Close relationships fulfil the need of an individual to start and keep close relationships with other people. These are main basic needs of a human being. Partnership, family and friendship are all considered to be close relationships. We can find common elements among them but also there are specific differences. Intimacy is by all means one of the main components of close relationships and this work is focused on it. We mention knowledge which can be found in literature, emphasis is put on foreign sources. This work shows results of prototypical study of the term intimacy, which reveals layman structure of this term and offers, apart from traditional definitions, a different view of the subject, especially the contrasts which are typical for close relationships in partnerships, family relationships and friendships. Key words: Close relationships, intimacy, prototypical approach, prototypic scale

The transition to parenthood has been noted to be a significant milestone in an individual’s life that can have varying effects on the marital relationship. The marital relationship has further been noted to have implications on father involvement with children, where such involvement allows for better health and well being of the child. Sexual intimacy has been noted to be a significant aspect of a marital relationship that has an impact on marital satisfaction. As such the aim of this study was to explore father’s experience and understanding of fatherhood as well as their perceptions of the marital relationship post birth of the first child. The marital relationship was explored through understanding how the birth experience and presence of the baby influence fathers’ perceptions of their wife’s desirability’s, of marital intimacy and how sexual intimacy fits into the relationship post birth of the baby. The study consisted of a qualitative design and eight fathers were interviewed using a semi structured interview schedule. The data was then analysed using thematic content analysis. Findings suggested that whilst fathers reported a distinct decline in sexual intimacy there was no decline in marital satisfaction. Decline in marital satisfaction may have been buffered against, as fathers seemed to prepare for the birth of their child and held realistic expectations of the adjustments that would be required post birth of the baby. In addition, their view of intimacy had broadened to include sensuality where spending alone time with their wife and communication were seen as equally significant to sexual intimacy. The results from the study further indicated that fathers are becoming more involved in their parental role. In this regard fathers tended to create an individual space between them and their baby. This finding is in direct contrast to psychodynamic theories which discuss the father as involved in a triadic relationship with his child and hence relating only through the mother.

Thesis advisor: Karen Rosen / High achieving girls (i.e., super girls) are under the spotlight in popular psychology and recent media reports. While these reports suggest girls are doing well by objective standards of achievement, little is actually known about high achieving girls' social and emotional development. Understanding psychological aspects of high achievers is critical in determining whether girls pay a price along the road to success. In what follows, the literature on risk, including pressure/stress, coping, and problem behaviors will be reviewed. Salient developmental issues such as self-evaluation and intimacy will also be explored. The literature on these topics will be evaluated first among typical adolescents and then among high achievers. Next, a study that assessed the socioemotional functioning of high achieving girls and boys is described. Results indicated that high academic achievement for both boys and girls was related to higher academic self-concept, lower external and other problem behaviors, lower behavioral misconduct, lower romantic appeal, higher personal standards, and less positive thinking as a coping technique. However, participants' gender played a significant role. Girls revealed lower self-competence, more stress, and greater eating problems, regardless of achievement. Across achievement levels, boys had lower levels of intimacy as compared to girls. In one instance, achievement interacted with gender: low academic achievement was related to higher ratings of behavioral misconduct for boys only. Implications are discussed as they relate to both typical and high achieving students and the contexts in which they live. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Psychology.

<p>The current research study examined the way one’s relationship with self affects their relational intimacy with others, while accounting for the role of social media has in influencing this effect. This study uses self-compassion to examine one’s relationship with self and expands on the current knowledge that self-compassion influences one’s relationships. It was hypothesized that self-compassion would be positively associated with relational intimacy and negatively associated with social media use. A total of 173 participants contributed to this study. No significant relationship was found between self-compassion and social media use, as measured by social media use integration in to social routines and emotional connection, and integration into social routines. There was a significant positive relationship between self-compassion and relational intimacy but no support for social media use was a significant mediating variable.</p>

In the current sociological literature, there is very little research on the subject of the love shared between parents and children, and contemporary intimate father’s role in connection to Scottish and Romanian masculinities. Drawing from the aesthetic theory of emotions postulated by Ian Burkitt (2014) and from Esther Dermott’s (2008) reframing of modern fatherhood according to intimacy theory, the present research has looked at a specific group of men’s experiences of love. As such, it sees involved fathers as embedded in an intimate network of relationships: to their children, their partner and their own parents. Presenting results from 47 qualitative semi-structured interviews with a sample of middle-class and working-class, resident and non-resident, Romanian and Scottish fathers, the study explored fathers’ embeddedness in a particular class, culture and family configuration in relation to what guides them to adopt certain forms of emotionality. Results show that involved fathers understand love primarily as an activity (it is something they do), in which both love and power are intermingled, as power in the context of fathering is deeply relational, and socially-constructed as much as love is. In order to maintain loving relationships to their children, involved fathers also do emotion work in discursive and embodied ways. Providing is influenced by the intimate father’s discourse, which has permeated both cultures due to globalization and is increasingly commodified, but fathers can also resist this discourse. The cultural perspective of their fathering has more similarities in common than differences, while class differences appear more prominently, further emphasizing structural inequalities in how love can then be practised. Therefore, the ways in which fathers express their emotions are balanced between the masculine emotional demands of stoicism and the novel discursive prerogative for intimate self-disclosure (or between love and detachment). To help us understand how these tensions are created and then resolved, I have developed the concept of ‘emotional bordering’ from Barrie Thorne’s concept of gender borders (1993). Ultimately, it is argued that investigating love in relation to culturally-diverse masculinities as they interact with the intimate father’s role can offer sociologists a fresh perspective on intimate inequalities by further enhancing the vulnerability of the concept of ‘hegemonic masculinity’. It can also give a different understanding to the role of ideals in the nexus of family practices, into which practices of love and of fathering are embedded.

Os conceitos de privado, público e íntimo sofreram transformações importantes a partir do surgimento das novas tecnologias da informação. Se, por um lado, é possível notar um refinamento das técnicas de controle e vigilância, que levariam ao questionamento da privacidade enquanto um direito individual e à violação da esfera privada, por outro, essas tecnologias permitem certo exercício reflexivo que conduz a novas vivências do privado, do público e do íntimo. Partindo, portanto, do exame da sociabilidade que surge no orkut, esta pesquisa tencionou analisar como se configuram essas novas vivências, observando que, embora a dinâmica desta sociabilidade revele afinidades com os objetivos da sociedade de controle, ela também possibilita a liberdade para criar identidades e para redefinir as regras que orientam a vida, estimulando um tipo de reflexão que aponta para o fortalecimento da política. / The concepts of private, public and the intimacy have suffered important changes since the new information technologies took part of the everyday life. If, on the one hand, it is possible to observe a certain refinement of the techniques of control and vigilance, on the other, these technologies allow a reflexive exercise that leads to new experiences of the private, public and the intimacy. Through the examination of the sociability that takes place at orkut, this research tried to analyze how these new experiences have been configured, observing that, despite of the dynamic of this sociability reveals affinities with the objectives of the control society, it also allows the liberty to create identities and to redefine the rules that guide the life, stimulating a kind of reflection that points out the strengthening of the politics.

Composed for the JACK Quartet during their Spring residency at BU during the week of Febuary 19-23, 2018. Recorded at the BU Concert Hall on Febuary 21, 2018. Composed between September 2016 - February 2018. duration: approx. 30 min. “ ccidentall , r’s finger touches Ch e’s, their feet, under the table, happen to against each other. W might be eng by the mean of these accidents; e might concentrate ph on these slight zones of contact and d l t in this fragm nt of inert finger or f , fet i tically, without concern for the re- sponse (like od——as t etym y of the word t lls us——the Fe does not reply). But in fact erthe is not pe e, he is in lov : h creates meaning, al ays and ev ry here, out of nothing, a it is meaning wh th ll im: is in crucible of meaning. Every contact, f r t lover, raises qu st on of n answer: the skin s asked to reply. “ Quand mon doigt par mégarde… ” (A squeeze of the hand——enormous documentation——a tiny gesture within the palm, a knee which doesn’t move away, an arm extended, as if quite naturally, along the back of a sofa and against which the other’s head gradu- ally comes to rest——this is the paradisiac realm of subtle and clandestine signs: a kind of festival not of the senses but of meaning.) ” Roland Barthes, A Lover’s Discourse: Fragments

In my diploma thesis I intend to look into the issue of commitment in love relationships. I wonder how it is influenced by the nature of nowadays society enhancing individualism and flexibility. Commitments are based in merging our own identity with identity of our partner. But crucial is to balance it with our own autonomy and freedom. Commitment means putting certain restrictions to our future choices. I made sixteen semi-structured qualitative interviewes based on grounded theory and I looked for answers how they perceive commitments in love relationships, what meaningful partnership means to them and how they cope with comparing potential alternatives. Keywords Commitment, love, relationship, individualism, autonomy

The health-promoting influence of high-quality, supportive close relationships has been extensively documented, yet the mechanisms of this effect are less well-understood. Leading researchers have galvanized the field to test particular relationship processes and the mediating psychological processes they facilitate to pinpoint how close relationships exert their salutary effects. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of the intimacy process on health outcomes of sleep and pain and if this effect depends on the facilitation of psychological processes in a sample of veterans and spouses (collectively called military-connected couples; N=147). Sleep problems are highly prevalent among military-connected couples and pain is highly prevalent among veterans. Results of actor-partner interdependence models revealed that perceived partner responsiveness (PPR), a core component of the intimacy process, was found to predict sleep for military-connected couples and to predict pain for veterans. Indirect effects of PPR on sleep via the psychological process of downregulation of vigilance for military-connected couples emerged. The indirect effect of PPR on pain via the psychological process of emotion-regulation was found for veterans only. Partner effects were observed for veteran PPR on spouse positive affect. Overall, greater PPR was associated with positive health outcomes for military-connected couples. The implications of this study include further establishing the intimacy process as a particular mechanism by which close relationships promote health as well as providing insights for holistic interventions for sleep problems and pain in military-connected couples.

Sexual pleasure and intimacy are fundamental and innate human needs. Individuals with physical disabilities often find it difficult to meet these needs because of such factors as impaired mobility and lack of knowledge about sexual health. People with physical disabilities are often seen as asexual and not capable of having sex, and sexuality is often not considered a concern among this population. These misconceptions can result in individuals with physical disabilities not receiving basic sex education or advice and guidance when issues arise. Not receiving this attention may impede disabled individuals' sexual potential and personal relationships. This study's focus was on the unique challenges individuals with muscular dystrophy (MD) face regarding sexual pleasure and intimacy. Humanistic psychology and the human rights theory provided the theoretical framework for this study. Using a qualitative multiple case study approach, 4 individuals with MD were asked what sexual education, if any, they received, and if they did receive sexual education, whether it met their needs. Data were analyzed using open and axial coding. Key findings were that there is an overarching theme of sexual silence and lack of sex education for people with MD. These findings can help inform efforts to provide more inclusive education for people with MD and individuals with other types of physical disabilities. Study findings contribute to social change by showing the importance of the need for more inclusive sexual education. Providing such education will better meet the basic human needs of an often undeserved and stigmatized population and end the silence that individuals with physical disabilities have regarding sexual health and intimacy.