whether initial levels of distress act as a moderator of RE outcomes. To test whether initial levels of relationship and/or individual distress moderate the effectiveness of RE, this study used two samples, one of couples who received couple‐oriented relationship education with their partner (n = 192 couples) and one of individuals in a relationship who received individual‐oriented RE by themselves (n = 60 individuals). We delivered RE in a community‐based setting serving primarily low‐income participants. For those attending with a partner, there was a significant interaction between gender, initial distress, and time. Findings indicate that women who were relationally distressed before RE reported the largest pre‐postgains. Those who attended an individual‐oriented RE program reported significant decreases in individual distress from pre to post, but no significant relationship gains. Findings also suggest that initial levels of distress did not moderate the effectiveness of individual‐oriented RE.     

Drug-abusing patients and their intimate partners: dyadic adjustment, relationship stability, and substance use

The dyadic adjustment and substance use of couples with a drug-abusing husband (n = 94), couples with a drug-abusing wife (n = 36), couples in which both partners abused drugs (n = 87), and non-substance-abusing conflicted couples (n = 70) were examined. For couples with 1 drug-abusing partner, a higher percentage of days abstinent during the year before treatment for drug abuse was associated with a higher level of relationship satisfaction. When both partners abused drugs, the relationship between percentage of days abstinent and relationship satisfaction became stronger and more negative as the time partners spent together using drugs increased. A higher percentage of days abstinent was associated with relationship stability for couples with 1 drug-abusing partner during and 1 year after treatment; for couples in which both partners abused drugs, a higher percentage of days abstinent was associated with relationship instability.     

Concurrent and longitudinal dyadic polynomial regression analyses of Big Five traits and relationship satisfaction: Does similarity matter?

Being with a well-matched partner seems essential for a happy relationship. However, past research on personality similarity in couples has reported inconsistent findings. The current study employs a dyadic polynomial regression approach to take into account linear and curvilinear associations between similarity and satisfaction. The concurrent results based on data of 237 couples suggest that beyond actor effects for neuroticism, agreeableness, and conscientiousness and partner effects for agreeableness, similarity plays a negligible role for relationship satisfaction. Longitudinally, two similarity effects emerged. First, if partners reported dissimilar neuroticism levels, male partner reported lower relationship satisfaction. Second, if both partners reported modest levels in openness, female partners reported higher relationship satisfaction. Implications for couples are discussed.     

The association of childhood trauma with perceptions of self and the partner in adult romantic relationships

In this study, the association of childhood trauma with perceptions of self and the partner was explored. Using a large sample of more than 5,400 couples who completed the RELATE inventory, couples in which neither partner experienced childhood physical abuse were compared on personality and communication scales with couples where only the female experienced abuse, only the male experienced abuse, and both partners experienced abuse. The primary question of interest was to evaluate whether childhood trauma was associated with selection effects of romantic partners, perceptual effects of partners, or reciprocal negativity with partners. The evidence from the analysis of variance and path analysis indicates that trauma is more likely to be associated with perceptual effects than selection effects. Individuals who were traumatized rated both themselves and their partners as more neurotic and conflictual, even when controlling for overall levels of relationship satisfaction. However, the partners of traumatized persons do not consider themselves more neurotic or conflictual than partners in relationships where neither partner was abused.     

Identity,Couple and Intergroup Dynamics in Intercultural Families: Implications on Life Satisfaction of Partners

The current study analyzed how identity, couple, and intergroup dynamics are related to life satisfaction among 210 intercultural partners living in Italy. Three levels of analysis were considered: a micro level, taking into account the identity aspect of each partner in terms of self- or hetero-ethnic identification; a meso level, examining the passion, commitment, and intimacy of the couple sphere of the partners; a macro level investigating the discrimination that partners can perceive by the community as an effect of the relationship between dominant and minority groups. The results show that for both partners, foreign and Italian, the variables that have a predictive value on life satisfaction bring into play the couple and the intergroup dynamics, leaving out the identitary one. Specifically, increased perceived discrimination as a member of a mixed couple leads to decreased life satisfaction by partners. In turn, we can see that a strong intimacy between partners enhances their life satisfaction. These results introduce a reflection on the role of the differences about the ethnic identity, considered erroneously the main cause of dissatisfaction in the mixed couple. The implications of the study are described and suggestions for future research discussed.     

A multilevel examination of interpartner intimate partner violence and psychological aggression reporting concordance

Low concordance of reports across partners has consistently been observed when partners report the frequency of intimate partner violence (IPV) and psychological aggression (PA) in their relationship. Researchers have been unsuccessful in the quest to discover systematic biases across reporters, perhaps due to examining constructs that are not the source of bias (e.g., gender, victim/perpetrator status) or examining potentially fruitful constructs using underpowered statistics or erroneous conceptualizations (e.g., examining variables at a dyadic, rather than an individual, level). We used multilevel modeling with two samples (Ns = 88 and 164 couples) to examine husbands' and wives' relationship satisfaction as individual-level correlates of husband- and wife-perpetrated IPV and PA reporting concordance. Consistent with prior literature, low to moderate levels of agreement were observed, and gender and victim/perpetrator status were not consistently associated with reporting concordance. In contrast, for both husbands and wives, relationship satisfaction was associated with reporting concordance such that high relationship satisfaction was related to reporting less of one's partner's PA than the partner reported, whereas low relationship satisfaction was related to reporting more of one's partner's PA than the partner reported. A similar pattern of results emerged for the reporting of IPV, but results did not cross validate between samples. These findings suggest that relationship satisfaction may lead to either reluctance, or increased willingness, to attribute negative relationship events to partner behavior, potentially due to partner blame and relationship schemas. In addition, the influence of individual-level factors may be occluded when aggregated across partners to examine correlates of interpartner reporting concordance.     

The complementarity of behavioral styles among female same‐gender romantic couples

This study extended previous research on complementarity through the examination of female same‐gender romantic dyads. One‐hundred and forty‐four women (72 couples) completed interpersonal circumplex ratings of their romantic partner and a relationship measure of love and harmony. Results indicated that high levels of relationship quality were reported by participants who were warm and submissive or who had partners who possessed these characteristics. Additionally, members of female same‐gender couples tended to complement each other in terms of dominance but not warmth. However, consistent with past research stressing the unique importance female same‐gender couples tend to prescribe to relationship equality, dyads that contained members who were equivalent in terms of dominance tended to experience high levels of relationship quality.