Changes in sex-role orientations: A five-year longitudinal comparison

A longitudinal design employing survey techniques and a cohort structure is used to assess change in a Likert-type measure of sex-role traditionalism. The overall change during a five-year period was for respondents to decrease in traditionalism. This varied importantly for subgroups: Women changed more than men, and those of the most recent cohort changed more than those in either of the earlier cohorts. Trends suggesting the importance of role incumbency are noted and implications are discussed.This research was partially supported by NSF Grant 1SP-8011449. The author thanks an anonymous reviewer for helpful suggestions regarding both matters of substance and matters of style.     

Daily experiences of intimacy: A study of couples

The present study examined people's working definitions of intimacy, which emerge through daily interactions that are perceived as intimate by the participant. We proposed that working definitions should be reflected in a set of interaction characteristics that prompt relationship partners to label their interaction as intimate. Participants were 113 cohabiting couples who completed questionnaires and kept diaries of their interactions for 1 week. Interaction characteristics explaining perceived intimacy were interaction pleasantness, disclosure of private information, the expression of positive feelings, the perception of being understood by one's partner, and the disclosure of emotion. Further, more satisfied couples perceived their interactions as more intimate and showed stronger associations between interaction intimacy and partner disclosure than did less satisfied couples. Findings indicated that couple characteristics are more salient than person characteristics as predictors of intimacy in interactions. The deepest need of man, then, is the need to overcome his separate‐ness, to leave the prison of his aloneness. The absolute failure to achieve this aim means insanity, because the panic of complete isolation can be overcome only by such a radical withdrawal from the world outside that the feeling of separation disappears–because the world outside, from which one is separated, has disappeared.     

Recovery from conflict and revival of intimacy in cohabiting couples

Couples who seek a stable and satisfying relationship must recover emotionally and reestablish their intimate connection after their conflicts are over. In a 3‐week diary study, 100 cohabiting couples reported on their daily moods, intimacy, relationship satisfaction, and conflicts. Results indicated that on days following a conflict, couple partners have worse mood, less satisfaction, and less self‐disclosure than on other days. Attachment security and intimacy partially moderated the ability of relationship partners to recover positive and reduce negative affect on days following conflict. Partners of anxiously attached individuals experienced more pronounced postconflict changes in mood and intimacy than partners of securely attached individuals. More intimacy in postconflict interactions was associated with a faster recovery from conflict.     

Dating couples and their relationships: intimacy and contraceptive use

Investigations of ineffective contraceptive use have generally focused on individualistic rather than dyadic factors. The present study used a sample of dating couples to investigate four intimacy dimensions in relation to contraceptive use. Fourteen consistent contraceptive use (CCU) couples and 16 inconsistent contraceptive use (ICU) couples participated. It was found that the two groups' expectations of intimacy did not differ significantly. However, the ICU couples reported experiencing significantly lower levels of emotional, social, and intellectual intimacy than did the CCU couples. Significant differences between realized and expected levels of intimacy were found only among ICU couples. The results indicate that partners with mutually dissatisfying levels of intimacy were more likely to use contraceptives inconsistently.     

Gender-role orientations in older child-free and expectant couples

Psychosocial aspects of variant fertility decisions were investigated to determine factors that differentiate individuals who chose to become parents for the first time after age 30 and their peers who chose to remain child free. Forty women, aged 30 to 38, half of whom were child free and half expecting their first child, and 34 of their husbands were interviewed and completed the Role Questionnaire. The pattern of data suggests that the relatively traditional gender-role orientations of the expectant individuals may be an important factor that discriminates the two groups. The Rapoports' concept of “identity tension line” is used to integrate the results of the study and to explore findings that indicate different degrees of traditionalism in regard to work and family roles.     

The association of idealization and intimacy factors with condom use in gay male couples

The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship of idealization and three specific intimacy factors (relationship satisfaction, excitement, and closeness) to reported condom use in gay male couples. It was expected that there would be negative associations of idealization and the intimacy factors with condom use. Both members of 45 gay male couples completed a questionnaire that assessed these factors. This study found (a) idealization to have a significant negative correlation with condom use, suggesting that the more the individuals idealized each other, the less likely that condoms were used during sex; (b) a significant negative association between relationship satisfaction and condom use, implying that as the couples experienced more satisfaction within their relationships, condom use decreased; (c) a significant negative correlation between excitement and condom use, suggesting that as excitement increased, condom use decreased; and (d) no significant association between closeness and condom use.     

Job orientations and the transition from school to work: A longitudinal study

This paper is concerned with the factors that influence career choice, job stability and job satisfaction. It uses longitudinal data collected from 450 grammar and secondary-modern schoolboys interviewed at ages 14 and 25 years. Examining job expectations at age 14 and initial career choice, it finds that school plays a major role, its importance deriving from structural rather than idiosyncratic considerations. Home, personal and chance factors are less important, mattering more in the case of secondary-modern than grammar pupils: they make their maximum impact at critical choice points when the school's influence is relatively weak. In adult life, the occupational structure takes over the role of school, job stability and satisfaction being largely associated with the training and career opportunities offered by particular jobs. An attempt is made throughout to identify the crucial periods and critical choice points where good counselling might make maximum impact.     

A prototype approach to understanding sexual intimacy through its relationship to intimacy

The nature of sexual intimacy using lay conceptions (i.e., prototypes) of intimacy and sexual intimacy has been explored. In Study 1, participants listed the features of sexual intimacy and intimacy. In Study 2, centrality ratings of these features were obtained. Although the 2 prototypes were very similar, they each had unique central attributes. In Study 3, central features of both concepts were found to be more salient in memory than peripheral features. Finally, in Study 4, the endorsement of central intimacy and sexual intimacy attributes in real romantic relationships were associated with relationship quality and sexual well‐being, respectively. The nature and function of sexual intimacy is discussed, and it has been concluded that sexual intimacy is best conceptualized as a subtype of intimacy.     

The recoding of social orientations with ranking and pair comparison procedures

Ranking and pair comparison methods are proposed for the recording of individual social orientations. The experimental data were analysed with random utility models that were specially developed by the authors. The utility functions used contain almost all the social motives discussed in the literature as special cases. In order to classify the subjects into classes of similar social orientation, a procedure was proposed that was based on the particular utility function. The experiments were carried out with 144 subjects. The proposed recording methods and analysis procedures proved to be suitable. Results showed that not only simple social Orientation, such as individualism, competition, etc., could be observed in the subjects, but that orientations with more complex utility functions could also be found that have not previously been reported in the literature. The classification of the orientations using both methods showed a high level of agreement.     

Gender differences in self-presentation: A comparison of the roles of flatteringness and intimacy in self-disclosure to friends

This study examines the role of self-flattery in the disclosure of young adults to their best and less close, same- and cross-sex friends. One hundred eighty-five college students participated by filling out an anonymous questionnaire that asked about their disclosure of 55 topics to each of four friends. In addition, each subject indicated (1) how self-flattering they perceived such disclosure to be and (2) how intimate they believed each topic to be. The results indicate that both the degree of flatteringness of a topic and its intimacy strongly affect tendency to disclose, with intimacy being the larger of the two influences. These effects of these factors were not uniform with respect to subject’s gender, friend’s gender, and friend’s closeness, but instead interacted with them.     

A comparison of sexually dysfunctional, maritally disturbed and well-adjusted couples

Married couples seeking sex therapy, marital therapy, or no form of therapy were compared with respect to personality, sexual and marital functioning. The Sexual Dysfunction and Marital Difficulties groups (15 and 10 couples respectively) were obtained from the waiting lists of a sexual dysfunction service and marital therapy unit. Non-Problem subjects (15 couples) were from a volunteer sample. Personal adjustment, sexual and marital functioning were assessed by means of the Eysenck Personality Inventory, a Sexual Behavior Questionnaire, the Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Survey, and the Azrin Marital Happiness Scale. Results indicated that although all three groups were within the normal range, problem couples had higher ‘neuroticism’ scores than did Non-Problem couples. Marital Problem couples were the most debilitated. Their marital adjustment was lowest, and their sexual functioning was comparable to the Sexual Dysfunction group. Marital adjustment of the Sexual Dysfunction couples was significantly higher than that of the Marital Difficulties couples. Therapeutic and theoretical implications of the differentiating characteristics in the three couple categories are discussed.     

Attachment orientations and depression: a longitudinal study of new parents

In this longitudinal study, we followed a large sample of first-time parents (both partners) across the first 2 years of the transition to parenthood. Guided by attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969), we tested several predictions about how attachment anxiety and avoidance are related to the incidence, maintenance, increase, and decline of depressive symptoms in both sexes across the first 2 years of the transition. We found that (a) the association between attachment anxiety and depressive symptoms was moderated by factors related to the marital and/or romantic relationship; (b) the association between avoidance and depressive symptoms was moderated by factors related to family responsibilities; (c) styles of caregiving provided by romantic partners affected depressive symptoms differently among anxious and avoidant persons; and (d) in certain predictable situations, depressive symptoms persisted at higher levels or increased to higher levels in anxious or avoidant persons across the 2-year transition period. Important implications of these results are discussed.     

Vocational interest orientations: A comparison of rural university and junior college freshmen

The increase in junior colleges imposed new demands on counselors. Some areas to be investigated are the differences in counseling programs between junior colleges and universities; the differences in student bodies; and the importance of vocational guidance. This study addresses itself to elements of those areas.Male and female samples were drawn from two rural educational institutions: a four year university and a junior college. Differences in vocational interest orientations were explored through the nonoccupational scales of the Strong Vocational Interest Blank (SVIB). For males significant differences were found on the academic achievement, diversity of interest, managerial orientation, and occupational level scales. Females differed on the diversity of interest scales.     

Marital satisfaction and topographical assessment of marital interaction: A longitudinal analysis of newlywed couples

Despite numerous tests of social learning hypotheses relating to marriage, important questions remain concerning how best to quantify behavior displayed in marital interaction. In the present study, 60 newlywed couples reported their marital satisfaction, engaged in a 15-minute problem-solving discussion, and reported their marital satisfaction again 6 and 12 months later. The interactions were microanalytically coded, the codes were assigned a numeric value, and each spouse's cumulative point totals were plotted as a function of time in the interaction. This was done separately for all 60 couples. Graphs were divided into groups based on the topography of the graphically represented interactions. These groups differed cross-sectionally and longitudinally in their level of marital satisfaction. Couples tended to have lower satisfaction scores when their initial interactions were characterized with behavioral parity between the spouses at the beginning of a discussion, changing to asymmetrical patterns of behavior later in the conversation. This method was found to be more predictive of marital satisfaction than were standard methods of assessing dyadic interaction (i.e., base rates of behavior and sequential analysis). Implications of these data for understanding how interactions relate to the course of newlywed marriage are discussed.     

The deterioration of relationship quality for gay and lesbian cohabiting couples: A five-year prospective longitudinal study

Data are reported from both partners of 60 gay and 46 lesbian couples, a subset of whom annually completed mailed surveys over a S-year period. At Year I, relationship quality was found to be comprised of three factors: positivity, relationship conflict, and personal autonomy. Compared to stable couples, couples who eventually separated reported a decrease in positivity, an increase in relationship conflict, and an increase in personal autonomy in the preseparation period. When the three dimensions of change in relationship quality were considered together, relationship dissolution was predicted by an interaction between change in positivity and change id personal autonomy such that decreases in positivity were linked to dissolution, especially when personal autonomy increased. Year 1 personal risk factors (inexpressiveness, dysfunctional relationship beliefs, and social anxiety) were unsuccessful in predicting relationship dissolution and linear change in either positivity or personal autonomy. Findings were not moderated by type of couple. It is concluded that change is a core relationship process.     

A developmental approach to treating dual-career couples

Abstract

While skills development may help some dual-career couples, for others such methods may result in feelings of frustration until certain developmental difficulties are resolved. This article: 1) addresses some problem areas that dual-career couples encounter; 2) reviews proposed solutions for these problems; 3) specifies the necessary personal requirements for mastering these solutions; and 4) suggests some of the unresolved developmental conflicts that can interfere with such mastery. The list of conflicts, proposed solutions, and typical impeding developmental difficulties is not meant to be exhaustive. Rather, this article is intended to convey a way of conceptualizing “problems surrounding problem solving” for dual-career couples.     

Reaction time to a word in different orientations with letters rotated separately in different orientations

Six men and six women were timed as they made judgments about a word whose line of letters and individual letters were separately turned in different angular orientations. The subjects were asked to indicate by manual key-pressing responses whether the letters in the word were normal letters or reflected, mirror-image letters. Analysis showed that (1) reaction time (RT) was slower for reflected letters than for normal letters, and for subjects using the left (nondominant) hand rather than the right (dominant) hand for responding to normal letters. (2) RT generally increased in relation to the deviation of the individual letters from normal upright orientation but increased more reliably for normal than for reflected letters. (3) Although there were exceptions, RT for words composed of normal letters generally increased in relation to the deviation of the individual letters from normal upright, regardless of the orientation of the line of letters.     

Links between attachment orientations and dispositional and diary–based measures of disclosure in dating couples: A study of actor and partner effects

Issues concerning the influence of attachment characteristics on own and partner’s disclosure were addressed using a sample of 113 couples in medium–term dating relationships. Individual differences in attachment were assessed in terms of relationship anxiety and avoidance. Disposition to disclose was assessed using questionnaire measures of self–disclosure, relationship–focused disclosure, and the ability to elicit disclosure from the partner; in addition, structured diaries were used to assess aspects of disclosure (amount, intimacy, emotional tone, and satisfaction) in the context of couples’ everyday interactions. Couple–level analyses showed that avoidance strongly predicted dispositional measures of disclosure, whereas anxiety (particularly partner’s anxiety) was related to negative evaluations of everyday interactions. Interactive effects of attachment dimensions and gender were also obtained, highlighting the complexity of communication behavior. The results are discussed in terms of the goals and strategies associated with working models of attachment.