Browsing by Subject "Romantic relationships"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Effects Of Type Of Social Control Strategy And Perceived Agent Motivations On Eating And Relational Behaviors In Romantic Relationships Over Time
    (2020-05) Huelsnitz, Chloe
    One of the ways in which close relationship partners can affect each other’s health behavior is by enacting social control, in which partners intentionally try to change each other’s behavior by using specific social control strategies. Most research has distinguished between the effects of different strategies on intrapersonal factors, such as individuals’ emotions, motivation, and health behavior, rather than considering the interpersonal context in which social control is embedded. This dissertation research addresses this gap by examining how the strategies that one partner uses to try to improve the other’s eating behavior elicit relational and eating responses over time. Study 1 used an iterative hypothetical scenario to experimentally test whether the effects of different social control strategies (autonomy-supporting versus autonomy-limiting) on relational and eating behavior are moderated by individuals’ perceptions of their partners’ motives for enacting social control (independent versus interdependent). Study 1 results showed that although there were few moderating effects of individuals’ perceptions of their partners’ motives on relational behaviors or healthiness of eating, autonomy-supporting strategies were associated with more constructive relational behaviors after the first use of social control and healthier eating over time. Study 2 used a daily diary approach to obtain descriptive information on the use of social control in relationships and to examine how different strategies elicit different relational and eating behaviors. Study 2 showed that partners enact more social control than previous research has shown and that partners often use both autonomy-supporting and autonomy-limiting social control strategies. Study 2 also showed that on days when individuals perceived that their partner had more interdependent motives, they engaged in more constructive relational behavior and reported healthier perceptions of their eating, but not healthier eating behavior. Additionally, autonomy-supporting social control was associated with more constructive relational behaviors, healthier perceptions of eating and healthier eating behaviors the first time the strategies were used, but not over time. Together, these studies utilize a novel iterative scenario methodology and longitudinal assessments to examine both relational and health responses to social control and show that autonomy-supporting, but not autonomy-limiting social control has implications for relationships and health behavior.
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    The influence of local sex ratio on romantic relationship maintenance processes
    (2013-08) Kim, John S.
    Sex ratio is defined as the proportion of males to females in a given local environment, and it is a situational cue with profound implications for how humans approach their romantic relationships (Guttentag & Secord, 1983). According to theory, individuals in relationships should value their relationships more highly and engage in more behavior to maintain their relationships when faced with an unfavorable sex ratio (i.e., fewer opposite-sex members), relative to when they are faced with a favorable sex ratio (i.e., more opposite-sex members). However, no experimental work has examined the influence of sex ratio on romantic relationships. In the current dissertation, I addressed this gap in the literature by experimentally testing a series of predictions regarding the influence of sex ratio on how individuals think and behave within their relationships. The data supported the contention that individuals faced with a relatively unfavorable sex ratio value their relationships more highly and engage in more relationship maintenance behavior. However, men and women demonstrated different behavioral strategies given a relatively unfavorable sex ratio, with men engaging in direct intervention to fend off competitors and women engaging in more indirect behavior in service of maintaining relationship harmony. Moreover, given a relatively unfavorable sex ratio, men showed cognitive changes about their partner's likelihood of committing infidelity in a manner consistent with direct intervention, while women showed increases in other relationship domains consistent with their indirect behavioral strategy.
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    Moderating processes in the link between early caregiving and adult individual and romantic functioning: the distinctive contributions of early adult romantic relationships.
    (2011-08) Salvatore, Jessica Elizabeth
    This study tested a model of early adulthood romantic relationships as moderators of the effects of early caregiving experiences in predicting life satisfaction, romantic relationship quality, and depression/anxiety in later adulthood. Participants (n = 83) were a subsample from a 35-year longitudinal study of risk and adaptation. The quality of early caregiving was measured using a composite of infant attachment at 12 and 18 months, maternal supportive presence and hostility at 24 and 42 months, and maternal verbal and emotional responsivity at 30 months were included. The quality of early and later adulthood romantic relationships was assessed from in-depth interviews conducted with participants at ages 23 and 32. Life satisfaction was measured at age 32. Depression/anxiety symptoms were measured at ages 23, 26, and 32. Results indicated that early adulthood romantic relationships moderate early caregiving to predict trajectories of depression/anxiety symptoms between ages 23-32, but not the single measures of life satisfaction and romantic quality at age 32. The depression/anxiety findings are consistent with the organizational-developmental principle that individual functioning is a product of one's developmental history and current circumstances, and offer a possible interpretation for the null interaction effects obtained in the life satisfaction and romantic quality analyses. Results underscore the importance of taking a developmental perspective on turning point phenomena.
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    Who eats their feelings, and who sweats them out?: Understanding how individuals and their romantic partners use eating and exercise for emotion regulation
    (2022-04) Jones, Rachael
    Researchers argue that individuals’ emotion regulation affects their long-term health outcomes by leading them to engage in health behaviors to cope with their stress and negative emotions. However, there is a need to isolate health behavior for this purpose from individuals’ typical health behavior, and to include health-promoting behaviors, such as exercise, in addition to health-compromising behaviors, such as eating junk food. Furthermore, emotion regulation and health behavior often occur around close others and are influenced by them, highlighting the need to study the social context around these processes. Thus, this dissertation examines how individuals’ and their romantic partners’ emotion regulation and typical health behavior predict their use of eating and exercise to down-regulate negative emotion. Participants reported their typical health habits and use of eating and exercise for emotion regulation, including how frequently they engaged in the behaviors and how they deviated from their typical health behavior when doing so. Participants’ balanced (i.e., constructive and effective) emotion regulation was measured by well-established self-report surveys as well as by their behavior during conflict discussions with their romantic partners, which was coded by trained observers. The results indicated that balanced emotion regulation was not related to individuals’ typical health behavior but was related to their health behavior for emotion regulation. Furthermore, participants reported significantly changing their typical health behavior when using it to cope. Actor Partner Interdependence Model regressions revealed that participants lower in self-reported balanced emotion regulation engaged in eating for emotion regulation more frequently than those higher, especially if they were women. Their typical junk food consumption was not predictive. In contrast, those who typically exercised more in their daily lives used exercise for emotion regulation more frequently than those who exercised less. They also tended to increase their exercise more when using it to regulate their emotions, especially if they were men. Balanced emotion regulation was not related to individuals’ use of exercise to manage their feelings, although those higher in balanced emotion regulation used exercise significantly more often than they used eating for this purpose. Individuals’ partners’ tendencies were sometimes associated with individuals’ eating for emotion regulation, but not with their exercise. Self-reported balanced emotion regulation was more strongly related to other variables than was behavioral balanced emotion regulation. These findings suggest that health behavior for emotion regulation differs from typical health behavior, more dysregulated individuals may eat (but not exercise) more often to cope with their negative feelings, and experience with exercise may be needed to employ physical activity for emotion regulation.