Married couples (N= 69) reported on their use of social control strategies in attempting to modify each other's health behaviors, as well as their affective and behavioral responses to experiencing health‐related social control. Experiencing more negative social control was associated with the tendency to engage in potentially health‐compromising behaviors, whereas experiencing positive social control was associated with attempts to engage in the desired behavior. Most associations between experiencing social control and the target's behavioral responses could be accounted for, at least partially, by the target's affective responses to the social control attempts. These results suggest that current conceptualizations of the health‐relevance of social control are in need of revision. Implications of these results for social control measurement and theory are discussed.

Individuals with a more secure attachment style report having larger and more satisfying social support networks Individuals with a more anxious or a more avoidant attachment style, by contrast, report having smaller and less satisfying support networks The present study examined the role of interpersonal communication competence (ICC) as a possible mediator of the association between attachment and social support in a sample of college undergraduates Strong support was found for the described model. Mediational analyses revealed that global deficits in ICC could account for the smaller social support network sizes and lower levels of satisfaction among both more anxiously attached and more avoidantly attached individuals. In addition, subsequent analyses examining specific dimensions of ICC revealed that the lower support satisfaction among more anxious individuals could be uniquely accounted for by a lack of assertiveness in social interactions For more avoidantly attached individuals, smaller network sizes could be uniquely accounted for by lower levels of self‐disclosure, and less support satisfaction could be uniquely accounted for by a lack of assertiveness in addition to lower levels of self‐disclosure. The implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.

This study investigated associations between attachment style, partner perception accuracy, and relationship satisfaction in a sample of 61 undergraduate dating couples. Each partner completed questionnaires assessing own attachment style, own feelings about the relationship, and perceptions of the partner’s feelings about the relationship. Results indicated that more avoidantly attached men and more anxiously attached individuals of both sexes reported lower relationship satisfaction. However, only anxiously attached men showed consistently lower accuracy in perceiving their partner’s feelings about the relationship. The lower satisfaction among anxiously attached men could be partially explained by their lower accuracy in perceiving their partner’s feelings of love, and this lower accuracy was not due to the partner’s self-reported level of communication. Implications of the results in terms of understanding how attachment style influences interpersonal communication and relationship quality are discussed.

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