This thesis investigates the relevance of individualisation theory in the attitudes of 18 to 30 year olds living in Britain. It tests four theories of couple relationships that can be located in this debate; two prominent theories of individualisation (Beck and Beck-Gernsheim, 1995; Giddens, 1992), a theory of social exchange (Rusbult, 1980) and a socio-cultural theory of romantic love (Giddens, 1992; Jackson 1993; Burkitt 1997). In considering how these four theories might be relevant to the attitudes of 18 to 30 year olds two different ways are explored. The first is concerned with how the theories might be relevant to the attitudes of 18 to 30 year olds as a social group in terms of which theory seems most reflective of the attitudes of this population as a whole. The second is concerned with how the theories might be relevant as psychological types, to explore whether different types of attitude could be identified in the 18 to 30 age group and whether the models in any way map onto these types. The study also explores how attitudes towards relationships might differ between different demographic and socio-economic groups in the 18 to 30 population. The research design has four elements; the first involves exploratory interviews with six relationship counsellors, the second involves the analysis of data from the National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (1990, 2000), the third involves the creation and validation of a self-completion attitude instrument, the fourth involves the analysis of the primary data collected via this instrument from a representative sample of 18 to 30 year olds living in Britain. One of the main statistical techniques used in analysing the survey data (both Natsal 1990, 2000 and the primary data) is cluster analysis. This is used to identify groups who have similar attitudes to one another and therefore investigate whether one can distinguish between different attitude types. The key findings of this research indicate that, in the attitudes of this age group at least, traditional values and desires pervade. While there have been some shifts that indicate a loosening of traditional values and desires, on the whole young adults seem to desire traditional relationship forms, namely monogamous live-in partnerships, and value qualities consistent with them, namely fidelity and longevity. Further, this research shows evidence for both a theory of romantic love and individualisation theory as attitude types. Finally, it shows that measures of age, sex, religiosity, ethnicity, country of origin, class and education are all associated with attitudes towards relationships.

La presente investigación describe la experiencia subjetiva de jóvenes de 20 a 25 años que mantienen relaciones románticas a larga distancia. Se recurrió a un diseño fenomenológico hermenéutico mediante el estudio de caso múltiple haciendo uso de los sistemas conversacionales de González Rey (2007). Participaron tres jóvenes con quienes se tuvo dos conversaciones con cada uno. Se encontró que la experiencia relacional previa influye en la experiencia subjetiva de la relación romántica actual a través de la imagen subjetiva que forman los participantes de sí mismos y de la pareja. Los objetivos educacionales y profesionales son relevantes en la manera en que los participantes configuran sus relaciones románticas y en la determinación de las aspiraciones e intenciones con la pareja. El cuerpo, en sus dimensiones física y mental, juega un papel importante en el intercambio virtual y el desarrollo de la intimidad de los participantes con sus parejas. La incertidumbre es un factor central en la vivencia de desencuentros entre los participantes y sus parejas. Los resultados de la investigación permiten plantearse que la interacción virtual da lugar a nuevos esquemas para pensar al otro y a uno mismo. Las relaciones inter e intrapersonales parecen verse afectadas por el avance de las tecnologías de la comunicación. / The present research describes the subjective experience of people between the ages of 20 and 25 who maintain long-distance romantic relationships. A hermeneutical phenomenological design was applied through a multiple case study employing González Rey’s (2007) conversational systems Three young people participated in the study. The researcher had two conversations with each one. It was found that the previous relational experience influences the subjective experience of the current romantic relationship through the subjective image that the participants form of themselves and of their couple. Educational and professional goals are relevant in the way participants shape their romantic relationships and in determining their aspirations and intentions with the partner. The body, in its physical and mental dimensions, plays an important role in the virtual exchange and the development of the intimacy of the participants with their partners. Uncertainty is a central factor in the experience of disagreements between the participants and their partners. The results of the research allow us to think that virtual interaction gives rise to new schemes to think about the other and oneself. Interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships seem to be affected by the advancement of communication technologies. / Tesis

Yes / ‘Living apart together’ – that is being in an intimate relationship with a partner who lives somewhere else – is increasingly recognised and accepted as a specific way of being in a couple. On the face of it, this is a far cry from the ‘traditional’ version of couple relationships, where co-residence in marriage was placed at the centre and where living apart from one's partner would be regarded as abnormal, and understandable only as a reaction to severe external constraints. Some commentators regard living apart together as a historically new family form where LATs can pursue a ‘both/and’ solution to partnership – they can experience both the intimacy of being in a couple, and at the same time continue with pre-existing commitments. LATs may even de-prioritize couple relationships and place more importance on friendship. Alternatively, others see LAT as just a ‘stage’ on the way to cohabitation and marriage, where LATs are not radical pioneers moving beyond the family, but are cautious and conservative, and simply show a lack of commitment. Behind these rival interpretations lies the increasingly tarnished spectre of individualisation theory. Is LAT some sort of index for a developing individualisation in practice? In this paper we take this debate further by using information from the 2006 British Social Attitudes Survey. We find that LATs have quite diverse origins and motivations, and while as a category LATs are often among the more liberal in family matters, as a whole they do not show any marked ‘pioneer’ attitudinal position in the sense of leading a radical new way, especially if age is taken into account. / ESRC

Backgrounds: Establishing and maintaining a satisfactory and fulfilling partnering relationship after the end of addictology treatment is often a goal that people cite as one of the goals in their next addictive life. Being able to establish, maintain and develop a good partnership is a confirmation of their newly acquired competences and their new role in society. People who have an affiliate relationship from an earlier time when they have used addictive substances now have to face the problems that their dependency .has caused in their relationship. Objectives: The aim of the thesis is to analyze the style of emotional attachment (EA) of individual clients of aftercare programs in their current partnership as a possible source of support or burden that significantly affects their lives and how they solve their problems and describe their satisfaction in these relationships. Study sample: The study sample consisted of 39 respondents who were clients of certified after-treatment addictology services based in the capital city of Prague at the time of the research. The research sample consisted of 19 women and 20 men aged between 19 and 47 years. Methods: The resulting data was obtained using a questionnaire battery of questionnaires: a questionnaire on sociodemographic characteristics, a...

The purpose of this study was to examine the possible mediating effect of self-esteem on the relationship between attachment security and relationship quality. Previous studies have found a positive association between attachment style and relationship quality. One possible explanation for this link may be self-esteem, which has been shown to consistently predict relationship quality. Therefore, I hypothesized that self-esteem may mediate the relationship between attachment and relationship quality. A sample of 680 married couples that completed the sections on attachment, self-esteem, marital satisfaction, marital stability, and problem areas in the relationship of the RELATE questionnaire between 2011 and 2013 was used. The data were analyzed using an Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) to help account for shared variance. Results found that there is a positive link between one's attachment and their level of self-esteem and their own relationship quality. However, results also found negative trend-level effects for the links between attachment and partner's level of self-esteem and self-esteem and own relationship quality. There was no mediating effect of self-esteem on the relationship between attachment and relationship quality.

The purpose of this study was to test whether video game use is associated with more problems with spending time together among married couples, whether problems with time together are associated with relationship quality, and whether attachment behaviors can moderate the association between time together as a problem and relationship quality. Previous studies have found a negative association between excessive video game use and couple relationship outcomes. Excessive video game use may negatively impact relationships by taking away from time spent on shared leisure and relationship maintenance activities. The Double ABCx model provided a theoretical framework for understanding how attachment behaviors such as accessibility, responsiveness, and engagement may act as protective factors that buffer the stress created by video game use and perceiving time together as a problem on couple relationships. A sample of 415 married couples who took the Relationship Evaluation Questionnaire between 2011 and 2013 and indicated that one or both partners played video games was used. Results indicated that there was a negative indirect effect of women's sports and music game use on women's relationship quality via women's reports of time together as a problem in the relationship. There was also a positive indirect effect of women's exercise game use on relationship quality. There was also a negative association between men's and women's reports of time together as a problem on own relationship quality. Men's attachment behaviors moderated the association between women's reports of time together as a problem and women's relationship quality. Clinical implications include more thoroughly assessing why video game use may be a problem in the relationship and fostering healthy attachment behaviors.

Romantic relationship factors have been linked to both physical and mental health outcomes. Previous research has lacked attention not only on associations among these constructs, but on ways by which gender attitudes and beliefs impact romantic heterosexual relationships. The Biobehavioral Family Model (BBFM) is a biopsychosocial approach to health that integrates couple/family emotional climate, biobehavioral reactivity (emotion regulation), and physical health outcomes into one comprehensive model. The present study was conducted to examine the ability of the BBFM to explain connections between couple processes and health while integrating an additional construct of gender attitudes and beliefs. The sample consisted of 595 adults (age range 18-65+ years) who have been in committed romantic relationships for at least two years. Data were collected through online surveys which asked participants about their relationship satisfaction, mental health symptoms, physical health, and attitudes and beliefs about gender in relationships. Confirmatory factor analyses were used to test measures of romantic partner emotional climate, gender attitudes and beliefs, biobehavioral reactivity, and disease activity. Structural equation modeling was used to test associations among all constructs. Results demonstrated some support for the BBFM in explaining health quality for the sample. Specifically, romantic partner emotional climate was positively associated with biobehavioral reactivity, and gender attitudes and beliefs were significantly associated with both biobehavioral reactivity and disease activity. Applying the BBFM while incorporating gender attitudes and beliefs through a feminist lens demonstrates ways by which couple processes affect the mental and physical health of these individuations. Recommendations for future research and clinical implications are discussed.

The purpose of this study is to understand the experience of being a father first hand, as well as to understand how society creates expectations that influcenc their fatherhood. Fathers have expectations on how they should be in order to be a good father which, amongst other things, involves participation, gratulations and a good relationship to their child. Many times the mother is in the focus as it for many people comes most naturally to have it so. This does not always correspond well with the father’s wishes and can be cause for alienation. Fathers are today very keen to shape how they take on the role as a father and are by redrawing the boundries of fatherhood also reshaping much of masculinity and what it is to be a father. This study was made with five qualitive semi-structured interviews in Skövde, Sweden, with fathers who had a partner and had one or two children under five years of age. A thematic analysis method was used for the interviews which revealed two main themes: ”Participating fathers” and ”Fatherhood - a secondary parent”. The results showed that fathers wants to be a part of the family, not just to have one. It also showed that partners and society’s expectations effects father’s ability to create their own version of fatherhood. The study shows that even if fathers are willing to change the traditional role of fatherhood, they are not capable to do so because the role of notions of masculinity, in relation to fatherhood, is very entrenched in the norm of being a father from society. The conclusion is that there needs to be more open informational discussions with fathers and meeting groups for fathers to share their experience. Aslo, a wider understanding of the impact from the couple relationships and society regarding how fathers percieve themselves as individuals is needed.

This thesis describes a program of research which aimed to explore the role of relationship self-regulation (or relationship "effort") and wisdom in relationship satisfaction. Three separate studies were conducted to examine the association between self-regulation and satisfaction, and the mechanisms for this association. Study 1 examined self-regulation, wisdom and satisfaction, using a sample of 61 couples in long-term relationships, and found that while wisdom shared little association with satisfaction, self-regulation was a significant correlate of satisfaction for men and women. Study 2 examined whether the association between self-regulation and satisfaction was mediated by communication skills in a sample of 101 couples in the early stages of their relationship. Results replicated the self-regulation/satisfaction association found in Study 1, but provided no evidence for mediation by communication. Study 3 tested for mediation of the self-regulation/satisfaction association by attributions in a sample of 73 newly-wed couples. The association between self-regulation and satisfaction was partially mediated by attributions, but self-regulation also had a direct relationship with satisfaction. It was concluded that self-regulation is an important correlate of satisfaction in relationships, and that this association cannot be fully explained by communication or attributions. Several directions for future research were provided, including the need to examine self-regulation and its predictors longitudinally, ways in which a behavioural measure of self-regulation could be developed, and the implications of self-regulation for couple therapy.

Historically trans people have been advised that the gender role transitional process will undoubtedly result in the breakdown of their relationships. Research into trans people's sexuality is growing, yet research into the sexuality of cisgender partners, in the context of their partners' transition, is sparse. This project presents an in-depth narrative analysis of six cisgender women who have been partnered with trans identified individuals. The findings are presented through individual overall impressions of the participants and the collective narratives told. The main story plot that emerged was 'the quest to stay together' which is told through sub plots of identity, the body and invisibility. Further sub plots are offered in regards to the support participants accessed to assist in 'the quest to stay together'. The analysis includes the ways in which narrators drew on, and/or challenged, social discourses of gender and sexuality and also performative aspects of identity. Clinical implications, limitations of the study and future research are also discussed.