Group-based trust and gender differences in China

Based on the established finding that there are gender differences in the type and use of social capital, we suggest that males and females also differ in the ways they engage in intra- and inter-group interactions. An experiment was conducted to explore how gender affects group-based trust in China. The results demonstrated that male participants were significantly more trusting of unknown partners than were female participants. In addition, we found that male participants' high trust toward unknown partners had a strong relationship with expectation of reciprocity from their partners while female participants' low trust toward unknown partners was associated with a strong fear of exploitation from their partners. These findings were examined in the context of a discussion of gender differences in social capital.     

Gender differences in romantic relationship memories: who remembers? Who cares?

Two studies were conducted to assess patterns of gender differences in memory for romantic relationship events. Results suggested that people believe that women have better memory for romantic relationship events than men, that better relationship memory predicts higher levels of relationship well-being, and that the association between relationship memory and relationship well-being is somewhat stronger for women than for men. Women did tend to have somewhat better relationship memory than men, as assessed via subjective reports from both partners in mixed-sex relationships, and via the number of details partners provided when asked to recall a specific relationship event (i.e., their first date). Consistent with the lay theories, both own and partner’s better relationship memory predicted higher levels of relationship well-being; however, the association between better relationship memory and higher levels of relationship well-being was equally strong for both genders. Implications and future research directions are discussed.     

Gender,Sacrifices, and Variability in Commitment: A Daily Diary Study of Pregnant Heterosexual Cohabitors and their Partners

We use interdependence theory and the inertia model to examine how gender and daily relational sacrifices predict daily variability in relationship commitment across a week in 43 U.S. couples who are unmarried cohabitors expecting their first child together (total of 455 days of data). We examined three variants of daily relational sacrifices: frequency, ease, and awareness for both individuals and partners, and we tested for gender differences. Using an Actor Partner Interdependence Model (APIM), we found that both women and men reported lower variability in commitment when men were perceived as highly aware of the sacrifices made for them. Additionally, women experienced lower variability in commitment when their male partners reported engaging in easier sacrifices. In contrast, women reported higher variability in commitment when they reported greater frequency of sacrifices for their partner. The results can be of practical use for practitioners working with expectant cohabitors and their partners given the unique role gender plays relative to how sacrifices shape variability in daily commitment.     

‘Going against the grain’? Distance relationships,emotional reflexivity and gender

Intimacy at a distance is becoming an increasingly likely experience for a wide range of people, not only migrants. In the context of globalization and rapid change, many face novel situations and uncertainty around how to feel. Distance relationships therefore provide good examples of how globalised intimacies promote emotional reflexivity. Yet the extent to which distance relationships promote emotional reflexivity is likely to vary depending on the type of relationship and the socio-relational and spatial context. This paper explores that possibility by referring to ESRC-funded research involving joint interviews with UK-based academic couples in distance relationships1 and another project analysing online accounts written by UK and Australian internet daters looking for partners. The findings suggest that distance relationships between potential partners online can promote emotional reflexivity that troubles gender relations at an interpersonal level, but that established and committed couple relationships conducted at a distance are more likely to challenge structural gender inequalities. These empirical examples show that globalised social change around gender needs to be understood in relation to different kinds of mobility, not just international migration. Thus, this paper contributes to understandings of the increasing importance of emotional reflexivity in bringing about and in understanding social change under globalised social conditions.     

Gender and relationships: Influences on agentic and communal behaviors

The present research examined the moderating influence of situations involving friends and romantic partners on gender differences in interpersonal behaviors reflecting agency and communion. Behavior was studied in three situations varying in social role and dyadic gender composition: same‐sex friendships, opposite‐sex friendships, and romantic relationships. To obtain multiple events representing each relationship situation, participants recorded information about their interpersonal interactions during a 20‐day period using an event‐contingent recording procedure. Results indicated gender differences consistent with gender stereotypes when men and women were interacting with same‐sex friends; men with men were more dominant and women with women were more agreeable. In interactions with romantic partners, gender differences in communal behavior were opposite to gender stereotypes; women were less agreeable and more quarrelsome than men with their romantic partners. Results are considered in reference to developmental socialization theory, social role theory, and studies of gender differences in marital relationships.     

Stress,coping, and depressive symptomatology in Latina and Anglo aids caregivers

In a survey of 432 AIDS caregivers, we examined differences in the stress and coping process and predictors of depressive symptomatology by ethnicity and gender. Our sample included 192 Anglo gay and bisexual male partners, 86 Anglo women, and 154 Latina family caregivers. We examined differences in primary and secondary stressors as predictors of depression; differences in sociodemographic and background factors, and differences in the predictive value and mediating influences of factors that may attenuate the relationship between stress and depression. Results indicate substantial differences in predictors and mediators of depression across groups. While all groups evidenced moderate levels of depression, background factors influenced depression mostly for Latinas. Depression in gay and bisexual partners was more influenced by primary objective stressors such as assisting with activities of daily living (ADLs). Service acquisition appears to be shaped by access, knowledge, and cultural acceptance. Based on our findings, we suggest that service provision for caregivers must also vary and be attuned to cultural and gender differences that may influence perception of stress and depression for caregivers.     

Nontraditional gender roles and the sexual experiences of heterosexual college students

The purposes of this study of heterosexual college students were (1) to specify gender differences and similarities in sexual beliefs and experiences, (2) to determine the prevalence of women enacting traditional male roles in dating and sexual interactions, and (3) to examine the relationship between women's enactment of traditional male roles and their sexual experiences. Findings for this predominantly Caucasian sample indicated that there were no significant gender differences in age of first intercourse, frequency of intercourse, oral sex participation, prevalence of coitus and anal sex, rating of how often sex partners satisfied their sex needs and desires, and reactions to recent intercourse. Although less than men's frequencies, sizable proportions of women acknowledged they had multiple sex partners and sex without emotional involvement. Support for an increased proportion of females engaging in the traditional male roles of initiating sexual involvement and dates and paying date expenses was also found. Findings also suggested that there are no simple patterns between women's sexual experience and nontraditional roles but that this association depends on the specific role as well as the status and quality of a woman's current sexual relationship. Findings were discussed in terms of their potential to contribute to women's sexual decisions.     

The Initiator Style Questionnaire: A scale to assess initiator tendency in couples

The tendency of partners in a dyad to initiate or avoid relationship problem discussions has proven to have both theoretical and clinical significance. This tendency is conceptualized here as initiator tendency, which is defined as the propensity to initiate relationship‐focused discussions with one’s partner or avoid such discussions. The current paper reports 3 studies summarizing the development of a measure to assess initiator tendency: the Initiator Style Questionnaire (ISQ). The ISQ provides self‐report assessments of self and partner’s perceived initiator tendencies. The studies indicate that the 2 parallel 10‐item measures exhibit strong unidimensionality, internal consistency, and test–retest reliability, as well as appropriate discriminant validity and good convergent and construct validity. Limitations and applications are discussed.     

Challenging Discourse Themes Reproducing Gender in Heterosexual Dating: An Analog Study

Societal discourses tied to gender play apowerful role in shaping ideas and views about normalsexual experience. This study investigated whether“male sexual drive” discourse themes inheterosexual dating could be reproduced in a laboratorysetting, and whether these themes could be disrupted bymeans of a laboratory intervention. Young, single,heterosexual adults, most of whom were Caucasian and middle class, role played a series of datingscenarios. In half of the 37 dyads, male participantswere instructed to initiate a first date and then latergreater sexual intimacy, to which their female partners were instructed to say they were notready (the condition designed to reproduce dominantdiscourse themes). In the other half, the instructionsfor the male and female partners were reversed (the condition designed to change or disruptdominant discourse themes). Analysis of the role-playeddialogues indicated that dominant discourse themesassociated with the male sexual drive discourse wereprevalent in both experimental conditions. Ways ofbroadening our understanding of how gender processes arereproduced and disrupted are discussed in the context ofheterosexual dating relationships.     

Gender-related Needs, Challenges, and Dangers in the Immigration Experience in Israel of Emerging Adults from the Former Soviet Union

In-depth interviews were conducted to examine gender-related patterns of adaptation and maladaptation, and the relationship between adaptation and relationships (parents, friends, and romantic partners) for 34 emerging adult immigrants from the Former Soviet Union in Israel. Qualitative analysis highlighted gender-related needs, difficulties, and challenges following the immigration experience. Women’s adaptation was connected to mutually supportive and empathic relationships with parents, friends, and romantic partners. Maladaption for women was connected to overly close, nonmutual, and enmeshed relationships with parents, which led to feelings of guilt or to distant relationships that lacked support and intimacy. Adaptation for men was connected to inner strengths that enabled achievement and success in acculturative tasks, which led to feelings of mastery, competence, and self-definition combined with respect and valuing the relationship they have with their family. In contrast, maladaption among men was not connected to relationships but to a lack of inner strengths needed to succeed in developmental and immigration-related tasks. Despite the gender-related distinction found among less adaptive individuals, adaptive young immigrants, women and men alike, were more characterized by an ability to balance between needs of self and needs of others in their family relationships. As such, narratives of adaptive emerging adult immigrants emphasized gender similarities, whereas those of less adaptive immigrants emphasized gender differences.     

Beliefs About the Causes of Four Types of Rape

Beliefs about the causes of stranger, acquaintance, date, and partner rape and treatment and punishment for the types of rape were examined among college students. Three causes of rape—victim precipitation, male pathology, and male hostility—varied as a function of the type of rape, with female precipitation higher for partner and date rape than for acquaintance and stranger rape. Male hostility and male pathology were lowest for partner rape. These findings suggest that the perceived causes of rape that blame the perpetrator or victim, rather than societal or general causes of rape, vary with the type of rape. Recommended punishment varied directly with the closeness of the relationship. Additionally, gender differences and interactions of gender and ethnicity (Caucasian and Hispanics) were found across type of rape.     

Classifying a Person as a Sexual Partner: The Impact of Contextual Factors

This study assessed the influence of five factors on respondents' judgments of whether two hypothetical actors, Tom and Lucy, would consider each other to be "sexual partners." The factors were: respondent's gender, actor's gender, type of act (vaginal, anal, or oral intercourse), frequency of act (once, several times), and actors' dating status (not dating, dated once, dated for three months). 223 undergraduates (mean age 22.2 - 2.2 years; 65% female) read 16 hypothetical heterosexual behavior scenarios featuring Tom and Lucy and judged whether Tom (Lucy) would consider Lucy (Tom) to be a "sexual partner." Respondents thought the actors would be more likely to consider each other sexual partners if they had engaged in vaginal or anal intercourse as opposed to oral sex; if they had more frequent sex; or if they were in a steady dating relationship. Researchers and health care professionals should take contextual/situational factors into account when they ask respondents about their sexual partners.     

Symptoms Among Partners,Family, and Friends of Individuals with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Associations with Social Support Behaviors,Gender, and Relationship Status

Social support represents an important recovery factor for individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Nevertheless, partners, family, and friends who take on the role of caregiver for individuals with PTSD might face multiple difficulties. For example, they are at risk for developing anxiety and depressive symptoms, which could negatively affect their ability to offer support. This study examined the associations between the difficulties of individuals with PTSD (i.e., symptoms and level of functioning), their caregivers’ (partners, family, and friends) anxiety and depressive symptoms, and social support behaviors according to 2 variables: relationship status and gender. Sixty-five individuals with PTSD and either their partner, family member, or friend filled out questionnaires and participated in a trauma-oriented discussion. Social support behaviors were coded. Results revealed no associations between the difficulties of individuals with PTSD and their caregivers’ symptoms. However, caregivers’ depressive symptoms were negatively associated with the quality of some of their social support behaviors. Moreover, relationship status and gender were significant moderators, indicating stronger negative associations between anxiety and depressive symptoms and some social support behaviors of men and caregiving partners. Male caregivers could have difficulties offering appropriate support and responding to traditional masculine roles (e.g., being strong and self-reliant) when they report symptoms themselves. Partners are particularly involved in the everyday life of individuals with PTSD. Thus, they could have difficulties keeping an optimal emotional distance to offer support when they report symptoms themselves. Future directions as well as clinical implications are discussed.     

The effect of relational stage and intimacy on touch: An extension of Guerrero and Andersen

The effects of relational stage, intimacy, and gender on touch were examined. Participants were 270 partners from 135 couples involved in a heterosexual romantic relationship. Results indicated that touch varies as a function of relational stage. An examination of relational stage and subjects' perceptions of how much they touched their partner and how much their partner touched them generally indicated an asymptotic relationship. Specifically, men's and women's perceptions of how much they touched their partners, and women's perceptions of how much their partners touched them, increased from the casually dating to the seriously dating stage and then leveled off for seriously dating, engaged, and married couples. Men's perceptions of how much their partners touched them increased from the casually dating to the seriously dating stage then decreased from the seriously dating to the married stage. Relational intimacy was also curvilinearly related to self and partner perceptions of touch. Because there were no significant interaction effects between stage and gender, or intimacy and gender, the curvilinear effects of relational stage and intimacy on touch are generalizable to both men and women.     

Differences between men and women with a dismissing attachment style regarding their attitudes and behaviour in romantic relationships

Research to date has revealed that the association between gender, attachment and the quality and functioning of intimate relationships is complex. This study examined the relationship between gender and attachment styles in attitudes to communication with one's partner and in the number of past relationships in a sample of 746 Spanish undergraduates. The Relationship Questionnaire was administered to them to determine the adult attachment style. The results revealed the existence of differences according to the adult attachment style and gender with regard to the two measured variables, and a significant effect of the interaction between gender and attachment. Dismissing men reported the highest average scores in the number of past relationships, with significant differences appearing when they were compared with secure and preoccupied men. However, dismissing women did not differ from the rest of the women with other attachment styles. When men and women with the same attachment styles were compared in this variable, the only significant differences were found between dismissing men and women (with the latter reporting fewer partners). In the case of attitudes to expressing feelings to one's partner, dismissing men reported the most negative attitudes, compared with secure and preoccupied men. Dismissing women, unlike the men, did not differ in their attitudes either from preoccupied or fearful women. Moreover, clear differences were shown between dismissing men and women in these attitudes (more negative in the case of men).     

Identification and the commitment shift: accounting for gender differences in relationship illusions

Previous work revealed gender differences in relationship illusions. Women, and not men, perceived their dating partners more favorably than their partners' self-perceptions. In two studies, the authors replicated these findings and showed they are moderated by relationship commitment but not by relationship satisfaction. Dating men low in commitment devalued their partners' virtues, whereas those high in commitment exaggerated their partners' virtues compared to their partners' self-perceptions. In contrast, dating women showed relationship illusions irrespective of their commitment. In Study 2, similar results were obtained with relationship-specific identification. Moreover, men's commitment mediated the effect of identification with the relationship. This suggests that gender differences in relationship identities exist at a general level and that men need to identify with and then commit to a specific relationship before they exhibit pro-relationship thinking, which women exhibit as general dispositions.     

Relationship infidelity: A loss perspective

Abstract

A particularly poignant type of loss may be experienced by persons involved in intimate relationships in which a partner is sexually or emotionally unfaithful. As a means of exploring women's and men's perceptions about and personal experiences of unfaithfulness, approximately 140 participants completed a lengthy questionnaire relevant to close relationships. As expected, participants perceived selected gender differences in reasons for and reactions to a partner's infidelity. Based on personal reports about relationship infidelities, it appears that extrarelationship involvement is a complex issue that may result in substantial losses for relationship partners.     

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.