The COVID-19 pandemic has severely limited physical interaction (e.g., school closures, 6ft- distances, quarantine) and disrupted the daily lives of adolescents which likely heightened levels of perceived loneliness and internalizing symptomology. Due to the novelty of social distancing regulations caused by COVID-19, little is known about the role that loneliness plays in the association between stress from social distancing regulations and adherence to these regulations, and later difficulties with internalizing symptoms. The current study examined the impact of social distancing regulations on adolescents’ wellbeing through perceived loneliness by using data from a 5-week longitudinal survey-based study conducted on parents and adolescents (aged 14-17) amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, this thesis examined how social distancing adherence and stress influenced adolescents’ loneliness, ultimately impacting their subsequent internalizing symptoms (i.e., depression and anxiety). To determine if there was a stress-buffering effect of close relationships (i.e., emotional support and conflict), moderators of links between social distancing, perceived loneliness, and internalizing symptoms were examined. Findings provided evidence that loneliness plays a unique mediating link between social distancing and internalizing symptoms. Further, preliminary evidence of specific sources of resiliency and risk in adolescents’ close relationships during the pandemic were found. Overall, the present study highlights how social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted adolescents’ well-being during a developmental period considered a turning point for psychopathology.

Our aim with this study was to examine older people's experiences of loneliness. Specifically, we investigated how loneliness affects the elderly, how it is expressed, and what its sources are. The study was conducted using a qualitative method, by interviewing four caregivers at two nursing homes, and three social workers who work as care administrators for nursing homes. We found that the experience of loneliness is prevalent among the elderly who live in nursing homes. Furthermore, we identified two outstanding themes in their experiences, which we categorised as experiences of loneliness and feelings of being safe. Feelings of being safe had two subthemes; moving to a nursing home and the living situation. Feelings of being unsafe were closely related to loneliness, and this was partially a reason why the elderly wanted to move to a nursing home, as a way to get closer to other people and overcome loneliness. Experiences of loneliness varied in the following subthemes; suffering of existential loneliness, extent of social relationships, social networks, and social life, expressions of loneliness, and the meaning of loneliness. We found different forms of loneliness, including loneliness based on loss of relationships, mostly due to the passing away of one’s social group, which was expressed partially as an experience of existential loneliness. The elderly people’s network of friends and family varied; some of them had a close network with many visitors every day, and others had almost none that visited them.

Growing up in an adverse early environment is related to a number of negative health outcomes later in life, and dysregulation of the HPA axis may serve as the means by which this process occurs (Repetti et al., 2002). Indeed, early environment has been linked to altered physiological responses to general stressors in adulthood, but it remains unclear whether physiological responses to marital stress are also affected. Thus, the present work addresses two central questions in 129 newlywed couples: (1) How does growing up in an adverse early environment relate to physiological stress responses (assessed by cortisol) to a relationship conflict? (2) Does having a supportive spouse moderate this relation? The results provide some support for the link between early environment and cortisol reactivity among husbands, and marginal support for the moderating role of spousal support.

Bakgrund: Våldsutsatta kvinnor söker sig oftast först till akutmottagningen där sjuksköterskor har ett ansvar att fånga upp och ge dem vård. Våldsutsatta kvinnor har behov av stöttning och önskar bli bemötta med förståelse och empati från sjukvården. Studier visar att sjuksköterskor känner oro och osäkerhet inför uppgiften att möta dessa kvinnor. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att beskriva sjuksköterskors erfarenheter av att möta kvinnor utsatta för våld i nära relationer som söker sig till akutmottagningen. Metod: Litteraturstudien har en allmän design där arbetsprocessen utgår från niostegsmodellen. Resultatet består av nio kvalitativa originalartiklar. Databaserna CINAHL och PubMed användes för att hitta artiklarna och dessa analyserades sedan med hjälp av kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultat: Två kategorier identifierades; 1) en utmanande arbetssituation med underkategorierna tidsbrist upplevs hindra god kommunikation och kunskapens betydelse i mötet samt 2) ett mångfacetterat möte med underkategorierna emotionell påverkan och osäkerhet i yrkesrollen. Slutsats: Utbildning och organisatoriska förändringar krävs för att sjuksköterskor ska få adekvat kompetens och resurser för att möta våldsutsatta kvinnor och ge dem god omvårdnad. / Background: Women who are victims of violence usually first go to the emergency department, where nurses have a responsibility to intercept and provide them care. Moreover, women exposed to violence need support and wish to be met with understanding and empathy from healthcare. Studies show that nurses are concerned and uncertain about meeting these women. Aim: This study aims to describe nurses' experiences of meeting women exposed to intimate partner violence who come to the emergency department. Method: The literature study has a general design where the work process is based on a nine-step model. The resultconsists of nine original qualitative articles found in databases CINAHL and PubMed. These articles were then analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Result: Two categories were identified; 1) A challenging work situation with the subcategories time constraints is perceived to hinder good communication and the importance of knowledge in the meeting, and 2) a multifaceted meeting with subcategories emotional impact and uncertainty in the professional role. Conclusion: Education and organizational changes are vital to providing nurses with adequate skills and resources to meet women exposed to violence and ensure them good care.

Intimate partner violence against women is a major problem in society. Violence has a negative impact on the victims and the person who abused the woman often needs professional help. Being able to get good personal treatment in a professional context has one of the great importance for the victim. The purpose of this study is to investigate how violence in close relationships has increased during Covid-19 and to be able to highlight how staffs who work in the women's shelter experience their work situation during the prevalent Covid-19 pandemic and how the pandemic affects the way you work with violence in close relationships. This study has a qualitative method where the empirical is collected through four to five semi-structured interviews with the women's shelter working from four different municipalities.

Zuzana Horáková Hurychová Dissertation: Structure and dynamics of close personal relationships ABSTRACT Keywords: Close personal relationship, components of close relationships, close relationship's dynamics, relationship type, methods of measuring close relationships, prototype approach, RCI, DOTEV The thesis deals with close personal relationships and their specific characteristics. Even though this area has been extensively explored abroad, it has received little attention in the Czech Republic. We can see a certain paradox: While there are no standard methods of measuring or specifying relationship characteristics of the Czech population, foreign literature is abundant in theories on how close personal relationships work, offering methods of their measurement. These methods usually focus on a specific component of the relationship. Therefore, it has not been possible to fully meet the objectives of this thesis. The first objective was to perform a theoretical mapping of close relationships, which is not fully possible due to the limited extent of the thesis. Thus, I only focused on the most frequently cited and most interesting, in my opinion, concepts that offer practical methods of measuring close relationships. The thesis offers a wide, though not exhaustive, overview that has served as a basis for...

Measures of adult attachment developed in English have been translated and validated in multiple Spanish-speaking countries, yet to this date no self-report adult attachment instrument has been systematically examined for validation with Latinos/Hispanic Americans. The present study examined psychometric properties of a Spanish version of a widely used adult attachment scale, the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale (ECRS), with a bilingual college student sample. Following the dual-language split half (DLSH) quantitative method of evaluating semantic equivalence, 209 bilingual, Latinos/Hispanic American college students recruited from a large public university completed a DLSH version of the ECRS (half English, half Spanish). Internal consistency reliability and DLSH reliability were within acceptable limits, although significantly smaller than coefficients of the English ECRS completed by a large Caucasian sample (n = 459); 3- to 8-week test-retest reliability was also adequate. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a two-factor solution with 35 items accounting for 40% of the variance, which was similar to the English ECRS. Convergent validity was supported by findings that showed significant associations of attachment dimensions with social self-efficacy, self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and comfort with self-disclosure, but not interpersonal trust. Evidence for discriminant validity was found in that attachment dimensions were not significantly associated with social desirability. Theoretical implications, limitations, and future directions of the study will be discussed based on adult attachment theory and cross-cultural perspectives.

Sweden like other Nordic countries are cited as models in terms of gender equality in the world. In addition, they played a significant role in the process of changing the Declaration on eradication of discrimination against women (CEDAW) into a binding Convention. However, the report Captured Queen on men’s violence against women published by Brottsoffer-myndigheten (The Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority) in 2001 showed the extend of this issue of society in Sweden. The purpose of this thesis is to explore how the situation of men’s violence against women in close relationships in Sweden is presented today since the publication of the report Captured Queen in 2001.The theoretical framework consists of the feminist perspectives and concept of hegemonic masculinities. Qualitative method and secondary materials were used to gain a deeper understanding of the issue of men’s violence against women in close relationships in Sweden. The main findings of this thesis show that men’s violence against women in close relationships is a real social problem in Sweden. There is no specific profile of violent men against women in Sweden, since they come from all social classes, backgrounds and of all ages. Men’s violence against women can be explained by the result of inequalities between men and women in social structures. It is this social and collective domination of women by men that facilitate the individual domination of a man over his partner. Therefore, factors such as alcohol consumption cannot be the determinant cause of men’s violence against women. Nonetheless, alcohol consumption constitutes a factor that can promote or increase the likelihood of violence. The latest Swedish sexual assault legislation based on consent entered in force the first July 2018 cannot significantly reduce the extent of this social phenomenon, since social structures in Sweden are based on patriarchal considerations where men dominate over women.

<p>U ovom radu se ispituje fenomen&nbsp; kvaliteta 5 vrsta bliskih odnosa u odraslom dobu (majka, otac, brat/sestra, prijatelj, partner). Istraživanjem se razmatraju specifičnosti bliskih odnosa na domaćoj populaciji i razlike u kvaliteti bliskih odnosa s obzirom na nekoliko personalnih i kontekstualnih karakteristika ispitanika. Poseban akcenat se stavlja na relacije između individualnih (osobine ličnosti, afektivna vezanost, autoritarnost i stilovi komunikacije) i socijalnih (porodična interakcija sa majkom i ocem) determinanti i kvaliteta bliskih odnosa.</p> / <p>This paper examines the quality phenomenon of 5 types of close relationships in adulthood (mother, father, brother / sister, friend, partner). The research examines the specificity of close relationships on the domestic population and the differences in the quality of close relationships with regard to several personal and contextual characteristics of the respondents. Particular emphasis is put on the relationships between individual (personality traits, attachment, authoritarianism and communication styles) and social (family interaction with mother and father) determinants and quality of close relationships.</p>

This research explored college students’ attitudes toward online romantic relationships and their intentions to develop this type of relationship. Borrowing elements from both social cognitive theory and the theory of reasoned action, this study introduced a model that combined perceptions of indirect past experiences, beliefs, attitudes and social norms and associations with people’s intentions to form romantic relationships over the Internet. Under the premise that people learn through observation, this study argued that when direct experience is lacking (as was the case with this sample), other sources of indirect experiences with online romantic relationships (perceptions of significant others’ past experiences and exposure to media messages about online romantic relationships) would relate to people’s beliefs about these relationships and their perceptions of what significant others think (social norms). Based on the theory of reasoned action, it was hypothesized that people’s beliefs about online relationships would then be related to their attitudes toward such relationships. Lastly, also under the framework of reasoned action, it was hypothesized that both attitudes and social norms would predict people’s intentions to form or develop romantic relationships over the Internet. The purpose of this study was thus to examine how well predictors from social cognitive theory and the theory of reasoned action explained intentions to form online romantic relationships. A pilot study was conducted to derive beliefs and attitudes toward online romantic relationships and to test the main instrument. In the main study, 226 college students with no prior direct experience forming online romantic relationships completed a web-based self-administered questionnaire. A structural equation modeling (SEM) approach was used to assess the relative importance and the strength among the different constructs. Results indicated that the overall model fit the data well. The final model accounted for 46% of the variance in people’s intentions to form online romantic relationships. Perceptions of friends’ and family’s past experiences with online romantic relationships were significantly related to people’s beliefs about these relationships. However, only friends’ past experiences was related to social norms. Exposure to media (news stories or ads about dating sites) was not related to either beliefs or social norms. Consistent with the theory of reasoned action, beliefs were strongly correlated with attitudes about online romantic relationships, and lastly, both attitudes and social norms emerged as instrumental factors in predicting participants’ intention to develop online romantic relationships. Overall, the findings confirmed the importance of integrating indirect past experiences in understanding people’s attitudes and intentions to form romantic relationships over the Internet. The theoretical and methodological implications of these results for the study and understanding of online romantic relationships are discussed.