No match for money: Even in intimate relationships and collectivistic cultures,reminders of money weaken sociomoral responses

The present research tested two competing hypotheses: (1) as money cues activate an exchange orientation to social relations, money cues harm prosocial responses in communal and collectivistic settings; (2) as money can be used to help close others, money cues increase helping in communal or collectivistic settings. In a culture, characterized by strong helping norms, money cues reduced the quality of help given (Experiment 1), and lowered perceived moral obligation to help (Experiment 2). In communal relationships, money reminders decreased willingness to help romantic partners (Experiment 3). This effect was attenuated among people high on communal strength, although money cues made them upset with help requests (Experiment 4). Thus, the harmful effects of money on prosocial responses appear robust.     

Angel or demon? Self-monitoring differences in the mental representations of current versus former romantic partners

We investigated whether high and low self-monitors had (a) segregated/integrated and (b) uniformly favorable (angelic)/uniformly unfavorable (demonic) mental representations of actual romantic partners. Self-monitoring was assessed using the 25-item Self-Monitoring Scale and the structure of mental representations was calculated using a modified segregation/integration measure. In Study 1, low self-monitors were more likely than high self-monitors to have (a) segregated and (b) disproportionally favorable mental representations of their current romantic partners. In Study 2, low self-monitors were more likely than high self-monitors to have (a) segregated and (b) generally unfavorable mental representations of their former romantic partners. Self-monitoring differences were not moderated in either study by relationship longevity or conflict.     

Posttraumatic Growth: Spouses’ Relationship Quality and Psychological Distress

While research links interpersonal processes to posttraumatic growth (PTG; Calhoun &; Tedeschi, 2006a Calhoun, L. G., &; Tedeschi, R. G. (2006a). Expert companions: Posttraumatic growth in clinical practice. In L. G. Calhoun, &; R. G. Tedeschi (Eds.), Handbook of posttraumatic growth: Research &; practice (pp. 291–310). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. [Google Scholar]), little is known about whether partners’ PTG has consequences for people’s (i.e., actors’) relationship functioning and psychological distress. Sixty-one married couples who had experienced severe flooding completed measures of PTG, perceptions of spouses’ PTG, relationship quality, and psychological distress 6 and 12 months following the event. Partners’ increased PTG predicted actors’ increased perceptions of partners’ PTG, which predicted actors’ increased relationship quality, which, in turn, predicted actors’ decreased psychological distress. Thus, partners’ PTG can benefit spouses’ evaluations of their relationship and, ultimately, actors’ psychological well-being.     

The State of Dyadic Methodology: An Analysis of the Literature on Interventions for Military Couples

ABSTRACT

Military members and their spouses experience unique stressors compared with civilian couples, making them distinctively vulnerable to a number of marital and mental health concerns. However, the amount and quality of intervention research to guide treatment for military couples are unknown. Therefore, a systematic literature search of interventions for military couples was completed resulting in 10 articles that met the study's inclusion and exclusion criteria. Further, a rubric to assess dyadic methodology was created and utilized to determine the dyadic quality of the methodology of the sampled articles. The results of the systematic literature review revealed that (a) there are few evidence-based interventions for military couples in which both members of the dyad are included and (b) the methodology by which treatments are evaluated largely do not employ systemic or dyadic measures. Recommendations for future research with military couples includes the need for couple-focused interventions using experimental methodology, systemic theories to guide intervention and research, and appropriate dyadic assessment and analysis tools to determine the effectiveness of couple's interventions for military, reserve, and veteran populations.     

Experiential purchases and prosocial spending promote happiness by enhancing social relationships

Recent research on consumption and subjective well-being has revealed that experiential purchases and prosocial spending promote happiness by enhancing the purchasers’ social relationships. This study (N = 1523) explored whether undergraduate students’ consumption behaviors during summer break would be associated with their post-break happiness, and whether the consumption–happiness relationship would be mediated by a positive influence on their social relationships. The results showed that both experiential purchases and prosocial spending during summer break were associated with greater post-break happiness, but only when these purchases had a positive influence on the purchasers’ social relationships. These effects remained significant after controlling for respondents’ personality traits, financial standing, and sex. Moreover, both experiential purchases and prosocial spending were more likely to have a positive influence on social relationships than luxury purchases. These results are congruent with the recent exposition that experiential purchases and prosocial spending promote happiness by enhancing the purchasers’ social relationships.     

The effectiveness of positive psychology interventions in enhancing positive behaviors and family relationships in Hong Kong: A community-based participatory research project

This paper describes a program of brief, universal, positive psychology-based interventions to increase targeted behaviors that enhance family relationships, developed and delivered to over 1500 participants using a community-based participatory approach. The cluster-randomized design combined interventions based on one of three themes (gratitude, hope, or open-mindedness) in one of two structures (intervention, or intervention with planning). The latter structure supplemented with materials and exercises derived from the Health Action Process Approach model of behavior change. Planning was more effective in increasing attitude and intention to perform behaviors, frequency of the targeted behaviors, and family health and happiness (Cohen’s ds: 0.10–0.16, p < 0.05), particularly in the theme targeting open-mindedness. Qualitative data supported effectiveness. This project was a first effort to develop a large-scale preventive psychological intervention in an understudied culture with the goal of maximizing acceptability and utilization by involving community stakeholders in every stage of the design.     

Determinants of Integration and Confrontation in Internal Dialogues

Interest in the distinction between integrative and confrontational internal dialogues has been growing, as research suggests numerous positive functions of the former compared to the latter. The article proposes a theoretical approach to integration and confrontation in internal dialogue and an empirical method of measuring these processes. Exploratory research is also presented that seeks to identify personality‐related and situational determinants of integration and confrontation in internal dialogue simulating social relationships. Canonical correlation analysis did not establish personality determinants but it did reveal situational determinants (understood as cognitive interpretation of the enacted situation) behind integration and confrontation in internal dialogue. Perceiving the internal interlocutor as similar to the dialogue's author is associated with the author's integrative attitude. An increase in the wishfulness of the dialogue is accompanied by an increase in the author's confrontational attitude and the interlocutor's integrative attitude.     

Accumulation of Risk and Promotive Factors Among Young Children in US Military Families

In the families of the new cohort of war veterans now entering the civilian population in the United States are over two million young children (Cozza, Haskins & Lerner, 2013; Institute of Medicine, 2013). Several noteworthy studies have shown that children exposed to separation from a parent due to combat‐related deployment are at elevated risk for a variety of negative consequences (Lester & Flake, 2013). Cozza et al. (2013) argue that existing studies of military children focus too much on the stresses or deficits they experience, failing to give sufficient attention to their strengths, the strengths of their families, or the supports around them. In the current study we focus on risk and promotive factors in the lives of children aged 0–10 in military families. We examine the likelihood of negative outcomes as functions of additive, cumulative, and interactive relationships between risk and promotive factors and children's outcomes. Risk factors, particularly parental depression, community poverty, and cumulative risk, were more strongly associated with children's outcomes than promotive factors. There was, however, a significant risk‐protective relationship between accumulations of risk and promotive factors, consistent with promotive conditions operating in a protective fashion under conditions of elevated risk.     

Do episodic self- and partner-uncertainty mediate the association between attachment orientations and emotional responses to relationship-threatening events in dating couples?

This study examined relational-uncertainty perceptions (a form of cognitive appraisal) to investigate how partners in 272 heterosexual couples responded emotionally to a relationship-challenging event. Participants rated themselves on attachment anxiety and avoidance. Then, after listing a challenging event, they rated how uncertain it made them about their own and their partner's continued involvement in the relationship. Participants also rated how angry and fearful the event made them. An Actor-Partner Interdependence Model yielded three sets of results. First, actor effects from insecure attachment orientations to episodic relational uncertainty emerged. Second, proposed mediation between attachment orientations and emotional reactions by uncertainty was partially supported (perceived partner-uncertainty partially mediated the positive association of anxious attachment and fear, and self-uncertainty partially mediated the positive relation between avoidant attachment and anger). Finally, a partner effect was found between one couple member's avoidant attachment and the other's perceived partner uncertainty. Men and women exhibited similar findings.