Self-disclosure, emotional expression and intimacy within romantic relationships of people with social phobia

The current study examined aspects of communication and intimacy between people with social phobia and their romantic partners. Forty-eight individuals with social phobia and 58 community controls completed a series of questionnaires to measure self-disclosure, emotional expression and levels of intimacy within their romantic relationships. Participants with social phobia reported less emotional expression, self-disclosure and intimacy than controls, even after controlling for a diagnosis of mood disorder. The group differences did not differ significantly by gender. A continuous measure of social anxiety also correlated significantly with the three relationship measures and these associations held for emotional expression and self-disclosure after controlling for levels of dysphoria. People with social phobia report reduced quality within their romantic relationships, which may have implications for impairment, social support and ultimately maintenance of the disorder.     

Thin-Ideal Media and Women’s Body Dissatisfaction: Prevention using Downward Social Comparisons on Non-Appearance Dimensions

Exposure to thin-ideal media has adverse effects on the body satisfaction of women with higher levels of body image disturbance. In a study involving 109 UCLA female undergraduates, we examined the effectiveness of an intervention that was based on downward social comparison theory and the selection of alternative comparison dimensions. All participants had higher levels of body dissatisfaction and viewed pictures of fashion models; the intervention group compared downward with the models on non-appearance dimensions in writing, whereas the control group described the models in writing. We hypothesized that the intervention group would experience more positive shifts in body and weight satisfaction, anxiety about appearance, and desire to lose weight than would the control group. The results supported our hypotheses.     

Slacking Off or Winding Down? An Experience Sampling Study on the Drivers and Consequences of Media Use for Recovery Versus Procrastination

Today's constant availability of media content provides users with various recreational resources. It may also challenge self‐control, however, once media exposure conflicts with other goals and obligations. How media users deal with these self‐regulatory chances and risks in their daily lives is largely unknown. Our study addressed the predictors and consequences of recreational and procrastinatory media use using experience sampling methodology (N = 215; 1,094 media use episodes). Results suggest that trait (self‐control, performance goal orientation) as well as state variables (exhaustion) are significant predictors of media use for recovery versus procrastination. Whereas recreational media use showed a positive effect on entertainment, which in turn enhanced subjective well‐being, negative self‐evaluation elicited by procrastinatory media use negatively affected well‐being.     

Is Silence More Golden for Women than Men? Observers Derogate Effusive Women and their Quiet Partners

Couples in which the woman is more verbally disinhibited than the man (man-more-inhibited couples) report lower satisfaction than couples in which the man is more verbally disinhibited (woman-more-inhibited couples). A violation of traditional gender roles is hypothesized to underlie this phenomenon. It was predicted that members of man-more-inhibited couples would be rated less likeable than woman-more-inhibited couples, and disinhibited men would be rated more competent than other males and females. To test these hypotheses, 95 undergraduate participants from a southwestern US university viewed a videotaped conflict between a man-more-inhibited or woman-more-inhibited couple. As predicted, members of man-more-inhibited couples were rated less likeable than members of woman-more-inhibited couples and disinhibited husbands were rated more competent than all other targets.     

Urban adolescents’ experience of social class in relationships at work

This article describes a qualitative study examining two interrelated facets of the school-to-work transition among urban high school students: their relationships with important adults within that transition and the ways they experience the subjective aspects of social class and class-related constructs in those relationships. Participants were 27 urban adolescents participating in a school-to-work program or otherwise employed after school. We analyzed data generated from participants’ elaborations on their scaled responses to adapted Relational Health Index items pertaining to supervisors and other important adults at work. Qualitative analysis identified four thematic categories of how social class is experienced in urban adolescents’ relationships at work: Navigation of Identity; Perceptions of Similarity, Difference, and Being Understood; Receipt of Mobility Encouragement; and Awareness of Stratification. Results suggest that the first two of these categories represent the ways that participants work to find balance between the dual realities of Mobility and Stratification.     

Engaging in upward and downward comparisons as a determinant of relative deprivation at work: A longitudinal study

A longitudinal study was conducted among 93 nurses to determine the role of comparing one’s performance with that of one’s colleagues in the increase versus decrease of perceived relative deprivation at work over a period of one year. Relative deprivation at T2 had increased particularly among those high in social comparison orientation (Gibbons & Buunk, 1999) who at T1 (1) more frequently engaged in upward comparisons; (2) more frequently derived positive as well as negative feelings from such comparisons; and (3) more frequently derived negative feelings from downward comparison. Moreover, engaging in downward comparison also led to an increase in perceived relative deprivation at T2. This study is one of the few to find evidence for longitudinal effects of social comparison activity, and the first to find that such effects occur only for those high in social comparison orientation.     

Can individualists and cooperators play together? The effect of mixed social motives in negotiations

Despite noting the likelihood of dissimilar motives in many transactions, previous negotiation research has focused on negotiations whose participants were similarly motivated (to be cooperative or individualistic). In this paper, we answer recent calls to examine “mixed dyads” (i.e. negotiators with differing social motives) in addition to homogeneous dyads. Our results showed that cooperative - and mixed - dyads both experienced significantly more positive negotiation processes and outcomes than individualistic dyads. We discuss the important roles communication and reciprocity may have in helping individualists and cooperators to reach mutually beneficial agreements.     

Inspiration or deflation? Feeling similar or dissimilar to slim and plus-size models affects self-evaluation of restrained eaters

The present studies examined the effect of perceiving images of slim and plus-size models on restrained eaters’ self-evaluation. While previous research has found that such images can lead to either inspiration or deflation, we argue that these inconsistencies can be explained by differences in perceived similarity with the presented model. The results of two studies (ns = 52 and 99) confirmed this and revealed that restrained eaters with high (low) perceived similarity to the model showed more positive (negative) self-evaluations when they viewed a slim model, compared to a plus-size model. In addition, Study 2 showed that inducing in participants a similarities mindset led to more positive self-evaluations after viewing a slim compared to a plus-size model, but only among restrained eaters with a relatively high BMI. These results are discussed in the context of research on social comparison processes and with regard to interventions for protection against the possible detrimental effects of media images.     

The effects of physique-salient and physique non-salient exercise videos on women's body image, self-presentational concerns, and exercise motivation

This experiment examined the effects of exposure to physique-salient (PS) and physique non-salient (PNS) exercise videos and the moderating influence of perceived physique discrepancies, on body image, self-presentational concerns, and exercise motivation. Eighty inactive women (M age = 26) exercised to a 30 min instructional exercise video. In the PS condition, the video instructor wore revealing attire that emphasized her thin and toned physique. In the PNS condition, she wore attire that concealed her physique. Participants completed pre- and post-exercise measures of body image, social physique anxiety (SPA) and self-presentational efficacy (SPE) and a post-exercise measure of exercise motivation and perceived discrepancies with the instructor's body. No main or moderated effects emerged for video condition. However, greater perceived negative discrepancies were associated with poorer post-exercise body satisfaction and body evaluations, and higher state SPA. There were no effects on SPE or motivation. Results suggest that exercise videos that elicit perceived negative discrepancies can be detrimental to women's body images.     

Pathways Triple P‐Positive Parenting Program: Effects on Parent‐Child Relationships and Child Behavior Problems

This study examined the effects of Pathways Triple P (PTP), an early intervention program designed to promote positive parent‐child relationships. Sixty parents met the inclusion criteria of borderline to clinically significant relationship disturbance and child emotional and behavioral problems. They were randomly allocated into PTP or a wait‐list (WL) control group. PTP was delivered in a group format for 9 weeks and consisted of parent skills training and cognitive behavior therapy targeting negative attributions for child behavior. Significant intervention effects were found for improving parent‐child relationships and reducing behavior problems with gains maintained at 3‐month follow‐up. Limitations of the study and implications for future research are discussed.