The purpose of the present study was to explore the forgiveness process that evolves between romantic partners over time by conducting a descriptive analysis to unveil injured partners' perceptions of how and why forgiveness developed within their relationship. Individuals who had previously forgiven their current romantic partner for a hurtful transgression were asked to recount the forgiveness process that transpired between themselves and their partner starting with the occurrence of a negative event. Studying these retrospective accounts allowed the researcher to reveal the conversations and critical events that laypeople attributed to the forgiveness process. In addition to verbally recalling why the levels of forgiveness changed over time between themselves and their loved one, injured partners were asked to visually depict how the forgiveness process transpired within their relationship by graphing the forgiveness trajectory that they recalled experiencing with their partner over time. As a result, specific types of forgiveness trajectories that demonstrated injured partners perceptions of how forgiveness changed over time within their relationship were revealed. / text

In recent years, a small but growing number of psychologists have begun to examine how the quality and stability of people's romantic relationships can be influenced by people outside of those relationships. Couples' friendships with those in their social networks appear to be particularly relevant determinants of what makes for a happy and lasting relationship. However, previous studies only have indirectly addressed underlying psychological mechanisms that may explain why friendships are beneficial for couples or how such friendships arise in the first place. This dissertation examines how friendships between couples form and potential implications for within-couple processes (e.g., the effects of friendships between couples on relationship quality within a couple). Pairs of unacquainted heterosexual couples in committed dating relationships were randomly assigned to one of two conditions where they engaged in a 45-minute interaction. In one condition, couples carried out self-disclosure tasks that gradually escalated in intensity; in the other condition, couples engaged in non-emotional small talk discussions. The procedure used was a modified version of the closeness induction task developed by Aron and colleagues (Aron, Melinat, Aron, Vallone, & Bator, 1997) to generate interpersonal closeness between individual strangers--in this case modified to generate closeness between couples. One day later and one month later, participants were asked to complete brief online follow-up measures to assess long-term effects of the experimental manipulation on perceptions of the other couple, feelings of closeness toward romantic partners, and whether or not they had contacted the other couple. Those in the high-disclosure condition felt closer to the couples they interacted with and closer to their own partners after the interaction compared to those in the small talk condition. Further, couples in the high-disclosure condition were significantly more likely than those in the small talk condition to contact and meet up with the other couple they had met in the study. Mediation analyses suggested several possible processes underlying these effects. Implications for studying the interplay of social networks and romantic relationships are discussed.

Relationship maintenance represents an important understudied relational construct. Three studies were conducted to examine the correlates of relationship maintenance across five factors: positivity, openness, assurances, social networks, and sharing tasks. Study one is a meta-analytic review of the existing literature on relationship maintenance and its correlates. Studies two and three are empirical examinations of the predictors of and barriers to relationship maintenance enactment in same-sex couples using a variety of methodological and statistical approaches.Study one is a meta-analysis that focuses on synthesizing the existing literature on relationship maintenance and several relational outcomes including satisfaction, commitment, mutuality, liking, love, and relationship duration as well as gender differences in the enactment of maintenance behaviors. Results suggest that relationship maintenance and the first five correlates are positivity related and these effects are moderate to large in magnitude. Relationship duration was negatively related to three of the five relationship maintenance factors, positively related to social networks, and not related to sharing tasks. Additionally, women tend to perform slightly more maintenance behaviors than men.Study two examines the association between relationship maintenance and commitment using a cross-lagged, actor-partner interdependence model to assess the direction of this relationship among same-sex couples. A sample of 98 couples was measured over 14 days. Results show support for a causal pathway from commitment to relationship maintenance and do not support the opposite pathway. Support for this causal pathway was also demonstrated through the examination of cross-partner effects.Study three explores the potential barriers to relationship maintenance enactment. Daily conflict was examined as it predicts relationship maintenance behaviors and the moderational effects of constructive and destructive (demand-withdraw) communication styles were examined. Results illustrate a negative relationship between conflict and relationship maintenance suggesting that engaging in interpersonal conflict results in decreased relationship maintenance enactment. The detrimental influence of conflict was minimized, however, when couples utilized a constructive rather than destructive communication style. To the contrary, destructive communication styles enhanced the negative effects of conflict with the exception of the actor-demand, partner-withdraw pattern, which reduced the negative effect of conflict.

Previous research has suggested that emotional expression is important for psychological adjustment to disease (e.g., Stanton et al., 2000). Indeed, experimentally prescribed emotional disclosure (traditionally, expressive writing) in the context of illness has been shown to provide benefits for mental and physical health (Pennebaker, 1993). However, the experimentally prescribed disclosure in previous research has typically been asocial, akin to writing in a diary. In contrast, the present research, by experimentally manipulating the intended audience of one’s disclosure, examined the effect of addressing one’s emotional disclosure to specific types of listener, namely a therapist or one’s spouse. Cardiac couples in which one partner had a recent cardiac event took part in the current study. First, partners completed pre-study characteristics questionnaires. Next, in a lab session, partners (in separate rooms) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (1) they disclosed their thoughts and feelings about the cardiac event as though speaking to their partner; (2) they disclosed their thoughts and feelings about the event as though speaking to a therapist; or (3) in a non-disclosure, control condition, they spoke about a neutral topic. Partners then engaged in a dyadic discussion about each partner’s experiences, thoughts and feelings about the cardiac event. Finally, a one-month follow-up measure assessed their relational outcomes since participation. It was hypothesized that the partner-oriented condition would lead to better outcomes than the therapist-oriented condition, and that disclosing overall would be more beneficial than non-disclosure. The study also examined the influence of pre-study characteristics on in-lab and follow-up outcomes, with the hypothesis being that participants doing less well initially (i.e., higher on psychological distress, Type D personality, emotional suppression, and lower on mindfulness, cognitive reappraisal, relationship satisfaction, and perceived social support) would experience relatively more benefits from participation than those initially doing well. In addition, the study investigated whether type of event (unexpected and sudden vs. planned and more gradual) would differentially influence measures throughout the study, with the hypothesis being that couples who experienced a sudden event (MI) would be more distressed and therefore benefit more from participation than those who went through a planned procedure. Hypotheses were partially supported. Although the manipulation of disclosing to one’s partner vs. a therapist did not elicit many differences, one important and novel finding emerged regarding the orientation of disclosures: partner-disclosures yielded a more communal orientation whereas therapist-disclosures yielded a more self-focused orientation. The importance of patients’ disclosure orientation (me vs. we) was revealed when it emerged that greater communal focus led to better outcomes for both partners, but greater self-focus led to less positive outcomes for spouses. Compared to non-disclosure, disclosure generally was found to provide greater benefits for relational communication as well as marital satisfaction at follow-up. Consistent with predictions, participants who seemed most in need at pre-study (i.e., greater distress, Type D personality, emotional suppression, and less marital satisfaction and perceived support) experienced better outcomes than those who were initially well. Finally, couples who went through a sudden event were found to be more in need and benefited more than those whose event was planned, and this was especially pronounced in the effects on the spouses. Directions for future research and implications for clinical practice were discussed. For example, in addition to highlighting the value of emotional disclosure in the context of serious illness, the findings identified characteristics of cardiac couples who may be more in need of communication interventions and drew attention to important, relatively unmet needs in the patients’ spouses.

In this doctoral thesis, a culturally-sensitive couple therapy model was developed and empirically investigated. In particular, a Western-based couple therapy, Emotionally-Focused Couple Therapy (EFT), was modified to enhance the cultural relevancy of this model to the Japanese population. An extensive literature review was conducted to examine the status of psychotherapy and couple research in Japan, and cultural differences between Western and Japanese couples, with a particular emphasis on important couple variables, including emotional expression, communication, conflict resolution, and attachment. Study objectives included an empirical investigation into cultural differences on key relationship variables of trust, attachment, communication, and conflict resolution, and the use of these findings to guide adaptations of EFT to enhance cultural relevance, and an exploration of the adapted EFT model with three Japanese couples. This study is significant in that it is the first to empirically evaluate the cross-cultural validity of EFT. This dissertation consists of two studies that have been combined in one article for the purpose of publishing the document in a Japanese journal. Both studies were combined in one article for various reasons. First, study one findings are integral to the development of the culturally-sensitive EFT model that is empirically investigated in the second study. Second, the article included in this dissertation will be translated and prepared for publication in a Japanese journal. Including both studies in one article is important given the lack of familiarity in the Japanese research community about key relationship variables, and particularly their applicability to a couple therapy system (i.e., EFT), and their use to measure change in a couple therapy outcome study.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Columbia University, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Texas Tech University, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 96-105).

Thesis (M.S.W.)--Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Mass., 2007 / Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment for the degree of Master of Social Work. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 44-46).

Thesis (M.S.W.)--Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Mass., 2007 / Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment for the degree of Master of Social Work. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 92-94).