The reported study investigated temporal agency (i.e., the assignment of cause for temporal shift) in newlyweds’ courtship narratives. Transcripts of courtship narratives generated by each partner of 23 recently married couples (approximately 3 months) participating in the PAIR project (Huston, McHale, & Crouter, 1986) were analyzed for the presence of different linguistic strategies for encoding temporal shift. Statements were coded as “human agency assignments” when they assigned the cause of temporal shift to humans (e.g., we started seeing each other in June); statements that assigned temporal shift to abstract entities such as the events themselves (e.g., the summer started out well for us) or to the relationship (e.g., the relationship started to slow down) were coded as “abstract agency assignments.” The frequency with which narrators mentioned positiveand negative emotions was also coded to explore the possibility that emotional valence mediated agency assignments. The frequency of different agency assignments and emotion words were considered in the context of portions of the courtship accounts that narrators designated as describing “upturns” (episodes that increased the likelihood of marriage) or “downturns” (episodes that decreased marriage likelihood). Results indicated that the frequency of human agency assignments and positive emotion mention were higher in upturn than downturn narrative segments; in contrast, abstract agency assignments and negative emotion mention were more frequent in downturn than upturn segments. Subsequent analyses indicated that positive word mention partially mediated human agency assignments in upturns and that negative word mention partially mediated abstract agency assignments in downturns. These findings are consistent with previous research demonstrating an association between the emotional valence of an event and temporal agency assignment: In general, people assign temporal agency to themselves when describing positive events, but prefer abstract agency assignments for negative events (McGlone & Pfiester, 2009). / text

It has long been believed that passionate love wanes over time, whereas companionate love grows stronger with time. Using a sample of individuals in dating relationships who reported on their feelings of love for their partners up to 20 times over the course of several months, I tested whether passionate love and companionate love develop across the early months of romantic involvement in a manner consistent with theory. Additionally, I investigated whether certain developmental trajectories of both varieties of love are more predictive of relationship dissolution than others. To do this, I first examined the average trajectories of passionate and companionate love for those who stayed together with their partners and those who experienced a breakup, paying special attention to extraneous factors that were expected to influence the manner in which both varieties of love changed over time. The amount of time individuals knew their partners prior to becoming romantically involved, their feelings of the opposing variety of love, the extent to which individuals wanted to break up with their partners, their perceptions of their partners’ desire to break up, and gender all informed the ways in which love changed over time. Because it was expected that passionate love and companionate love would show substantial heterogeneity in their temporal trajectories, I then identified the prototypical patterns of development for passionate and companionate love. The results for passionate love revealed eight distinct linear trajectories, and six unique linear trajectories were identified for companionate love. For passionate love, individuals who experienced stable or declining levels of love were more likely to experience a breakup, but the connection between companionate love and relationship dissolution was less straightforward. Perhaps most importantly, passionate and companionate love interacted to predict the likelihood of dissolution, such that, to the extent that individuals who reported higher levels of passionate love also reported stronger feelings of companionate love, the lower their odds of dissolution. The current findings both complement and extend prior theoretical and empirical work on the developmental trajectories of passionate and companionate love and their connections to relationship dissolution. / text

Part of the natural progression of any romantic relationship is that, over time, individuals will meet and form connections with each other’s friends and family (Milardo, 1982). Interestingly, the examination of social network introductions has largely been neglected by researchers. We do not know when couple members introduce each other to their friends and parents. We also do not know what effect, if any, these network introductions have on future relationship outcomes. The present study addressed these gaps. Specifically, I examined when couple members typically met each other’s friends and parents for the first time, whether relationship quality influenced the likelihood of making these introductions, and whether these introductions predicted later relationship outcomes (i.e., relationship quality, likelihood of breakup, and post-breakup adjustment). In the present study, participants in new romantic relationships (less than 6 months duration) completed a survey every two weeks for nine months. In each survey, participants indicated whether friend and family introductions had occurred, their current relationship quality, and whether they had broken up with their partners since the previous survey. If individuals reported having broken up, they were asked about their reactions to the breakup. Results revealed that friends were typically introduced before parents, and that relationship quality predicted the likelihood of newly dating individuals introducing their parents (but not friends) to their romantic partners. Largely, network introductions failed to predict later perceptions of relationship quality but did influence the likelihood of relationship dissolution over the course of the study. Furthermore, introductions to participants’ mothers predicted worse emotional reactions to a breakup, and introductions to participants’ fathers and best friends were associated with greater relationship longing. The results of this study represent an important first step in understanding when individuals introduce their romantic partners to their friends and family and how these introductions influence relationship development. / text

The breakup of a non-marital romantic relationship is a common experience, yet we know little about the factors associated with coping and recovery. Even less is known about the social context in which these breakups occur, such as how the ongoing relationship between two people (who were formerly in a relationship) impacts emotional adjustment. Relationship breakups are not always a definitive event, but rather a process that unfolds over time. By studying these associations, as well as the influence of other supportive people in shaping recovery, research can move beyond individual variables to cast a truly social or interpersonal light on this topic. With this broad goal in mind, my dissertation addresses four specific aims that are designed to: (1) Understand how specific forms of ex-partner contact are associated with variability in emotional adjustment following a romantic breakup; (2) Examine the moderators and mediators of these associations; (3) explore the associations between the social support efforts of close friends/family and participants' emotional adjustment with a specific focus on evaluating the correlates of target participants' received support with respect to informants' reports of support provided; and (4) explore the implications of having a friend/family member report on participants' responses to the separation in altering a target participant's self-report of adjustment over time. One-hundred forty-five (n = 25 men) participants provided reports of contact with ex-partners and emotional adjustment over a 5-week period, half of whom were randomly assigned to participate in the study with an informant. Out of 73 participants in this condition, 48 informants agreed to participate on behalf of their target participant also reporting the participant's ex-partner contact behaviors and emotional adjustment. For men and/or those with high attachment anxiety and avoidance, ex-partner contact is not associated with poorer emotional adjustment. Support also was found for two mechanisms, longing and rumination, which explain the association of ex-partner contact and emotional adjustment, as well as for attachment anxiety as a moderator of part of the indirect effect. No support was found for invisible support analyses or for cognitive reappraisal as a potential mechanism that explains the effects of invisible support, and the lack of findings is addressed. Finally, findings suggest that inclusion of informants may impact the validity of target participants' responses, insomuch as participants may alter their behaviors and/or the extent to which they are truthful about their behaviors due to knowing an informant was reporting on their behaviors.

Research has yet to explain how individuals develop and incorporate their religious and spiritual views into their sense of self and romantic relationship beliefs and behaviors. The current study seeks to understand how individuals and couples understand their spiritual and religious beliefs and use them to negotiate satisfying marital relationships. Self-discrepancy theory assists in understanding the ways in which individuals and couples navigate the development of their spiritual, religious, and relationship beliefs, as participants beliefs are often fluid as they work to reconcile various discrepancies. To understand how participants experience these beliefs in family of origin, courtship, and the early years of marriage, a story-telling methodology is employed. Many couples experience their religious beliefs as being focused on the organization, denomination, rites, and rituals, whereas spirituality is more often about beliefs, movement or questioning, and connection to a God or Higher Power. Spiritual and religious beliefs influenced the way participants viewed romantic relationships in terms of marriage, sex, marital cohesion, dating, family of origin, children, pregnancy, cohabitation, and divorce. This study represents participants' lived experiences and the various ways in which spiritual and religious beliefs permeate into other aspects of marital life. Interestingly, there appears to be a high salience of religious and spiritual beliefs in regards to relational beliefs and behavior beginning in adolescence leading up to marriage and then a reduction in saliency for some after marriage until the presence of children when saliency increases for some couples.

People hold images of themselves, of their ideal partner, and of the ideal relationship (Simpson, Fletcher, & Campbell, 2001). The present study examined Perceived Meta-Ideals (PMI): people’s conceptions of who they think their partners want them to be, whereas Perceived Meta-Ideal Similarity (PMIS) is how close individuals feel they are to their PMI. 143 dyads in a romantic relationship were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: primed similar/dissimilar to the PMI, and no prime control. Individuals higher in self-esteem (HSEs) reported higher PMIS than individuals lower in self-esteem (LSEs). Higher PMIS lead to an overestimation of the amount of positive qualities that the partner is looking for. HSEs were more satisfied in their relationship and reported a greater self-other overlap, and higher PMIS predicted relationship satisfaction. Finally, self-other overlap mediated the relationship between PMIS and the desire to become the PMI.

People hold images of themselves, of their ideal partner, and of the ideal relationship (Simpson, Fletcher, & Campbell, 2001). The present study examined Perceived Meta-Ideals (PMI): people’s conceptions of who they think their partners want them to be, whereas Perceived Meta-Ideal Similarity (PMIS) is how close individuals feel they are to their PMI. 143 dyads in a romantic relationship were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: primed similar/dissimilar to the PMI, and no prime control. Individuals higher in self-esteem (HSEs) reported higher PMIS than individuals lower in self-esteem (LSEs). Higher PMIS lead to an overestimation of the amount of positive qualities that the partner is looking for. HSEs were more satisfied in their relationship and reported a greater self-other overlap, and higher PMIS predicted relationship satisfaction. Finally, self-other overlap mediated the relationship between PMIS and the desire to become the PMI.

This longitudinal study investigates whether the timing of sexual debut (early, on-time, or late, compared to one’s peers) is associated with young adult romantic relationship quality (i.e., overt and relational victimization, relational aggression, dating worries, and positive dating experiences) either directly or indirectly by moderating the relationship between trajectories of individual factors (internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms, and alcohol use) young adult romantic relationship quality. Participants were from a large, six-wave longitudinal study (N = 662, 48% males, M age at T1 = 15.5 years, SD = 1.9 years). I use multi-step regression models to estimate how sexual debut group moderates the association between individual factors and young adult romantic relationship experiences by estimating slopes and intercepts for individual factors and creating interaction terms to test the moderating effect of timing of sexual debut on the slopes and intercepts of individual factors. Gender differences are also investigated. Results indicate that early sexual debut is associated with higher baseline levels of individual factors and directly predicts negative relationship experiences in young adulthood. Early sexual debut moderates the relationship between baseline internalizing symptoms and negative dating experiences and dating worries in young adulthood. Findings also show that early sexual debut moderates the relationship between steeper increases in externalizing symptoms and negative dating experiences and dating worries. The results provide a better understanding of the longitudinal impacts of adolescent experiences on young adult relationship outcomes. / Graduate

abstract: Receiving support from intimate others is important to individual well-being across the lifespan. However, the role of support in adolescent romantic relationships has not been investigated extensively. Using two studies, this dissertation utilized data from N = 111 adolescent couples collected as part of the Adolescents, Schools, Peers, and Interpersonal Relationships (ASPIRE) to investigate the implications of support for adolescents’ relationship quality, and positive behavioral adjustment. The first study expanded on existing research by investigating whether support given in response to a partner’s experience of a stressful event, and gauged from the perspective of the support recipient, was associated with the quality of adolescents’ romantic relationships. The study, further investigated whether the association between support and relationship quality changed depending on stress levels experienced due to the stressful event. Results from the dyadic process multilevel model showed that support receipt was associated with increased relationship quality on the same day and that this association was moderated by stress. Results imply that support processes engaged in by adolescents may operate in a similar manner as they do for adults. Implications for the research literature are discussed. The second study examined the role of parental support in adolescents’ romantic relationships. Although, research indicates parents continue to play an important role in the socialization of their children during the adolescent years, very little is known about the role of parenting practices in the domain of adolescent romantic relationships. Study two used longitudinal data to investigate the influence of parental support of adolescent romantic relationships and parental trust on adolescents’ disclosure of information about romantic relationships and adolescent problem behaviors. Results of the Actor Partner Interdependence Model indicated that parental support of romantic relationships but not parental trust was associated with increases in adolescent romantic relationship disclosure at time one, and decreases in problem behaviors at time two. Furthermore, important sex differences emerged. Sex differences and implications for parents of adolescents are discussed. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Family and Human Development 2016

abstract: The goal of this study was to examine the correlation between the brain's preconscious processing of relationship events and direct observation of couples' behavior during a videotaped discussion task. Although we know about the interaction dynamics within romantic relationships that portend conflict and dissatisfaction, very little is known about how individuals read interpersonal events within their relationship. Romantic partners participated in a dyadic EEG (electroencephalogram) lab session in which they played a gambling task. The gambling task consisted of three conditions: 1) individual gambling 2) watching their partners gamble and 3) gambling with advice from their partners. Following the gambling tasks, partners were videotaped discussing relationship topics. Neurocognitive reactions to winning and losing a gamble in response to partner's advice were analyzed as an Evoked Response Potential (ERP). The ERP of interest was the P300, which is associated with the brain making sense of unexpected information. Using an actor partner framework, it was found that the females' P300 predicted observed coercive interaction patterns. This finding suggests that for females with an established coercive relationship with their male partners, positive feedback was unexpected compared to losing. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Psychology 2016