The effects of short-term social support on cortisol levels and subjective responses to acute psychological stress were investigated in healthy adults (total N = 66). In anticipation of a public-speaking task in front of an audience, subjects received either no social support ("no support") or social support from an opposite-sex stranger ("stranger") or from their boyfriend or girlfriend ("partner"). Support providers were instructed to enact both instrumental and emotional support during the 10-minute anticipation period. The results obtained suggest sex-specific effects of social support. Although men in the partner support condition showed significant attenuation of cortisol responses compared with unsupported and stranger-supported men, women showed no response decrement under stranger support. In contrast to men, women showed a tendency toward increased cortisol responses when supported by their boyfriends. The endocrine response differences between male and female subjects were unrelated to questionnaire-derived psychological variables. No sex and group differences in perceived stress, mood changes, or social desirability were observed. Although the overall level of subjective well-being throughout the experiment was elevated in the partner support condition, no sex or group differences were observed in perceived stress, well-being changes, and social desirability. Opposite to their cortisol responses, women rated both stranger and partner support attempts more favorably than did men. No significant correlations were observed between the perceived stressfulness of the situation, mood changes, and cortisol responses. These results provide preliminary evidence for sex-specific patterns of social support efficacy to acute psychological stress with respect to adrenocortical responses.

Guided by predictions from equity theory and the self-esteem maintenance model, links between perceptions of current parental differential treatment and the perceiver's experienced relationship quality with sibling and parents were analyzed in a sample of 1,020 adult (middle-aged) offspring. Participants rated how often they and a sibling receive parental recognition, nurture, and demands for filial responsibility. In addition, they indicated their emotions and behaviors toward sibling and parents. Data analyses showed that an individual's experienced relationship with sibling was best when both were treated equally and diminished with increasing favoritism or disfavoritism. Experienced relationship with parents was best when participants were favored a bit; the relationship worsened when participants were disfavored and worsened only slightly when they were extremely favored. Results are discussed regarding mediating processes and implications for practical applications.

Emotions towards a relationship partner provide relevant and specific information about relationship quality. Based on this assumption the present study was performed to identify different types of emotional relationship quality of middle-aged adult children with their ageing parents. This was done by cluster analytic procedures in a sample of 1,208 middle-aged adult children (482 men, 726 women). Using ratings of positive and negative emotions towards their mother and father as grouping variables, the same four-cluster solution emerged for both the child-mother relationship and the child-father relationship. Clusters were labelled as amicable, disharmonious, detached and ambivalent relationships. Results showed that especially amicable relationships clearly prevailed followed by ambivalent, detached and disharmonious relationships. Clusters differed significantly with respect to gender of adult child, willingness to support, expected parental support and overt conflicts. In a cross-classification of cluster membership regarding the child-mother relationship (four clusters) and the child-father relationship (four clusters), all possible 16 combinations were observed, with a considerable degree of divergence regarding the type of relationship quality within the same family. Results are discussed with respect to types of emotional relationship quality, within family differences and the intrafamilial regulation of relationship quality.

Based on equity theory, the present study analyzes to what extent justice evaluations mediate the effects of perceived parental differential treatment (PDT) on relationship quality with siblings and parents as experienced in middle adulthood. Middle-aged adult offspring (N = 709) rated how often they and a sibling received parental recognition, nurturance, and demands for assuming filial responsibility. In addition, they indicated their justice evaluations of PDT and completed measures of relationship quality to sibling and parents. Justice evaluations emerged as either partial or complete mediators between PDT and relationship quality. Moreover, justice evaluations turned out to be more powerful predictors of relationship quality to parents than PDT per se. Implications are discussed concerning factors contributing to justice evaluations and the role of PDT within the context of other justice issues in families.

Temporal comparison theory is used as a conceptual framework for studying coping with life-threatening illness. Propositions derived from this theory were investigated in a questionnaire study on cancer patients (N = 100). Results reveal high rates of perceived change in the majority of the life domains included in the study, suggesting that consistency could not be maintained in most patients. Furthermore, a disproportion of perceived positive and negative life changes emerged, the latter being more prominent. Change perceptions were related to gender, age, and time elapsed since diagnosis. The relationships between positive and negative change on one hand and adjustment indicators on the other indicated that negative change correlated signi cantly whereas positive change was not associated with adjustment to illness.