Extramarital relationships and women's sexuality are by far some of the most controversial and elusive subjects in our society, and most of the empirical literature and popular opinion about the connection between women and infidelity perceive it as unequivocally taboo. Following the work of feminist researchers who valorize the potential for women's sexual experiences and view heterosexual relationships as a form of oppression, I explore the extramarital relationships between single women and married men. To perform this exploration, I completed two-part, in-depth interviews with eleven single women who had an intimate relationship with a married man. Once the interviews were transcribed verbatim, I completed a four-step voice-centered relational reading and analysis of the interviews in which participants' experiences were summarized into three relationships: with themselves, with the married man, and with the married man's wife. I set aside the themes that emerged from this inquiry and I performed a discourse analysis on the participants' narratives for each of these three relationships. Since the resulting themes from the voice-centered relational analysis overlapped considerably with the dominant discourses that emerged from the discourse analysis, a more in-depth feminist analysis was performed exclusively on the latter. In summary, the most commonly occurring dominant discourses were a struggle with morality, identity development and identity reconstruction; responsibility toward women (the married man's wife); and a negative emotional aftermath following the end of the relationship. Consequently, this analysis also found an occurrence of three types of extramarital relationships: satisfying, distressing/distancing, and emotionally abusive. Each dominant discourse was deconstructed per participant and per interview by using a feminist theoretical lens. / The analysis paved the way for a relational and socio-political examination of single women's experiences of infidelity. The implications of this study are discussed by comparing them to existing investigations, both feminist and traditional, of women's intimate relationships. This study thus aimed to understand the experiences of single women who have had intimate relationships with married men, to empower them as well as the mental health professionals and educators who work with this particular clientele.

The aim of this study was to describe false consensus in romantically involved couples. False consensus is the tendency of the perceiver to overestimate the degree to which other people agree with his or her beliefs, opinions and behavioral choices. Previous research has demonstrated false consensus in a variety of situations and circumstances, but prior to this study false consensus had not been measured in couples. This study asked two research questions: (1) Does false consensus occur at the same rate in romantically involved couples that it occurs in non-couples? (2) Does false consensus occur less in romantically involved couples in longer-term relationships? In order to examine these questions this study surveyed 143 couples using modified versions of the Relationship Beliefs Scale (RBS) and the Attitudes Toward Divorce Scale (ATDS). The scale were modified to measure false consensus by adding the question “Do you believe that your partner agrees with your view on this item?” to each item. The results indicated that while false consensus does occur in couples it occurs at a lower rate than in non-couples. This study did not find a relationship between false consensus and length of time in the relationship. Clinical implications are discussed. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

Research has demonstrated that self-reported relationship commitment is positively associated with behaviours that help to maintain relationships. One of these, accommodation, refers to an individual's willingness to respond constructively, rather than destructively, to his or her partner's transgressions. Until now, commitment has been measured using mainly self-report methods. This study sought to show that cognitive accessibility of commitment may also be able to predict the relationship maintenance behaviour of accommodation. Participants either encountered the relationship threat of an attractive opposite-sex confederate or encountered no threat. They then complete measures of the accessibility of commitment and accommodation. Results revealed that for women only, the accessibility of commitment was a significant predictor of accommodation in both conditions, independent of self-reported commitment. The implications for understanding relationship maintenance processes and commitment, as well as the study of romantic relationships are discussed.

Thesis DPsych (Counselling Psychology) -- Swinburne University of Technology, 2006. / Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the Professional Doctorate in Psychology (Counselling Psychology), Swinburne University of Technology, 2006. Includes bibliographical references (p. 139-150).

Thesis (M.A.)--Talbot School of Theology, Biola University, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 65-67).

Thesis (M.A.)--Baylor University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 40-43).

Thesis (M.A.)--Harding University Graduate School of Religion, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 124-133).

Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 130-140). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Washington State University, May 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on mon. day, 2009). "College of Education." Includes bibliographical references (p. 94-101).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2009. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 149 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 115-129).