Objective: Theories about how couples help each other to cope with stress, such as the systemic transactional model of dyadic coping, suggest that the cultural context in which couples live influences how their coping behavior affects their relationship satisfaction. In contrast to the theoretical assumptions, a recent meta-analysis provides evidence that neither culture, nor gender, influences the association between dyadic coping and relationship satisfaction, at least based on their samples of couples living in North America and West Europe. Thus, it is an open questions whether the theoretical assumptions of cultural influences are false or whether cultural influences on couple behavior just occur in cultures outside of the Western world.Method: In order to examine the cultural influence, using a sample of married individuals (N = 7973) from 35 nations, we used multilevel modeling to test whether the positive association between dyadic coping and relationship satisfaction varies across nations and whether gender might moderate the association.Results: Results reveal that the association between dyadic coping and relationship satisfaction varies between nations. In addition, results show that in some nations the association is higher for men and in other nations it is higher for women.Conclusions: Cultural and gender differences across the globe influence how couples' coping behavior affects relationship outcomes. This crucial finding indicates that couple relationship education programs and interventions need to be culturally adapted, as skill trainings such as dyadic coping lead to differential effects on relationship satisfaction based on the culture in which couples live.

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Marmosets are cooperative breeders organized as extended family groups, but breeding is generally restricted to a single pair. Breeding competition is fierce in female marmosets; males, on the other hand, show low levels of intragroup aggression. We investigated male and female breeding strategies and the resulting reproductive output in 9 wild groups. Reproductive output, tenure of breeding animals, identification of the breeding system, breeding position replacements, migration and infanticide were recorded; also, we recorded grooming and aggression. Replacement of the breeding male or female was observed on nine occasions. On four occasions, the son of the breeding male inherited the breeding post, but we never observed inheritance of a breeding post by a daughter. Mostly, females attained a breeding post by immigrating to a group that had a breeding vacancy. Our results showed that Callithrix jacchus males and females use different strategies to attain a breeding position and maintain it for as long as possible. These strategies prolong the tenure of the breeding position, which is the best way to produce a large number of offspring. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Neotropical Behaviour.

There is no consensus whether ideal mate preferences are actually expressed in real choices or whether people choose partners according to traditional sex preferences or seek those similar to them. In order to address these questions, 267 Brazilian university students (120 involved and 147 not involved in a romantic relationship) participated in this study, describing themselves and their current or most recent romantic partner. As inclusion criterion, involved subjects must have been in a stable relationship for at least 12 months. Our results suggest that male choice reflects typical preferences based on Parental Investment Theory. On the other hand, the typical female preferences were not observed; instead, their choices indicate a preference for similar partners to themselves. Given that similarities are important to maintaining long-term relationships, females may adapt their preferences in order to ensure male investment in a long-term relationship.

From verbal abuse to physical intimidation of opponents, some ingroup members seek to maximize their group's competitive edge regardless of personal repercussions. What motivates such extreme commitment? Based on identity fusion theory, we argue that strongly fused persons seek ingroup victory at any cost when they believe that a competition's outcome affects the group's essence. Two studies, conducted across four countries and in two sports contexts, revealed that fused persons who believed one's national sport constituted part of the nation's essence were especially likely to maximize their ingroup's advantage over the outgroup, even when doing so came at a personal cost and harmed the outgroup. Together, our findings shed new light on the motives of fused persons in intergroup conflict.

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Across the world, millions of couples get married each year. One of the strongest predictors of whether partners will remain in their relationship is their reported satisfaction. Marital satisfaction is commonly found to be a key predictor of both individual and relational well-being. Despite its importance in predicting relationship longevity, there are relatively few empirical research studies examining predictors of marital satisfaction outside of a Western context. To address this gap in the literature and complete the existing knowledge about global predictors of marital satisfaction, we used an open-access database of self-reported assessments of self-reported marital satisfaction with data from 7178 participants representing 33 different countries. The results showed that sex, age, religiosity, economic status, education, and cultural values were related, to various extents, to marital satisfaction across cultures. However, marriage duration, number of children, and gross domestic product (GDP) were not found to be predictors of marital satisfaction for countries represented in this sample. While 96% of the variance of marital satisfaction was attributed to individual factors, only 4% was associated with countries. Together, the results show that individual differences have a larger influence on marital satisfaction compared to the country of origin. Findings are discussed in terms of the advantages of conducting studies on large cross-cultural samples.