Couples coping with cancer: Research issues and recent findings

The diagnosis of cancer in one partner can impose numerous changes for both the individual diagnosed with cancer and his or her healthy spouse. In this article, the literature on spouse social support in the context of cancer is reviewed. The importance of understanding support given and received within a close relationship using an interactional, contextual perspective is emphasized. Examining support-related interactions and understanding the personal characteristics that determine the type and amount of support that providers give and the kind of support individuals prefer, and investigating why significant others respond in supportive or critical ways is important. In addition, the study of support interactions must be placed in the both in the context of a marriage and in the context of a catastrophic life event such as cancer. A longitudinal study of patients with gastrointestinal cancer and their healthy partners was undertaken to examine these issues, and the design of this study is described. General problems conducting research with couples undergoing a severe life stressor as well as specific problems our research group has encountered while setting up a research program in the cancer setting are reviewed.     

Coronavirus: does its activation of archetypes of evil cause added psychological suffering?

Fear and grief caused by the pandemic have produced a powerful unconscious narrative in the collective psyche that the coronavirus is driven by an innately evil, and possibly divine, force. The resulting archetypal dimension of fear causes an extra layer of psychological suffering in individuals. This paper discusses how and why this narrative was created and why it is so compelling by looking at 1) the myth-making nature of the human psyche, 2) the psychodynamics of fear that drive the narrative, 3) the properties of the coronavirus and the pandemic that activate negative poles of some archetypes, in particular, archetypes of evil, and 4) asking how analytical psychology can help ease psychological suffering caused by these negative narratives, where one possibility is to invoke the transcendent function. The author’s personal experiences as both biochemist and analytical psychologist elucidate how the transcendent function can promote healing.     

Aggression in British heterosexual relationships: A descriptive analysis

A 12-item scale, derived from the Conflict Tactics Scale, was administered to a representative sample of 1,978 heterosexual men and women in Great Britain in mid November 1994. Men and women were asked to identify conflict tactics sustained or inflicted in all past and present relationships and those sustained in current relationships. This paper reports results for physical victimization and also reports on two further questions asked to discern context and meaning ascribed to such sustained or inflicted victimization. Both sexes reported having experienced physical victimization with a higher percentage of men sustaining victimization, mainly as a result of minor acts of assault. Almost equal percentages of men and women reported inflicting victimization against partners. Additionally, incidence of physical victimization is presented according to relationship status, age, socioeconomic category, and by regional distribution. Both sexes reported a range of reasons or contexts ascribed to their sustained or inflicted victimization. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Juvenilized play fighting in subordinate male rats

As pairs of male juvenile sibling rats that are housed together become sexually mature, they develop a dominance-subordinance relationship. These dominance relationships appear to be reflected in the play fighting of the pairmates both as juveniles and as young adults, in that the seemingly subordinate partner initiates more playful attacks at both ages. However, as adults, even though it is the subordinate that initiates more playful attacks, it is the subordinate that is pinned on his back by the partner most often. Dominant pairmates were found to switch to defensive patterns typically found in adult males. In contrast, the subordinates, when contacted on the nape, were more likely to retain the juvenile pattern of turning over to supine. Therefore, the subordinate pairmate of an adult pair of male siblings both initiates more playful attacks and defends itself in a more juvenile manner than its dominant partner, and this leads to it being pinned more frequently. This pattern of behavior by subordinate rats is suggested to function as a friendship maintenance mechanism permitting co-existence in multimale colonies.     

Does social support predict smoking abstinence in dual-smoker couples? Evidence from a dyadic approach

Background and Objectives: Romantic partners have a significant influence on their health behaviors. Evidence for the effectiveness of social support for smoking abstinence, however, is mixed and the role of social support for smoking abstinence in dual-smoker couples is understudied.

Design: 77 dual-smoker couples were assessed 30 days after a joint quit attempt using a dyadic approach.

Methods: Received and provided support, self-reported and objectively measured smoking abstinence were assessed from both partners. Actor and partner effects of received and provided support on self-reported and objectively measured smoking abstinence and their difference for men and women were investigated with the Actor–Partner Interdependence Model using multilevel modeling.

Results: A significant actor effect emerged: Higher reports of received emotional support were related to an increased likelihood of objective smoking abstinence for men and women alike. For men only, partner effects of women’s received emotional and instrumental support emerged (p?<?.10): Higher reports of women’s support receipt were associated with an increased likelihood of men’s self-reported abstinence.

Conclusion: Received emotional support seems to play a key role in dual-smoker couple’s abstinence, whereas provided support does not seem to make a difference in successful quitting in dual-smoker couples.     

Electronic Visibility Management of Lesbian,Gay, and Bisexual Identities and Relationships in Young Adulthood

Visibility management is a process the lesbian, gay, and bisexual-identifying (LGB) people use to manage the extent to which they will identify (“out”) themselves in various contexts such as school, work, family, and home-based settings. The purpose of this study then was to explore LGB persons' experiences of electronic visibility in online environments such as social networking sites and the manner in which LGB persons most commonly monitor their electronic visibility as individuals and in couple relationships. Analysis of the survey responses of 61 young adult participants indicated that this sample felt more positive about their identities overall compared with a national sample and that they frequently reported their sexual orientation online, most often on Facebook. In addition, participants reported online disclosure did not have an effect on their relationship satisfaction. Discussion and implications for research and clinical practice are presented.     

男性理想体型变化及其影响因素

现代男性对自身体型的关注程度日益升高,理想体型也发生变化,从单一的肌肉发达体型发展为低体脂高肌肉的双维度体型。影响男性理想体型的因素主要分为两类:生物因素和社会文化因素。生物因素方面,不同性别、年龄和性取向的群体拥有不同的男性理想体型;社会文化方面,社会文化通过家庭、同伴和媒体三个渠道向理想体型施加影响。未来的研究应该进一步通过实验确立体脂与肌肉双维度的男性理想体型,并结合纵向研究验证生物及社会文化因素的影响,完善男性理想体型的理论系统,为政府制定身体意象相关的干预措施和政策提供详实有力的理论依据。     

Same-sex parent families in Italy: Validation of the Coparenting Scale-Revised for lesbian mothers and gay fathers

Even though Italy is still struggling to establish equal rights and access to assisted reproduction techniques for sexual minorities, an increasing number of lesbian women and gay men are now becoming parents. There are only a few studies that have evaluated coparenting in same-sex couples. However, these addressed adoptive couples and not the lesbian and gay parent families through donor insemination or surrogacy, respectively. This study examined the psychometric properties of the Coparenting Scale-Revised and its relationship with dyadic adjustment, discipline management, and internalized sexual stigma in Italian same-sex-planned families. The factor structure showed a satisfactory internal consistency and criterion validity with correlates of coparenting behaviours. While Family Integrity factor was confirmed, Disparagement and Reprimand dimensions collapsed into Conflict factor. Non-genetic parents showed lower levels of conflict than genetic parents. Most importantly, coparenting emerged as a significant function not shaped by gender, but influenced by parental status and internalized sexual stigma.     

Factors influencing maternal attack on conspecific intruders by lactating female “TO” strain mice

Factors regulating maternal attack in “TO” strain mice were investigated to determine 1) optimal conditions for inducing this behaviour and 2) the likely utility of this activity. Lactating females were more likely to attack male intruders than female intruders. The mate's presence reduced maternal attack in this strain, or (putting it conversely) aggression was generated in the male's absence. Removal of the mothers from their litters for four to five hours also suppressed maternal attack. Investigation of the bite targets in the maternal attack suggested that it is a defensive, rather than an offensive, response.     

No need for pedestals: Idealization does not predict better relationships among Asians

The authors tested whether partner idealization was positively associated with relationship quality among 105 intraracially dating Asian American couples (Study 1) and 98 Chinese couples (Study 2) through two methods. The commonly used residual‐based approach found, in both samples, the positive associations between idealizing a partner and relationship quality previously documented among European/European Americans. In contrast, the piece‐wise regression analysis, which distinguished between idealization and derogation, found few positive associations between idealizing a partner and relationship quality. Similarly, being the object of idealization rarely predicted greater relationship quality for either sample, even when perceived idealization was tested. Derogation, however, predicted relationship outcomes. Therefore, future studies should focus on negative behaviors or attitudes (or the lack thereof) in understanding relationship outcomes.