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Many people experience a romantic breakup at some point in their lives, but people's reactions can vary considerably. A common way of coping with the dissolution of a romantic relationship is to seek support and opportunities to talk with close others. Although talking with social network members may prove helpful for some, the Social-Cognitive Processing (SCP) model posits that interpersonal interactions can hinder emotional recovery and adjustment if the disclosers feel the social network members are responding in a socially constraining way. As a result of perceiving social constraints, individuals may try to avoid thinking and talking about the breakup altogether, which, in turn, may interfere with the cognitive processing necessary to move forward from the breakup. The current research marked the first time the SCP model was explored with regards to the dissolution of romantic relationships, and it evaluated the utility of the SCP model in potentially explaining the variable nature of adjustment to a romantic breakup. One hundred and seventy-four eligible participants completed this online study. Participants completed various questionnaires pertaining to their previous relationship and subsequent breakup, their feelings and experiences following the romantic dissolution, their tendencies to think about the breakup, and the degree to which they discussed the relationship dissolution with others and the reactions they received during these conversations. In support of the SCP model, the results indicated that social constraints were associated with greater psychological distress. Furthermore, avoidance partially mediated the relation between social constraints and psychological distress as levels of social support decreased. This suggests that higher levels of social support might help buffer against engaging in avoidance in response to social constraints. In an initial attempt to examine whether the extent of avoidance displayed varied as a function of a dispositional variable (i.e., self-monitoring), no support was found. Future research should continue to investigate additional factors that may moderate the relation between social constraints and psychological distress through avoidance. / Psychology

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Master of Science / Department of Marriage and Family Therapy / Amber Vennum / The majority of scholarship on romantic relationship development in emerging adulthood is with Western populations using theories grounded in a Western cultural context. This study had two goals. The first goal was to explore the experience of non-arranged romantic relationships for young people in urban India through in-depth interviews with four men and four women. The second was to examine the relevance of Western notions of emerging adulthood, romantic relationship development, and theoretical constructs related to relationship development (e.g., terms such as ‘dating’, ‘commitment’ and ‘satisfaction’) for this population. Findings indicated one potential pathway to relationship formation that begins in friendship and gradually evolves into a romantic relationship. Other findings shed light on young adults’ culturally bound negotiation with their families around the issue of romantic relationships and the similarities in definitions of relationship terms with Western literature. This study makes important contributions to the growing field of romantic relationships in emerging adulthood by suggesting that, first, while Indian youth display several characteristics of emerging adulthood and define commitment similarly as in the West, there are important differences too. Second it has implications for future quantitative measurement of romantic relationships among Indian young adults.

Previous research has consistently demonstrated the “inter-generational transmission of divorce.” In comparison to the patterns seen in families with continuously married parents, young adults who experienced their parents’ divorce during childhood are more likely to consider leaving their own romantic partners, including spouses, when medium to low levels of satisfaction are felt. To contextualize under what circumstances and how young adults may be influenced by their perceptions of these family-of-origin dynamics, the present study explored young women’s narratives about their parents’ romantic relationships and another observable romantic relationship in their environment. These narratives included a general description of the romantic relationships, and queried perceptions of efforts invested by the parents in their relationship. Young women were also asked to clarify their expectations regarding how much effort is appropriate in romantic relationships. Twenty-two young women were interviewed and their narratives were analyzed using Charmaz (2006)’s grounded theory approach. Participants were active agents in the creation of meaning about their parents’ romantic relationship and their parents’ divorce. Their narratives were complex, sometimes paradoxical, and suggested participants understood some of the dynamics in their parents’ romantic relationships. The themes, which emerged from the perceptions of their parents’ romantic relationships, their parents’ mistakes and what they felt they have learned from witnessing their parents’ romantic relationships, provided several avenues of interest for future research and clinical practice. / Graduate / 0621 / 0620 / 0451

This examination essay is a study of the aria Ritorna vincitor! from the opera Aida by composer Giuseppe Verdi. The aim of this study is to address the vocal and interpretational questions that may arise while learning the aria. My work with this essay has included searching for information about Verdi, the opera Aida and the cultural, political and musical climate wherein the opera was born. I have also watched the opera and listened to several versions of the aria. I concentrated especially on the interpretations of Mirella Freni, Leontyne Price and Maria Callas. I also created a musical analysis of the aria. Throughout the process of writing this essay I have kept in my mind my own perspective as a singer. I have formed my study from the information I find useful in the process of approaching a new piece of music. The process of writing this essay has provided me with a lot of insight into the musical ideals and ideas behind Verdi’s work. Writing this essay made me aware of the dilemma of fulfilling the vocal expectations of the tradition and at the same time interpreting the drama convincingly. I have found a lot of useful material for a singer’s artistic development and all that I have learned will certainly come into use in my future vocal studies.

<p>The author discusses three Soviet comedies from the</p><p>1970s: Moskva slezam ne verit (Moscow Does Not Believe</p><p>in Tears, Vladimir Menshov, 1979), Osenniy marafon</p><p>(Autumn Marathon, Georgi Daneliya, 1979), and Ironiya</p><p>Sudby, ili S lyogkim parom (Irony of Fate, Eldar</p><p>Ryazanov, 1975), and how they relate to both</p><p>conventions of romance and conventions of the</p><p>mainstream traditions of the romantic comedy genre.</p><p>The text explores the evolution of the genre and</p><p>accompanying theoretic writings, and relates them to</p><p>the Soviet films, focusing largely on the conventions</p><p>that can be grouped under an idea of the romantic</p><p>chronotope. The discussion includes the conventions of</p><p>chance and fate, of the wrong partner, the happy</p><p>ending, the temporary and carnevalesque nature of</p><p>romance, multiple levels of discourse, and some</p><p>aspects of gender, class and power. In addition, some</p><p>attention is paid to the ways in which the films</p><p>connect to specific genre cycles, such as screwball</p><p>comedy and comedy of remarriage, and to the</p><p>implications that a communist system may have on the</p><p>possibilities of love and romance. The author argues</p><p>that Soviet and Hollywood films share many conventions</p><p>of romance, but for differing reasons.</p>

My goal was to examine how experiences and behaviors of individuals and their romantic partners impact relationships on a daily basis. I conducted three separate but empirically and conceptually related studies. For all three papers, the sample was both members of heterosexual romantic relationships (N = 164 couples, 328 individuals) who completed measures each day for seven days. The papers were informed by tenets from interdependence theory and the conservation of resources model. The main purpose of the first paper was to examine a set of relational constructs (i.e., satisfaction, commitment, closeness, conflict, ambivalence, maintenance, and love) to determine which constructs fluctuated daily. All seven relational constructs showed significant within-person variability and were thus appropriate for further daily investigation. With this information, the next step was to understand how to foster positive relationships by examining what daily experiences were associated with those fluctuations. In the second paper I examined whether daily hassles and uplifts were associated with same-day and next-day feelings about the relationship. For same-day effects, I found that hassles were associated with decreased positivity and increased negativity about relationships, whereas uplifts were largely associated with increased positivity. I also found interactions between hassles and uplifts, suggestive of "blunting" effects whereby the positive effects of uplifts were nullified by high levels of hassles. For the next-day effects, I unexpectedly found that uplifts were associated with <italic>decreased</italic> positive relational constructs on the next day, possibly indicating a return to homeostatic levels. In the third paper, I moved to a more explicit examination of dyadic processes by examining both actor and partner effects and focusing on the role of relational sacrifices, or the daily changes individuals make for the sake of their romantic parnters. I expected that sacrifices would be beneficial for positive relationship quality, particularly on days characterized by low (versus high) hassles. I found support for these expectations with regards to actor, but not partner effects. Overall implications are that the everyday things that individuals experience (e.g., hassles and uplifts) and enact (e.g., sacrifices) are important considerations in fostering less negative and more positive romantic relationships.

Eshkol-Wachmann Movement Notation was applied to describe and quantify nonverbal behavioral synchrony between romantic partners. The interaction of 30 couples was observed across three study conditions, Pre-Stressor, and two Post-Stressor conditions when the female partner had been targeted with a stress manipulation. Participant-level behavior, and forms of dyadic synchrony were predicted with the male and females' self-reported attachment style. Results support theories from the attachment literature.

This thesis studies the intertwinement of economy and emotions within the context of modernity. By investigating how work and romantic love interact in fiction films from the period 1930 to 1955, I seek to shed light on how two cultural practices that might normally be assumed to belong to separate dimensions of life – the economic and the emotional – are actually closely connected to each other. The examination of these interactions allows a better understanding of the process of modernisation, as well as the ways in which cultural differences matter in two national contexts: Sweden and Mexico. The thesis is structured into three overarching dimensions of analysis: space, gender and class. I seek to explain the relationship between work and romantic love within these dimensions using the concepts of emotional capital, respectability and worthiness. The results highlight the differences between the national cases. For example, films depicting the Swedish countryside represent both modern and non-modern domestic spaces when judged in terms of their configuration and appearance; however, certain traits of rural characters such as solidarity, closeness to nature and equality transcend into modern society and guide work and romantic love practices. In Mexico, the countryside is depicted at the core of national identity; however, this space is characterised by its non-modern nature. The countryside, according to films, must be reformed by notions of science and rationality. Film narratives show that through romantic love, the man modernises the non-modern woman. The gender analysis revealed that Swedish films endorse the Housewife Contract in Swedish society during this period. In Mexican films, a similar contract is found in the discourse of the modern nation but films endorse a broader interpretation. Mexican films show that whilst the patriarchal organisation of society is expected to loosen its grip in a modern society, a stable gender structure is desirable. The class analysis reveals that upward mobility is a desirable outcome in Swedish film stories. Women attain it through love while men do so through work. However, upward mobility is unacceptable in Mexican films; they instead endorse class permanence.