This study explored the association between one partner's attachment style and the other partner's relationship experiences (N = 305 couples). It was hypothesized that individuals would be more satisfied in their relationship when their partners were more secure (lower in attachment avoidance and anxiety), and that this association would be mediated by perceived caregiving. Results indicated that men were less satisfied when their female partners were higher in attachment anxiety, whereas women were less satisfied when their male partners were higher in avoidance. Structural equation modeling revealed that these links were partially mediated by Journal of Social and Personal Relationships

Human beings are hardwired to nurture, protect, and promote the welfare of others, as argued in several other chapters in this volume. This propensity to care for others is most visible in our closest relationships, in which individuals routinely sacrifice their own needs-even their own health-to respond to the needs of their spouses, children, and other loved ones. Indeed, one defining feature of intimate relationships is the expectation that romantic partners will take care of each other in times of adversity and be mutually responsive to one another's needs. These expectations are made explicit in traditional weddings, when partners vow to love one another in good times and bad, in sickness and in health.In attachment theory, Bowlby (1982, 1988) recognized the profound importance of caregiving in adult close relationships, and he suggested that healthy and secure intimate relationships are possible only when relationship partners acknowledge, and respect, the crucial role they play as caregivers 367

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Pregnancy anxiety is a potent predictor of adverse birth and infant outcomes. The goal of the current study was to examine one potential mechanism whereby these effects may occur by testing associations between pregnancy anxiety and maternal salivary cortisol on 4 occasions during pregnancy in a sample of 448 women. Higher mean levels of pregnancy anxiety over the course of pregnancy predicted steeper increases in cortisol trajectories compared to lower pregnancy anxiety. Significant differences between cortisol trajectories emerged between 30 to 31 weeks of gestation. Results remained significant when adjusted for state anxiety and perceived stress. Neither changes in pregnancy anxiety over gestation, nor pregnancy anxiety specific to only a particular time in pregnancy predicted cortisol. These findings provide support for one way in which pregnancy anxiety may influence maternal physiology and contribute to a growing literature on the complex biological pathways linking pregnancy anxiety to birth and infant outcomes.

Objective An emerging literature provides evidence for the association between romantic relationship quality and sleep, an important factor in health and well-being. However, we still know very little about the specific relationship processes that affect sleep behavior. Therefore, the goal of this study was to examine how self-disclosure, an important relational process linked to intimacy, relationship satisfaction and health, is associated with sleep behavior. Method As part of a larger study of family processes, wives (n=46) and husbands (n=38) from 46 cohabiting families completed 56 days of daily diaries. Spouses completed evening diaries assessing daily self-disclosure, relationship satisfaction, and mood and morning diaries assessing the prior night's sleep. Multilevel modeling was used to explore the effects of both daily variation in and average levels across the 56 days of self-disclosure on sleep. Results Daily variation in self-disclosure predicted sleep outcomes for wives, but not for husbands. On days when wives self-disclosed more to their spouses than their average level, their subjective sleep quality and sleep efficiency that night improved. Furthermore, daily self-disclosure buffered the negative effect of daily negative mood on sleep latency for wives, but not husbands. In contrast, higher average levels of self-disclosure predicted less waking during the night for husbands, but not for wives. Conclusion The association between self-disclosure and sleep is one mechanism by which daily relationship functioning may influence health and well-being. Gender may play a role in how self-disclosure is associated with sleep.

This study examined the role of compassionate love (CL) in shaping cognitive, emotional, physiological, and behavioral responses to partner distress ( N = 56 couples). One member of each couple (the support provider) observed his/her partner perform an easy or difficult stress task (designed to vary signals of partner distress). Support providers in the difficult (vs. easy) condition showed more partner focus, emotional distress, and blood pressure reactivity during the task and expressed more support afterward. Support providers high (vs. low) in CL showed greater partner focus and emotional empathy and sent more caring messages. Additional analyses suggest that CL increases sensitivity to a partner’s distress and that the link between CL and support behavior is mediated by increases in empathy and attention to one’s partner.

Finkel, Rusbult, Kumashiro, and Hannon (2002, Study 1) demonstrated a causal link between subjective commitment to a relationship and how people responded to hypothetical betrayals of that relationship. Participants primed to think about their commitment to their partner (high commitment) reacted to the betrayals with reduced exit and neglect responses relative to those primed to think about their independence from their partner (low commitment). The priming manipulation did not affect constructive voice and loyalty responses. Although other studies have demonstrated a correlation between subjective commitment and responses to betrayal, this study provides the only experimental evidence that inducing changes to subjective commitment can causally affect forgiveness responses. This Registered Replication Report (RRR) meta-analytically combines the results of 16 new direct replications of the original study, all of which followed a standardized, vetted, and preregistered protocol. The results showed little effect of the priming manipulation on the forgiveness outcome measures, but it also did not observe an effect of priming on subjective commitment, so the manipulation did not work as it had in the original study. We discuss possible explanations for the discrepancy between the findings from this RRR and the original study.

Objective To investigate the links between naturalistically-observed conflict, self-reported caregiver-youth conflict, and youth asthma symptoms. Method Fifty-four youth with asthma (aged 10-17) wore the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) for a 4-day period to assess interpersonal conflict and caregiver-youth conflict as they occur in daily life. Conflict also was assessed with baseline self-report questionnaires and daily diaries completed by the youth participants and their caregiver. Asthma symptoms were assessed via daily diaries and baseline self-reports and wheezing as coded from the EAR. Results EAR-observed measures of conflict were strongly associated with self-reported asthma symptoms (both baseline and daily diaries) and wheezing coded from the EAR. Further, when entered together in regression analyses, youth daily reports of negative caregiver-youth interactions and EAR-observed conflict uniquely predicted asthma symptoms; only EAR-observed conflict was associated with EAR-observed wheezing. Conclusions These findings demonstrate the potential impact of daily conflict on youth asthma symptoms and the importance of assessing conflict as it occurs in everyday life. More broadly, they point to the importance of formulating a clear picture of family interactions outside of the lab, which is essential for understanding how family relationships “get under the skin” to affect youth health.