Safely testing the alarm: close others' responses to personal positive events.

Previous research has shown that receiving social support in the face of negative events (i.e., enacted support) is sometimes correlated with positive outcomes, sometimes unrelated to outcomes, and sometimes associated with negative outcomes.

Early adolescent alcohol use and sexual experience by emerging adulthood: a 10-year longitudinal investigation.

Purpose: The current study examined the long-term relationship of early adolescent alcohol use to number of sexual partners by emerging adulthood.

Methods: Using data from a 10-year longitudinal study, we collected data on sixth- and seventh-grade students' alcohol use and their lifetime number of sexual partners 10 years later.

Results: We found a significant effect of early alcohol use in the sixth and seventh grades on lifetime number of sexual partners 10 years later, controlling for gender, age, race, peer norms, and sensation seeking.

Attachment orientations and daily condom use in dating relationships.

This daily experience study examined the roles of attachment orientations and daily relationship satisfaction in shaping daily condom use among college students in dating relationships. Seventy-five participants completed an initial measure of attachment orientation and then reported their relationship satisfaction and condom use each day for 14 consecutive days. The results showed that attachment anxiety was associated with less frequent use of condoms on a daily basis.

Maintaining sexual desire in intimate relationships: the importance of approach goals.

Three studies tested whether adopting strong (relative to weak) approach goals in relationships (i.e., goals focused on the pursuit of positive experiences in one's relationship such as fun, growth, and development) predict greater sexual desire.

Will you be there for me when things go right? Supportive responses to positive event disclosures.

Close relationship partners often share successes and triumphs with one another, but this experience is rarely the focus of empirical study. In this study, 79 dating couples completed measures of relationship well-being and then participated in videotaped interactions in which they took turns discussing recent positive and negative events. Disclosers rated how understood, validated, and cared for they felt in each discussion, and outside observers coded responders' behavior.

What you want (and do not want) affects what you see (and do not see): avoidance social goals and social events.

Two studies examined the influence of approach and avoidance social goals on memory for and evaluation of ambiguous social information. Study 1 found that individual differences in avoidance social goals were associated with greater memory of negative information, negatively biased interpretation of ambiguous social cues, and a more pessimistic evaluation of social actors. Study 2 experimentally manipulated social goals and found that individuals high in avoidance social motivation remembered more negative information and expressed more dislike for a stranger in the avoidance condition than in the approach condition.

Exposure to degrading versus nondegrading music lyrics and sexual behavior among youth.

Background: Early sexual activity is a significant problem in the United States. A recent survey suggested that most sexually experienced teens wish they had waited longer to have intercourse; other data indicate that unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases are more common among those who begin sexual activity earlier. Popular music may contribute to early sex.