Job Stress and Dyadic Synchrony in Police Marriages: A Preliminary Investigation

Despite reports documenting adverse effects of stress on police marriages, few empirical studies focus on actual emotional behaviors of officers and spouses. In this preliminary investigation, 17 male police officers and their nonpolice wives completed daily stress diaries for 1 week and then participated in a laboratory‐based discussion about their respective days. Conversations were video‐recorded and coded for specific emotional behaviors reflecting hostility and affection, which are strong predictors of marital outcomes. We examined associations between officers' job stress (per diaries and the Police Stress Survey) and couples' emotional behavior (mean levels and behavioral synchrony) using a dyadic repeated measures design capitalizing on the large number of observations available for each couple (1020 observations). When officers reported more job stress, they showed less hostility, less synchrony with their wives' hostility, and more synchrony with their wives' affection; their wives showed greater synchrony with officers' hostility and less synchrony with officers' affection. Therefore, for officers, greater job stress was associated with less behavioral negativity, potentially less attunement to wives' negativity, but potentially greater attunement to wives' affection—perhaps a compensatory strategy or attempt to buffer their marriage from stress. These attempts may be less effective, however, if, as our synchrony findings may suggest, wives are focusing on officers' hostility rather than affection. Although it will be important to replicate these results given the small sample, our findings reveal that patterns of behavioral synchrony may be a key means to better understand how job stress exacts a toll on police marriages.     

Concurrent and longitudinal dyadic polynomial regression analyses of Big Five traits and relationship satisfaction: Does similarity matter?

Being with a well-matched partner seems essential for a happy relationship. However, past research on personality similarity in couples has reported inconsistent findings. The current study employs a dyadic polynomial regression approach to take into account linear and curvilinear associations between similarity and satisfaction. The concurrent results based on data of 237 couples suggest that beyond actor effects for neuroticism, agreeableness, and conscientiousness and partner effects for agreeableness, similarity plays a negligible role for relationship satisfaction. Longitudinally, two similarity effects emerged. First, if partners reported dissimilar neuroticism levels, male partner reported lower relationship satisfaction. Second, if both partners reported modest levels in openness, female partners reported higher relationship satisfaction. Implications for couples are discussed.     

Interpersonal rigidity and complementarity

The relations among behavioral complementarity, interpersonal rigidity, as indicated by the Interpersonal Adjective Checklist (IAS, Wiggins, 1995) vector score, and interpersonal distress, as indicated by the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP, Horowitz, Rosenberg, Baer, Ureno, & Villasenor, 1988), were examined in two studies. In Study 1, 214 undergraduates viewed videotapes depicting different interactions and then provided their responses. In Study 2, 122 undergraduates interacted in randomly paired dyads on a mutual task. These interactions were videotaped and the interchanges were rated using the Interpersonal Communication Ratings Scale (ICRS, Strong, Hills, & Nelson, 1988). The extent to which each participant demonstrated complementary behavior was determined. Results of the studies demonstrated support for interpersonal rigidity as related to complementarity and as a moderator of the adaptability of behavior. Further complementarity was a mediator in the behavioral rigidity–interpersonal distress relation.     

Social Support and the Perception of Geographical Slant

The visual perception of geographical slant is influenced by physiological resources, such as physical fitness, age, and being physically refreshed. In two studies we tested whether a psychosocial resource, social support, can also affect the visual perception of slants. Participants accompanied by a friend estimated a hill to be less steep when compared to participants who were alone (Study 1). Similarly, participants who thought of a supportive friend during an imagery task saw a hill as less steep than participants who either thought of a neutral person or a disliked person (Study 2). In both studies, the effects of social relationships on visual perception appear to be mediated by relationship quality (i.e., relationship duration, interpersonal closeness, warmth). Artifacts such as mood, social desirability, and social facilitation did not account for these effects. This research demonstrates that an interpersonal phenomenon, social support, can influence visual perception.     

A social validation explanation for mutual enhancement

Group members experience mutual enhancement when they evaluate one another’s task capabilities more positively because they are discussing shared as compared to unshared information. Two experiments investigated a social validation explanation for mutual enhancement. In Experiment 1, members of dyads read and discussed either shared or unshared information and collectively recalled this information under conditions where accuracy was important or not. Mutual enhancement occurred when need for accuracy was higher, but not when it was lower. In Experiment 2, members of dyads read validating or non-validating information from an outsider after they collectively recalled shared or unshared information. Members who discussed unshared information and received no validating communication from the outsider gave one another the lowest task capability ratings compared to members who discussed shared information and/or received validating communication from the outsider. All of these results are consistent with a social validation explanation for mutual enhancement.     

Parent-child interaction and developmental outcomes in children with typical and elevated likelihood of autism

BackgroundEarly parent-child interactions have a critical impact on the developmental outcomes of the child. It has been reported that infants with a family history of autism and their parents may engage in different patterns of behaviours during interaction compared to those without a family history of autism. This study investigated the association of parent-child interactions with child developmental outcomes of those with typical and elevated likelihood of autism.MethodThis longitudinal study investigated the relationship between global attributes of parent-child interaction and the developmental outcomes of infant siblings with elevated likelihood (EL: n = 29) or typical likelihood (TL: n = 39) of developing autism. Parent-child interactions were recorded during a session of free-play when the infants were six months of age. Developmental assessments were carried out when the children were 12 and 24 months of age.ResultsThe intensity of mutuality was significantly higher in the TL group than in the EL group, and developmental outcomes were poorer in the EL group when compared to the TL group. Positive associations between parent-child interaction scores at six months and developmental outcomes at 12 months were observed only in the TL group. However, in the EL group, higher levels of infant positive affect and attentiveness paid to the caregiver is associated with lower autism symptoms. Due to the sample size and design of the study, the findings must be viewed as indicative.ConclusionThis preliminary investigation demonstrated differences in the association between parent-child interaction quality and developmental outcomes for children with typical and elevated likelihood for autism. Future studies should combine micro-analytic and macro-analytic approaches to parent-child interaction to further examine the nature of this relationship.     

Behavioral Microanalysis of Helping Interactions Between Mothers and Adult Children with Mental Retardation

Although direct observation has provided much information regarding caregiver-care recipient interactions, our understanding of the applications of this technique remains incomplete. This study expands upon earlier observational work by examining adults with mental retardation (MR) and their family caregivers in the home setting. Specialized computer software was used to conduct real-time observation and recording of interactional styles of maternal caregivers of eight younger (M = 23 years old) and eight older (M = 49 years old) MR adults during two cognitive tasks: block design and card sorting. Differences in the amount and type of assistance provided by the caregiver were examined by coding the occurrence and duration of seven interactional behaviors. The results demonstrated that the caregivers of the younger adults used more positive statements and modeling/gestural prompts, whereas the caregivers of the older adults provided more physical assistance and performed more of the tasks themselves. More importantly, this project provided information regarding interactions between MR adults and their maternal caregivers and demonstrated the utility of computer-assisted data collection technology with a community-based, nondemented population.     

The Longitudinal Association of Marital Confidence,Time Spent Together,and Marital Satisfaction

Using three waves of dyadic data collected at 18‐month intervals from a community‐based sample of 610 newly married heterosexual couples (1 220 individuals), we examined the relationship between marital confidence, time spent together, and marital satisfaction using a modified actor‐partner interdependence model. Results indicate that after controlling for marital satisfaction and time spent together at Time 1, marital confidence around the time of marriage was associated with marital satisfaction approximately 3 years later. In addition, marital confidence was associated with how much time husbands and wives spent together at Time 2, which was related to marital satisfaction at Time 3. Tests of the mediating paths from marital confidence to marital satisfaction trended toward significance. The results suggest the importance of assessing for relationship confidence when working with couples in the early stages of their relationship.     

Possible Implicit Mechanisms of Minority Representation

Minority representation is an important topic for political science—how do members of a racial majority group identify with the political goals of a minority, even when research documents widespread anti‐Black bias? Does pro‐Black policy support require an individual to be unbiased, or can such support emerge despite internalized anti‐Black bias? This paper draws a distinction between two types of implicit racial attitude measures based on functionalist theories of attitudes ( Katz, 1960 ; Smith, Bruner, & White, 1956 ) and research regarding automatic empathic processes ( Decety & Jackson, 2004 ; Preston & de Waal, 2002 ). According to this distinction, some attitudes evaluate racial groups as attitude objects (evaluative associations), while others involve automatic identification with them as people (relational associations). I use subliminal racial priming for evaluative associations and a measure of implicit closeness to Blacks ( Craemer, 2008 ) for relational associations. The evaluative measure captures association strength between a racial stimulus and race‐unrelated positive or negative target words. The relational measure assesses association strength between the respondent's self‐concept and the mental representation of a racial group based on implicit “self‐other overlap” ( Aron, Aron, Tudor, & Nelson, 1991 ). Implicit measures are obtained in a well powered online reaction time study (n = 1,341). Online results are evaluated against a representative telephone survey (n = 1,200). Consistent with the extant literature, a significant anti‐Black bias emerges in evaluative associations. In contrast, a significant pro‐Black effect emerges in relational associations and the two implicit measures are statistically unrelated. Both measures predict pro‐Black policy support independently of one another and net of other factors. Implicit closeness to Blacks predicts pro‐Black policy support even among White respondents suggesting that minority representation based on relational associations may be possible despite widespread anti‐Black evaluative bias.     

Remarriage Beliefs as Predictors of Marital Quality and Positive Interaction in Stepcouples: An Actor–Partner Interdependence Model

Using an Actor–Partner Interdependence Model, we examined remarriage beliefs as predictors of marital quality and positive interaction in a sample of 179 stepcouples. Three beliefs were measured using subscales from the Remarriage Belief Inventory (RMBI) including success is slim, children are the priority, and finances should be pooled. Several significant actor and partner effects were found for both wives' and husbands' beliefs. Wives' marital quality was positively associated with their own beliefs that finances should be pooled and negatively associated with their own beliefs that success is slim. Wives' reports of their own and spouses' positive interaction were both positively associated with their beliefs that finances should be pooled. Their reports of spouses' positive interaction were also negatively associated with husbands' beliefs that success is slim. Husbands' marital quality was positively associated with wives' beliefs that children are the priority, positively associated with their own beliefs that finances should be pooled, and negatively with success is slim. Positive interaction for husbands was positively associated with wives' beliefs that finances should be pooled and negatively associated with their own beliefs that success is slim. Finally, husbands' reports of positive interaction for their spouses were positively associated with wives' beliefs that finances should be pooled. Implications for future research utilizing dyadic data analysis with stepcouples are addressed.