Meaning-making with romantic partners: Shared reality promotes meaning in life by reducing uncertainty.

We propose that, although deeply personal, meaning is facilitated by interpersonal processes. Namely, we theorize that experiencing a sense of shared reality with a close partner (i.e.

Devaluation of Attractive Alternatives: How Those With Poor Inhibitory Ability Preemptively Resist Temptation.

How do people resist in-the-moment temptation if they are poor at inhibiting their impulses? Theory on self-control suggests that people have a toolbox of strategies available to them that may be used to dampen temptations. Applying this to the goal of relationship maintenance, in two studies, we examined whether people motivated to maintain their romantic relationship but poor at inhibitory control would appraise an attractive alternative (AA) as less appealing prior to a face-to-face interaction. In Study 1 ( = 190), those with high motivation and low inhibitory control (measured with the Stroop) rated the AA as less appealing as compared with singles and those high in motivation and inhibitory control.

On Creating Deeper Relationship Bonds: Felt Understanding Enhances Relationship Identification.

Relational experiences play a critical role in shaping how individuals see themselves. In four studies (=945) using person-perception, longitudinal, and experimental designs, we demonstrate that feeling understood changes individuals' self-concept by increasing the centrality of a specific relationship (relationship identification). Study 1 showed that participants perceived an individual to be more identified with their relationship when their partner was high (vs.

Say you'll be there: Associations between observed verbal responses, friendship quality, and perceptions of support in young adult friendships.

Friendships are a primary source of social support during young adulthood; however, little is known about the factors associated with young adults feeling greater support during interactions with friends. We examined how micro-level verbal responses and macro-level judgments of friendship quality were associated with perceptions of support following an interaction between friends. Same-gender friend dyads ( = 132; 66.

Understanding the Links Between Perceiving Gratitude and Romantic Relationship Satisfaction Using an Accuracy and Bias Framework.

Perceiving a partner's gratitude has several benefits for romantic relationships. We aimed to better understand these associations by decomposing perceptions into accuracy and bias. Specifically, we examined whether accuracy and bias in perceiving a partner's experience (Study 1: 205) and expression (Study 2: 309) of gratitude were associated with romantic relationship satisfaction.

Knowing how you see me: Exploring meta-accuracy of personality, emotions and values and their links with relationship well-being among young adults.

Introduction: Do people (i.e., metaperceivers) know their romantic partners' (i.

The Interplay Between Prenatal Adversity, Offspring Dopaminergic Genes, and Early Parenting on Toddler Attentional Function.

: Few studies have explored the complex gene-by-prenatal environment-by-early postnatal environment interactions that underlie the development of attentional competence. Here, we examined if variation in dopamine-related genes interacts with prenatal adversity to influence toddler attentional competence and whether this influence is buffered by early positive maternal behavior. : From the Maternal Adversity, Vulnerability and Neurodevelopment cohort, 134 participants (197 when imputing missing data) had information on prenatal adversity (prenatal stressful life events, prenatal maternal depressive symptoms, and birth weight), five dopamine-related genes (), observed maternal parenting behavior at 6 months and parent-rated toddler attentional competence at 18 and 24 months.

Blind at First Sight: The Role of Distinctively Accurate and Positive First Impressions in Romantic Interest.

Viewing other people with distinctive accuracy-the degree to which personality impressions correspond with targets' unique characteristics-often predicts positive interpersonal experiences, including liking and relationship satisfaction. Does this hold in the context of first dates, or might distinctive accuracy have negative links with romantic interest in such evaluative settings? We examined this question using two speed-dating samples (Sample 1: = 172, = 2,407 dyads; Sample 2: = 397, = 1,849 dyads). Not surprisingly, positive impressions of potential dating partners were strongly associated with greater romantic interest.

Happy prenatal relationships, healthy postpartum mothers: a prospective study of relationship satisfaction, postpartum stress, and health.

Major life transitions, such as the arrival of a new baby, can be stressful, and therefore, costly to one's health. Being in a satisfying romantic relationship has been previously linked with better health, perhaps because it provides access to a bank of psychosocial resources. The objective of the present research was two-fold.

Maternal Prenatal Mood, Pregnancy-Specific Worries, and Early Child Psychopathology: Findings From the DREAM BIG Consortium.

Objective: Few studies have attempted to identify how distinct dimensions of maternal prenatal affective symptoms relate to offspring psychopathology. We defined latent dimensions of women's prenatal affective symptoms and pregnancy-specific worries to examine their association with early offspring psychopathology in three prenatal cohorts.

Method: Data were used from three cohorts of the DREAM-BIG consortium: Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC [N = 12,515]), Generation R (N = 6,803), and the Canadian prenatal cohort Maternal Adversity, Vulnerability, and Neurodevelopment (MAVAN [N = 578]).

Once and Again : History of Rearing Experiences and Psychosocial Parenting Resources at Six Months in Primiparous Mothers.

Animal and human studies suggest that parenting style is transmitted from one generation to the next. The hypotheses of this study were that (1) a mother's rearing experiences (G1) would predict her own parenting resources (G2) and (2) current maternal mood, motivation to care for her offspring, and relationship with her parents would underlie this association. In a subsample of 201 first-time mothers participating in the longitudinal Maternal Adversity, Vulnerability and Neurodevelopment project, we assessed a mother's own childhood maltreatment and rearing experiences (G1) using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and the Parental Bonding Instrument.

Dissecting maternal care: Patterns of maternal parenting in a prospective cohort study.

Parental care has a strong impact on neurodevelopment and mental health in the offspring. Although numerous animal studies have revealed that the parental brain is a highly complex system involving many brain structures and neuroendocrine systems, human maternal parenting as a multidimensional construct with cognitive, emotional, and behavioural components has not been characterised comprehensively. This unique multi-method analysis aimed to examine patterns of self-reported and observed parenting from 6 to 60 months postpartum in a cohort of 496 mothers (mean maternal age = 32 years).

Self-assembling, macroscopically oriented, polymer filaments; a doubly nematic organogel.

Nanoscale phase separation and self-organisation in liquid crystals leads to the formation of remarkable hierarchical structures. There are several examples of heliconical nanofilament structures including in the nematic twist-bend (NTB) phase, the B4 phase and liquid crystal gels formed from the B4 phase. Both the formation of the polymer-like structures that permeate the soft-solids and their hierarchical structures are fascinating, not least because of the analogies that can be drawn with naturally-occurring structures.

Activation of the Behavioral Immune System: Putting the Brakes on Affiliation.

Evolutionary psychologists propose that humans evolved a first line of defense against pathogens: the behavioral immune system (BIS). The BIS is thought to be functionally flexible such that the likelihood and magnitude of BIS activation depends on the individual's perceived vulnerability to disease (PVD). Because conspecifics are sources of infection, the BIS has implications for affiliation.

The joint contribution of maternal history of early adversity and adulthood depression to socioeconomic status and potential relevance for offspring development.

Background: We examined the interactive effects of maternal childhood adversity and later adulthood depression on subsequent socioeconomic status (SES).

Methods: Our community sample ranged from 230 to 243 mothers (across measures) drawn from a prospective, longitudinal cohort study. Maternal childhood adversity scores were derived using an integrated measure derived from the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) and the Parental Bonding Index (PBI).

Daily Experiences and Relationship Well-Being: The Paradoxical Effects of Relationship Identification.

Objective: Even couples in healthy romantic relationships experience conflict at times. We examine whether relationship identification (the extent to which the relationship is incorporated into the self) predicts immediate reactivity to partner transgressions and also promotes global resilience over time.

Method: Sixty-three couples participated in a 2-week event-contingent diary study.

Differential Effects of Oxytocin on Agency and Communion for Anxiously and Avoidantly Attached Individuals.

Oxytocin promotes prosocial behavior, especially in those individuals who are low in affiliation (e.g., avoidantly attached individuals), but can exacerbate interpersonal insecurities in those preoccupied with closeness (e.

The maternal adversity, vulnerability and neurodevelopment project: theory and methodology.

Objective: To describe the theory and methodology of the multi-wave, prospective Maternal Adversity, Vulnerability and Neurodevelopment (MAVAN) study. The goal of MAVAN is to examine the pre- and postnatal influences, and their interaction, in determining individual differences in mental health.

Method: MAVAN is a community-based, birth cohort study of pregnant Canadian mothers and their offspring.

Maternal prenatal felt security and infant health at birth interact to predict infant fussing and crying at 12 months postpartum.

Infants born with medical problems are at risk for less optimal developmental outcomes. This may be, in part, because neonatal medical problems are associated with maternal distress, which may adversely impact infants. However, the reserve capacity model suggests that an individual's bank of psychosocial resources buffers the adverse effects of later-encountered stressors.

Anxiety doesn't become you: how attachment anxiety compromises relational opportunities.

Although research has shown that attachment anxiety is detrimental to ongoing relationships, less is known about whether and how it affects the earliest stages of relationship initiation. How does attachment anxiety affect an initial interaction with a potential relationship partner? The present investigation explored the interpersonal outcomes associated with attachment anxiety in the context of various relational opportunities, testing a mediational model whereby interpersonal displays characteristic of state social anxiety-social disengagement and manifest anxiety-were proposed as mechanisms of interpersonal failure. In Study 1, participants engaged in speed-dating.

Uncovering and overcoming ambivalence: the role of chronic and contextually activated attachment in two-person social dilemmas.

Objective: Humans face an enduring conflict between desires to affiliate with others but to protect the self; effective social functioning often requires reconciling the resulting ambivalence between these motives. Attachment anxiety is characterized by chronically heightened concerns about affiliation and self-protection; we investigated how anxious individuals' chronic relational ambivalence affects interpersonal behavior.

Method: We used the Prisoner's Dilemma and the Assurance Game to examine how the ambivalence associated with attachment anxiety affects pro-social behavior, comparing chronic attachment anxiety with both chronic (Study 1; N = 94) and contextually activated (Study 2; N = 56) security.

Relationship-specific identification and spontaneous relationship maintenance processes.

Attractive alternative partners pose a relational threat to people in romantic relationships. Given that people are often limited in their time and energy, having the capacity to effortlessly respond to such relational threats is extremely useful. In 4 studies, we explored how people's identity in terms of their romantic relationship--their relationship-specific identity--affects their relationship-protective behaviors.

Effects of oxytocin on recollections of maternal care and closeness.

Although the infant-caregiver attachment bond is critical to survival, little is known about the biological mechanisms supporting attachment representations in humans. Oxytocin plays a key role in attachment bond formation and maintenance in animals and thus could be expected to affect attachment representations in humans. To investigate this possibility, we administered 24 IU intranasal oxytocin to healthy male adults in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover designed study and then assessed memories of childhood maternal care and closeness--two features of the attachment bond.

A signal detection analysis of chronic attachment anxiety at speed dating: being unpopular is only the first part of the problem.

Initiating a romantic relationship invokes an approach-avoidance conflict between the desire for affiliation and the fear of rejection; optimally, people should selectively approach potential partners who reciprocate their interest. This may be difficult for anxiously attached people: They may be unpopular, and their ambivalence could lead to either a fearfully selective approach at the cost of missed opportunities or an unselective, indiscriminate approach at the cost of increasing rejection. Using a speed-dating paradigm, data were collected from 116 participants, and a signal detection framework was applied to examine the outcomes.

If-then contingencies and the differential effects of the availability of an attractive alternative on relationship maintenance for men and women.

In 7 experiments, the causal effects of the availability of an attractive alternative (AA) relationship partner on current relationship thoughts and intentions were tested using confederates, mental simulations, and virtual reality. Men behaved consistent with traditional relationship-commitment theories, showing decreased willingness to tolerate their partner's transgressions after the availability of an AA was made salient. However, consistent with a motivated cognition approach to commitment and work on relational self-construals, women increased their tolerance when presented with the relationship threat of an alternative.