No abstract

These findings are among the first to provide direct evidence of psychological mechanisms underlying the links between intimate relationships and mortality and have implications for research aiming to develop interventions that increase or maintain responsiveness in relationships over time.

Power is a central concept in relationships, yet existing self-report measures of relationship power are not well validated and do not assess all aspects of power. To address this, we developed the Relationship Power Inventory (RPI), a self-report measure of power for romantic partners. In Study 1, we identified the most important decision-making domains in romantic relationships. In Study 2, we generated an item pool assessing relationship power, selected the best performing items for inclusion, and tested the convergent and divergent validity properties of the RPI. Study 3 revealed RPI scores predict observer ratings of power during decision-making discussions and showed the RPI has good test-retest reliability. We discuss how the RPI can advance research on power in close relationships

This paper provides a roadmap for integrating a dyadic framework into individual-level models of behavior change. The findings suggest that data from both partners and relationship quality are important to consider when trying to understand and change health-related behavior such as physical activity. The results broaden the potential applications of the TPB as well as our understanding of how romantic partners might influence important health-related practices. (PsycINFO Database Record

Strain tests are unique contexts that have important implications for relationships, but they have rarely been studied in social interactions. We investigate how more avoidant individuals (responders) react when their romantic partners (askers) request cooperation with an important plan/goal that requires a major sacrifice from responders. As predicted, more avoidant responders were less accommodating when asked to sacrifice and showed drops in trust and commitment following the strain test discussion. However, certain asker behaviors-expressing confidence that the responding partner will facilitate the request, and acknowledging their sacrifices in doing so-led more avoidant responders to react more positively during and after the strain test discussions. Showing responsiveness, another positive asker behavior, promoted growth in trust and commitment, but it did not help more avoidant responders react more positively to the asker's goal. Blending key principles of interdependence and attachment theory, this is the first behavioral observation study to identify the specific partner behaviors that help highly avoidant people respond constructively in strain test situations and to suggest how avoidant partners can become more trusting and committed in their romantic relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record

No abstract

Stressful experiences affect biological stress systems, such as the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis. Life stress can potentially alter regulation of the HPA axis and has been associated with poorer physical and mental health. Little, however, is known about the relative influence of stressors that are encountered at different developmental periods on acute stress reactions in adulthood. In this study, we explored three models of the influence of stress exposure on cortisol reactivity to a modified version of the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) by leveraging 37 years of longitudinal data in a high-risk birth cohort (N = 112). The cumulative stress model suggests that accumulated stress across the lifespan leads to dysregulated reactivity, whereas the biological embedding model implicates early childhood as a critical period. The sensitization model assumes that dysregulation should only occur when stress is high in both early childhood and concurrently. All of the models predicted altered reactivity, but do not anticipate its exact form. We found support for both cumulative and biological embedding effects. However, when pitted against each other, early life stress predicted more blunted cortisol responses at age 37 over and above cumulative life stress. Additional analyses revealed that stress exposure in middle childhood also predicted more blunted cortisol reactivity.

Major life stress often produces a flat diurnal cortisol slope, an indicator of potential long-term health problems. Exposure to stress early in childhood or the accumulation of stress across the life span may be responsible for this pattern. However, the relative impact of life stress at different life stages on diurnal cortisol is unknown. Using a longitudinal sample of adults followed from birth, we examined three models of the effect of stress exposure on diurnal cortisol: the cumulative model, the biological-embedding model, and the sensitization model. As its name implies, the cumulative model focuses on cumulative life stress. In contrast, the biological-embedding model implicates early childhood stress, and the sensitization model posits that current life stress interacts with early life stress to produce flat diurnal cortisol slopes. Our analyses are consistent with the sensitization model, as they indicate that the combination of high stress exposure early in life and high current stress predict flat diurnal cortisol slopes. These novel findings advance understanding of diurnal cortisol patterns and point to avenues for intervention.