Attachment and the Emotional Unit

Until recently, the mother-child relationship was assumed to be the primary relationship affecting the outcome of an individual. This resulted in the mother-child dyad being seen and studied as separate from the family system in which it is embedded. This article asserts that, in order to understand this dyad adequately, one must understand "how" the family functions as an emotional unit that is guided by processes found in evolution and in relationships between living things. It goes beyond describing the family as a system of influence and seeks to account for the universal processes that occur in natural systems. It posits that the triangle is the basic building block of the emotional unit, and proposes a new theoretical dimension for understanding how attachment extends beyond dyads (such as parent-child) to include the emotional unit as a whole. Through triangles, the parent-child relationship is continually influenced by relationship forces operating within the system as a whole.     

NEGLIGENT HIRING AND DEFAMATION: AREAS OF LIABILITY RELATED TO PRE-EMPLOYMENT INQUIRIES

Research on pre-employment inquiries has not been extensive. The limited validity and utility of employment references has been documented, but other types of background checks have not been adequately discussed. However, recent legal trends in the areas of negligent hiring and defamation are leading employers to reevaluate their use of pre-employment inquiries and, particularly, references in hiring. Principles of law in these two areas are discussed and issues of concern to I/O psychologists are presented.     

Meditation: The Forgotten Western Tradition

In this article we discuss aspects of the history of the demise of meditation in the West and its recent re-emergence as an Eastern system. Reasons for this phenomenon will be explored. The differences between Eastern and Western meditation, the psychology of meditation, research in the field, as well as applications of meditation to counseling will be discussed.     

EMPLOYEE ATTITUDE SURVEYS IN A MULTINATIONAL ORGANIZATION: CONSIDERING LANGUAGE AND CULTURE IN ASSESSING MEASUREMENT EQUIVALENCE

The cross-cultural equivalence of a multinational employee opinion survey was examined using multiple-groups covariance structure analysis to examine 4 scales in 4 countries. Cultural and linguistic influences were considered by assessing equivalence across 2 pairs of countries having the same language but different cultures (U.S. and Australia, Mexico and Spain) and across countries differing in culture and language (U.S. and Mexico). The measure was equivalent across U.S. and Australian samples only. Analyses indicated items that were the source of lack of invariance. One cause explored was translation problems. Practical issues in assessing measurement equivalence in employee opinion surveys are discussed.     

Influence of individual and interpersonal factors on satisfaction and stability in romantic relationships

Guided by Bradbury and Fincham's (1988) contextual model, the current study examined the influence of distal factors that reflect orientations toward relationships (relationship standards, attachment motivation, autonomy motivation) and proximal factors that reflect patterns of interaction (self-disclosure, socioemotional behaviors, conflict tactics) on satisfaction in romantic relationships. Although we expected both types of factors would be associated with satisfaction, we hypothesized that the daily interactional patterns would mediate the relationship between the individual factors and satisfaction. At Time 1, individual factors and satisfaction were measured via questionnaire, and interpersonal factors were measured via a 2-week daily interaction record. The results indicated the individual factors of attachment motivation and autonomy motivation, and the interpersonal factors of self-disclosure and positive socioemotional behaviors were related to satisfaction. Regression analysis indicated the proximal factors partially mediated the relationship between the distal factors and Satisfaction. At Time 2 (approximately 6 months later), slightly more than half of the original sample was contacted to assess respondents’relationship status; those respondents whose relationships were stable (continued over time) had significantly higher mean scores on attachment, positive behaviors, and self-disclosure at Time 1 than did respondents whose relationships had dissolved. Taken together, these results suggest that attachment and prosocial communications are central dimensions contributing to satisfaction and stability in dating relationships.     

Relationships and the self‐concept

Progress in the study of relationships has depended in part on the recognition that relationships have properties not relevant to interactions or to the behavior of individuals, and may require additional principles of explanation. This has led to an emphasis on relationships as linking individuals. In this article we argue that relationship processes occur in the heads of individuals, with the participants having their own idiosyncratic views of the relationship as well as a shared one. The relationship is both affected by and affects the self‐concepts of the participants, so that the influences of the self‐concept may be critical for understanding the properties and dynamics of relationships Furthermore, consideration of the self‐concept can assist in the integration of different but not necessarily incompatible explanations for the same relationship phenomena.     

Relationship experiences and change in attachment characteristics of young adults: The role of relationship breakups and conflict avoidance

This study examined whether close relationship experiences predict change in individuals’attachment Characteristics. Partners from 301 dating couples each rated their attachment characteristics and their conflict avoidance. Five months later 184 women and 138 men reported whether their relationships were intact or broken‐up, and they rated their attachment characteristics again. Women became less secure after a breakup and more secure after remaining together. There was a similar result for men who initially had insecure attachment characteristics. Additionally, women low in conflict avoidance became more secure over time, and those high in conflict avoidance became less secure. For men whose relationships remained intact, conflict avoidance was not related to change in attachment characteristics. For men whose relationships ended, however, initial conflict avoidance predicted increased attachment security. These results extend previous research on the stability of attachment characteristics by exploring predictors of change.     

Attachment,trust, and satisfaction in relationships: Investigating actor,partner, and mediating effects

Romantic relationship dissatisfaction has been cited as a primary reason for seeking mental health services (H. M. Foran, M. A. Whisman, & S. R. H. Beach, 2015). An increasing number of studies have revealed the importance of romantic attachment in understanding relationship satisfaction (M. Mikulincer & P. R. Shaver, 2016). This study aims to assess dyadic trust as a possible mediator of the relation between insecure romantic attachment and relationship satisfaction within a Canadian community sample of 199 heterosexual couples. Results revealed significant actor and partner effects. Specifically, male and female attachment avoidance, as well as male attachment anxiety, predicted lower dyadic trust, which in turn predicted lower relationship satisfaction. These results add to the current literature, suggesting important gender differences in the effects attachment has on overall relationship satisfaction.     

Cherish the good times: Relational savoring in parents of infants and toddlers

Savoring, or prolonging emotions associated with positive events, improves emotion and life satisfaction; little work, however, focuses on the savoring of interpersonal experiences, termed relational savoring. In a sample of 435 parents, the authors evaluated the impact of relational savoring on emotion and parent–child relationship satisfaction compared to a personal savoring and neutral control condition. Two years later, the authors reassessed parents' feelings of closeness with their children in a subsample of the original participants (n = 64). Both savoring conditions resulted in higher positive emotion for all parents, whereas the effects on negative emotion, relationship satisfaction, and closeness were only present for those higher in attachment avoidance. This study opens new avenues of investigation in both relational savoring and parent–child relationships.