07:05-08:20 AM

Symposium

In the early 1990s, the concept of dyadic coping (DC), how couples cope together to deal with daily hassles and major stressors, was introduced. Since this time, there has been a strong increase of research that has examined dyadic coping in various contexts, such as daily hassles, mental and physical health issues, and parenting concerns. To help synthesize the literature from the past 30 years and provide important directions for moving forward, the present symposium presents systematic reviews in the field of stress, support, and coping in intimate relationships. In the first presentation, Katharina Weitkamp will present a scoping review of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods studies published between 1990 and 2020 to summarize the current state of research on DC in couples. In the second presentation, Selina Landolt will present findings from a systematic review DC in the context of mental health issues. In the third presentation, Michelle Roth will present findings from a systematic review on couple's DC with parenting and child-related stressors. Lastly, in the fourth presentation, Ashley Randall and colleagues will present a scoping review that focused on the study of stress, support, and coping from an intersectional perspective. This presentation will also provide meaningful directions for future research with an eye towards a more inclusive science.

KEYWORDS: Close

07:05-08:21 AM

Data Blitz

Topic: Social networks and support (Led by Rachael Bishop)

07:05-08:22 AM

Full-Length Paper

Topic: Resilience, commitment and positivity (Led by Muhamad Alif Ibrahim)

08:25-09:41 AM

Full-Length Paper

Topic: Depression and stress (Led by Jonathan Singer)

09:45-11:00 AM

Symposium

Living single, without a romantic partner, is becoming increasingly common in multiple parts of the world (OECD, 2019; Ortiz-Ospina, 2019). For example, one-person households are becoming the most common living arrangement in Canada and although living alone does not necessarily mean being without a romantic partner, two-thirds of Canadian solo dwellers reported not being in a committed relationship (Tang et al., 2019). Overall, these numbers suggesting a growing number of people living single (i.e., unpartnered) have motivated researchers to increase their understanding of single individuals' lives, and particularly what predicts well-being amongst singles. This symposium will present four perspectives on factors that contribute to singles' well-being. First, Geoff MacDonald will present data suggesting that anxiously attached individuals struggle with singlehood whereas avoidantly attached individuals are not particularly unhappy about being single. Second, Jeewon Oh will discuss findings suggesting that more positive expectations regarding romantic relationships are associated with less satisfaction with singlehgood whereas negative expectations about relationships are not a significant predictor. Third, Laetitia Hill Roy will present research suggesting that there is a negative relationship between desire for a romantic partner and life satisfaction among singles that is stronger at older ages. Finally, Yoobin Park uses a novel "budget allocation" methodology to examine singles' life priorities, research that suggests that singles consider health and family relationships to be the most important priorities in their lives. Overall, we hope this symposium helps in providing a more rounded picture of what differentiates singles who thrive from those who do not.

KEYWORDS: Close

09:45-11:01 AM

Full-Length Paper

Topic: Desire and Emotions (Led by Mirna Duric)

09:45-11:02 AM

Full-Length Paper

Topic: Transitions (Led by Audrey Brassard)

11:05-12:20 PM

Symposium

Sensitivity towards child's needs is an essential component of parenthood, focused on close, emotional bonds in parent-children dyads (Ainsworth, 1968). It is a relational construct, which includes awareness of child's cues and certain flexibility of parental reactions. Earlier studies indicate that sensitivity can be developed and supported not only by own parental caregiving experiences but also during shorter, well-planned interventions. The focus of the symposium is on fathers, since their reactions in the caregiving situation and interventions aimed at their sensitivity are still understudied. Additionally, we analyze the interventions that might be implemented prenatally or even before conception. The presented studies include psychological (correlational and observational) measures or biological assessments aimed at supporting sensitive responsiveness. The first presentation focuses on the effectiveness of a well-known and well-researched intervention method aimed at promoting sensitive parenting and limit-setting (VIPP-SD). Additionally, the effectiveness of the new version (VIPP-PRE) supporting parental sensitivity in expectant fathers will be presented, showing that such intervention can be effectively implemented during pregnancy. The second presentation focuses on dispositional empathic concern and child-oriented emotional reactions as predictors of observed sensitivity in expectant fathers compared to the non-expectant ones. Both groups participated in a task of taking care of a crying infant simulator. The results indicated that male emotional reactions of empathy and sympathy during the task predicted couple sensitive responsiveness. It also acknowledged the possible effectiveness of infant simulators in promoting sensitivity in men both expecting and non-expecting a child. The third presentation reports the results of the randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled within-subject study that investigated effects of intranasal administration of oxytocin and vasopressin (considered a promising therapeutic intervention) on fathers' sensitivity. The results did not support the effectiveness of such intervention for enhancing sensitive caregiving, especially in fathers with adverse childhood experiences. Taken together, the presented studies acknowledge the need for combining scientific and applied interventional approach in the parenting domain. Close

11:05-12:21 PM

Full-Length Paper

Topic: Aggression and Conflict (Led by KC Haydon)

11:05-12:22 PM

Posters

This study examined the interaction of attachment style and gender on sexual assertiveness among couples. Based on attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969; Hazan & Shaver, 1987), due to trust in the relationship, secure attachment would be positively associated with sexual assertiveness, whereas avoidant and anxious attachment would be negatively associated due to distrust. Based on sexual script theory (Gagnon & Simon, 1973), since heteronormative sexual scripts follow traditional gender roles, men would be more likely to initiate sexual activities and women would be more likely to refuse. Therefore, gender would also moderate the association between attachment style and sexual assertiveness. The sample comprised 124 heterosexual couples (n = 248) from a large West Coast university. The Adult Attachment Scale (Collins & Read, 1990) assessed attachment style, the Sexual Assertiveness Scale (Morokoff et al., 1997) measured refusal of sexual activities, and self-created questions evaluated initiation. Generalized linear mixed models revealed that gender moderates the association between avoidant attachment and initiation of sexual activities. The interaction effect depicted women high in avoidant attachment were less likely to initiate sex, however, men did not show this trend. While findings supported men initiating sexual activities more frequently than women, no gender differences were found regarding refusal. Finally, no main effects were found for attachment style. These findings suggest that while men are more likely to initiate (supporting sexual script theory), avoidant attachment is uniquely important in the initiation of sexual activities for women.

KEYWORDS:Attachment;Gender;Sexuality Close

12:25-01:40 PM

Keynote

The bio-psycho-socio-cultural theory of couple relationships (Diaz-Loving, Sánchez-Aragon, 2002/2020) offers a conceptual framework to understand couple relationships and a structural guideline to study relationships. The central premise stipulates that evolutionary, and ecosystemic variables interact to produce the norms, values, believes, and behavioral patterns that offer the cultural space in which individuals develop. Socialization and enculturation practices in turn interact with the individual’s biopsychic needs to create particular attachment, love, power, communication, negotiation and cognitive styles. Once individual´s profiles are set, they enter an interaction that offers multiple stages. To specify the stages, a pattern of attraction-repulsion includes strangers going through friends, romance, passion, commitment, maintenance, conflict and separation. In addition, at this juncture, measures of jealousy, anxiety, anger, depression, hope and love are introduced to evaluate the emotions produced in each stage of the pattern. Close

01:45-03:00 PM

Symposium

Given that close relationships are marked by interdependence—i.e., the potential for partners to greatly impact one another—it is not uncommon for people to regulate their partners' thoughts and behaviors to meet both partners' goals, motives, and interests. The consequences of these behaviors are well established. For example, oppositional behaviors tend to be distressing, yet motivate partners to change their behaviors, and supportive behaviors tend to buffer partners from the consequences of negative experiences. Nevertheless, relatively little is known about what motivates people to regulate their partners' thoughts and behaviors. In this symposium, we present the results from three sets of studies that investigate the factors that motivate partner-regulation behaviors. First, Peters will present three studies that investigate the behavioral implications of the extent to which romantic partners meet one's ideals. Using contemporary methods for assessing ideal-partner consistency, results suggest that people with partners who more (versus less) closely match their ideals were more satisfied with their relationships and thus engaged in more positive and less negative behaviors toward their partners. Second, Baker will present six experimental, diary, and observational studies that investigated why people engage in indirect opposition (i.e., behaviors that signal that the actor is upset but does not communicate why). Results suggest that people engage in indirect opposition to assess their commitment; specifically, they use oppositional behaviors to signal that they are hurt or upset, so that they can later evaluate whether the partner cares enough about their relationship to investigate the cause of their distress and make amends. Finally, Eller will present two longitudinal studies that examine the factors that motivate people to engage in buffering behaviors that downregulate their insecurely attached partners' distress and insecurity. Results suggest that people who are more emotionally stable, secure, and socially competent engage in more effective buffering.

KEYWORDS: Close

01:45-03:01 PM

Symposium

Romantic disillusionment has mainly referred to the belief that one's marriage or relationship has gone much more poorly than one had expected and is likely beyond repair. Newer research has shown that individuals can also become disillusioned with the mate-seeking process. Romantic disillusionment is a powerful, though understudied, phenomenon, having been shown to predict married and cohabiting partners' self-rated breakup likelihood in a national survey, even controlling for relationship satisfaction and commitment (Niehuis et al., 2015). Identifying precursors or predictors of romantic disillusionment is therefore an important endeavor. The proposed symposium features three presentations (summarized below) addressing this need. Each study examines a type of challenge that could presage disillusionment. The first study examines how US college students' retrospectively reported family-of-origin influences (indulgent parenting, emotional fusion, and impaired self-differentiation) are associated with disillusionment in their current romantic relationships. Participants' potentially maladaptive schemas and perceptions of their partners' sense of entitlement and dominance were tested for mediation. SEM results supporting mediation are presented separately for male and female participants. Establishing relationships may also be disillusioning, as the second study (from Poland) examines. Some online/mobile dating-app users may expect their access to numerous potential partners to make finding a match easy. However, as this qualitative study reveals, there are obstacles to successful dating — captured in six themes such as rejection and difficulties with maintaining online contact and meeting in person — that may disillusion online daters. Once couples establish relationships and are possibly headed toward marriage, some may experience a premarital pregnancy. As the third study (from the US) examines, premarital pregnancy may disrupt couples' relationships and marriage plans. Of particular interest are within-couple discrepancies in partners' perceived marriage-likelihood trajectories after a pregnancy (e.g., one partner sees their marriage probability rising, whereas the other does not). Such discrepancies appear to presage

KEYWORDS: Close

01:45-03:02 PM

Full-Length Paper

Topic: Mental health (Led by Matthew Ogan)

03:05-04:20 PM

Symposium

Most work on emotion regulation (ER) focuses only on the person doing the regulating or ER strategies that do not involve other people, despite ER occurring most often in social contexts. This symposium showcases four projects that underscore the interpersonal nature of ER. The first two talks examine co-rumination, an inherently interpersonal ER strategy involving the regulation of one's own (intrinsic) and others' (extrinsic) emotions. Across a 7-wave study with 1,504 adolescents, DiGiovanni and colleagues revealed that within-person increases in co-rumination were typically associated with greater intrapersonal costs but greater interpersonal benefits. However, there was significant heterogeneity in these effects, where a subset of adolescents experienced only intrapersonal costs, and another subset experienced only interpersonal benefits of co-rumination. Tudder et al. leverage a novel experimental manipulation of co-rumination with 172 close friend dyads to show that co-rumination is associated with greater maladaptive cardiovascular responses for individuals disclosing a personal problem, but not for their friends in the responder role. The second set of talks focus on extrinsic ER strategies, or the regulation of others' emotions. Kwak and English surveyed 135 romantic couples to assess individual differences in the extent to which people provide and receive extrinsic ER in daily life. Results revealed individuals whose partners were higher in neuroticism reported engaging in more extrinsic ER, and, similarly, their partners perceived their spouses to engage in more extrinsic ER. Additionally, individuals higher in openness reported engaging in more extrinsic ER. Zerwas et al. examined the social correlates of 196 romantic couples engaging in the extrinsic use of three ER strategies (suppression, acceptance, and reappraisal) during a conflict discussion. When attempting to regulate others' emotions, suppression had social costs, acceptance was socially beneficial, and reappraisal was relatively inert. Collectively, this symposium demonstrates the advantages of assessing emotion dynamics from an interpersonal perspective.

KEYWORDS: Close

03:05-04:21 PM

Data Blitz

Topic: Intimate interactions and closeness (Led by Annika From)

03:05-04:22 PM

Full-Length Paper

Topic: Covid-19 pandemic (Led by Valerie Manusov)

04:25-05:40 PM

Symposium

The link between interpersonal relationships and health is well documented. Those who are more socially connected and have stronger interpersonal bonds have better psychological and physical health than their less connected peers. This symposium explores the underlying processes connecting different interpersonal relationships to various aspects of health across multiple contexts. In the first paper, Renna and colleagues examined how the number and perceived severity of interpersonal stressors influenced inflammation among 138 middle-aged adults. The severity, but not the number, of interpersonal stressors was associated with heightened inflammation. These results illustrate the biological impact of perceived stress in interpersonal relationships. In the second paper, Cummings and colleagues assessed links between emotion regulation and interpersonal affect dynamics among 47 low socioeconomic status (SES) and minority race parents. Low SES and minoritized race parents with poorer emotional regulation shared greater positive affect with others than high SES and White parents. These findings suggest shared positive affect may be differentially risky depending on sociocultural contexts, particularly among parents in diverse households. In the third paper, Singer and colleagues examined pre-death grief in 125 family members of advanced cancer and dementia patients. Family members who felt their loved ones were more central to their own sense of self had greater pre-death grief than those whose loved ones were not as central. Thus, feeling connected and central to a loved one with a terminal illness may increase grief symptoms even before the loved one passes away. In the fourth paper, Shrout and colleagues assessed 107 middle-aged and older couples' emotional and physiological synchrony across positive, supportive, upsetting, and contentious discussions. Couples showed stronger emotional and physiological synchrony during upsetting and conflictual discussions relative to positive and supportive discussions. The nature of couples' conversations may alter how closely their emotions and physiology track together.

KEYWORDS: Close

04:25-05:41 PM

Full-Length Paper

Topic: Attachment (Led by Konstantinos Kafetsios)

04:25-05:42 PM

Welcome

Join the 2020-2022 Presidential Team—Susan Boon (President), Stan Gaines (President-Elect), and Anita Barbee (Past President)—and Leah Bryant (President-Elect 2022-2024) for announcements about upcoming conferences and more! Close

05:45-07:00 PM

Symposium

Decades of research have revealed the critical roles of stress and support in close relationships. Stress often spills over from outside the relationship and crosses from one partner to another, with pervasive negative consequences for couples. Further, research on social support indicates that romantic partners are often a primary source of support during times of stress, but may not always be effective support providers. The current symposium brings together the latest conceptual and methodological developments in this realm. First, Amie Gordon will take a dyadic approach to stress, presenting results from three studies showing that partners frequently experience stress simultaneously, and that this "concurrent" stress may be particularly toxic for individual and relationship well-being. Next, Annika From will discuss research on support provision in intraracial and interracial Black couples, groups who may face discrimination-based stress and have historically received less attention in close relationships research. Her work suggests that effective support may differ depending on the racial composition of the couple. Third, Amanda Forest will explore the role of the support-seeker in eliciting support during distress. She shows that support-seeker positive expressivity, especially when partner-oriented (e.g., gratitude), increases partners' feelings of warmth and compassion, facilitating more responsive support. Finally, Niall Bolger will discuss physiological co-regulation across partners during support, showing that partners coregulate in unique ways and that these patterns of coregulation are related to later self-regulation during stressful situations. As moderator, Anna Luerssen will bring these four talks together, considering how these studies provide a fresh perspective on stress and support in close relationships by highlighting understudied forms of stress and revealing that there are nuances in how support can best be exchanged between romantic partners.

KEYWORDS: Close

05:45-07:01 PM

Full-Length Paper

Topic: Commitment and investments (Led by Jeff Bowen)

05:45-07:02 PM

Posters

While continuing to navigate the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the earth has experienced unprecedented levels of biodiversity loss in the last century (e.g., McCallum, 2015). Conservationists are on the front lines of mitigating this loss. Despite the importance of their work, little is known about conservationists' psychological wellbeing, beyond symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, and burnout (Fraser et al., 2013; Ramos et al., 2017). Due to their consistent exposure to biodiversity loss, human-wildlife conflict, and violent poaching, conservationists may be experiencing vicarious trauma (Pihkala 2019), often associated with symptoms of psychological distress (Rönning et al., 2020). Importantly, however, social support can moderate effects of trauma exposure (Mehnert et al., 2009). It was hypothesized that conservationists would report experiencing high levels of vicarious trauma which would be positively associated with symptoms of psychological distress (Hypothesis 1), and social support would moderate this association (Hypothesis 2). Three-hundred and seventy-five conservationists from 43 countries (19-70 years old, M = 31.9; 68.3% female, 29.9% male, 1.3% non-binary; 59/6% White/European Origin, 26.2% Asian or of Asian descent, 3.5% Latin American/Native, 2.4% Black/African Descent/African origin), this study found that 46.2% were experiencing moderate levels of vicarious trauma and 47.7% were experiencing high levels. These levels of trauma were positively associated with symptoms of psychological distress (r = .43, p < .001), supporting Hypothesis 1. Furthermore, social support at work was significantly negatively associated with symptoms of psychological distress (r = -.13, p < .01), supporting Hypothesis 2. These findings contribute to our understanding of both risk and protective factors for conservationists as well as how social relationships may play unique roles in this sector. Results furthermore highlight the importance of identifying sources of support in high stress environments as well as the role of colleague relationships in coping with trauma exposure.

KEYWORDS:Social support;Mental Health;Culture/ethnicity Close

05:45-07:03 PM

Symposium

Although an increasingly large body of research has advanced our understanding of sexual processes in romantic relationships, substantial limitations within this literature remain. One reason for these limitations—including a lack of generalizability, inconsistent results across studies, and a limited understanding of how these processes change over time—may be due to small, underpowered samples in past research. To this end, the talks in this symposium seek to provide new insights into this literature by using large, high-powered samples. Specifically, our talks encompass four studies with a combined sample of 70,067 individuals. Talk 1 (Maxwell) addresses how sexual orientation, relationship status, and gender together affect the link between sexual satisfaction and well-being in a sample of 47,951 New Zealanders. Talk 2 (Brady) uses integrative data analysis to combine 35 datasets (N = 16,392) gathered from 24 labs across 5 countries to address whether three sexual processes—sexual frequency, sexual satisfaction, and sexual desire—predict greater personal and relational well-being, as well as whether gender moderates this association. Talk 3 (Busby) uses growth curve models to explore how three different types of sexual passion (harmonious, inhibited, and obsessive) change across the first five years of marriage in a nationally representative sample of 2,207 American newlywed couples (n = 4,414). Talk 4 (Hanna-Walker) furthers this work on sexual passion by using latent profile growth mixture models to identify five different couple profiles for sexual passion and how those profiles are predicted across five years in a sample of 655 romantic couples (n = 1,310). This set of talks covers a breadth of topics that interest relationship researchers to showcase the insights gained from using large samples when examining sexual processes. Our talks leverage relatively large datasets to provide greater confidence in the replicability and generalizability of our findings regarding sex in relationships.

KEYWORDS: Close

07:05-08:20 AM

Symposium

Secrets are inherently social in that they are always kept from or shared with another person. Accordingly, the experience of secrecy is highly dependent on the relationship context and can have implications for social relationships at the dyadic and group levels. This symposium focuses on the social nature and implications of information regulation and secrecy. The first presentation focuses on how regulating information access through secrecy can create a shared social identity, with those who have access to the information feeling a sense of togetherness and those excluded from the information feeling a sense of separation and decreased group identification. The second presentation presents data on how the burden of keeping a secret stems from both individual and relational components, and how sharing a personal or secondhand secret can foster closeness and trustworthiness within a dyad. In the next presentation research on the privileged information effect is presented with a focus on the social implications of processing privileged information differently from common knowledge. The final presentation extends our discussion to pseudo-secrets in marketing and demonstrates that the effectiveness of pseudo-secrets in increasing word-of-mouth for a brand is mediated by consumers' feelings of social centrality and connection with one's network. Taken together, these talks suggest that keeping and sharing secrets can be a potent way of feeling connected to others in a social network. Moreover, the distinction of privileged information changes how we think about not only the information itself but also our relationships with the people who do or do not know it.

KEYWORDS: Close

07:05-08:21 AM

Full-Length Paper

Topic: Self-regulation (Led by Elizabeth Ferguson)

07:05-08:22 AM

Posters

The speed-dating procedure allows researchers to closely investigate relationship initiation situations. Previous speed-dating studies indicated that men and women had provided high attraction ratings toward individuals with high physical attractiveness, high financial prospects, and personable traits (e.g., Eastwick & Finkel, 2008). Although previous speed-dating research identified some factors predicting attraction ratings, there are few speed-dating studies conducted outside European or North American countries. Thus, the purpose of the current speed-dating study was to examine what factors would predict attraction ratings by potential partners among an understudied sample: Japanese. Participants were 27 men and 28 women. Before the study session, participants completed scales to measure individual traits including Big Five. At each speed-dating session, 12 — 15 men and women had a 3-minute talk with each opposite-sex participant. After each talk, participants evaluated each potential partner regarding attraction and dating intentions. The results of the social relation model showed that the actor effect of neuroticism was significant for women. That is, more neurotic women evaluated men as more attractive. In addition, partner effects of physical attractiveness and conscientiousness were significant for women. This result indicates that more physically attractive and less conscientious women were evaluated as more attractive by men. Similarly for dating intentions, the actor effect of neuroticism and the partner effect of physical attractiveness were significant among women. More neurotic women reported greater dating intentions, and more physically attractive women received greater dating intentions from men. The current results are discussed in comparison with previous research conducted in Western countries.

KEYWORDS:Attraction;Relationship Initiation;Mating Close

08:25-09:40 AM

Symposium

There are a number of limitations with traditional approaches to analysis and theory building in relationship science. Notably, traditional approaches make assumptions of linearity and low-complexity which cannot reflect the true nature of the phenomena under study. Furthermore, theories in relationship science are often abstract and vague, and have only a loose connection to the models used for analysis. These issues undermine progress in relationship science, and contribute to ongoing problems relating to replicability and inefficacy of interventions. Increased accessibility of new methods from machine learning and causality has provided our field with an opportunity to bring our analytical and theory development practices into the 21st century. This symposium presents a range of modern approaches for prediction, causality, theory building and theory testing. John Sakaluk will begin by discussing how the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model, which has dominated statistics in relationship science, fails when the data generating process is not APIM. Then, Matthew Vowels will discuss the importance of structural misspecification and will explain how a causal framework can be used to explore, discover, and validate our theories, as well as to estimate specific effects of interest. Laura Vowels will then discuss methods for prediction for when causal models are not possible or desirable, and exploration of new theories using modern machine learning techniques. Finally, Prof. Peter Hilpert will explain the need for machine learning approaches to model the complex real-time dynamics associated with interactions. We will also collectively discuss the associated requirements, assumptions, and limitations of the methods. Overall, this symposium aims to provide a modern, flexible, and comprehensive pipeline for research and theory development involving exploration, development, and validation.

KEYWORDS: Close

08:25-09:41 AM

Data Blitz

Topic: Emotions and commitment (Led by Laura Pietras)

08:25-09:42 AM

Full-Length Paper

Topic: Friendship (Led by Brianna Avalos)

09:45-11:00 AM

Keynote

This keynote focuses on critical approaches to relationship studies. Critical theorizing continues to gain traction across the interdisciplinary field of relationship studies, especially as scholars embrace interpretivist approaches to research and seek to expand diversity and inclusion within relationship studies. To explore this movement and its benefits, I review approaches to critical theorizing including critical race theory, decoloniality, heteronormativity and queer theory, feminist approaches, ability, and other identity-oriented critical approaches. I then review other critical political commitments, including those related to economics, technology, affect, and materiality. Finally, I turn to two different projects to illustrate the value of critical theory to relationship studies: a study of family discourses of purity pledges involving affect theory and an exploration of how work organizations use social media to surveil potential employees that draws from technological politics in its analysis. Close

11:05-12:20 PM

Symposium

This symposium examines misperceptions in the context of romantic relationships and the potential consequences of these misperceptions. The first talk examines misperceptions within the context of initial relationship formation. Tu and colleagues test whether people can correctly perceive a potential romantic partner's attachment style and find that there is greater accuracy when it comes to attachment anxiety than avoidance. Furthermore, people's perceptions of a potential romantic partner's attachment style influence romantic interest. The second talk moves to examine misperceptions within established romantic relationships and considers how sociocultural contexts impact perceptions. Emery and Finkel find that those in a lower socioeconomic status context underperceive their partner's romantic commitment as a form of self-protection. The third talk focuses on misperceptions in how relationships have (or have not) changed the self. Hughes and colleagues find that people high on attachment avoidance perceive greater loss of self due to the relationship, which has downstream consequences for lower commitment. However, although avoidant people perceive these changes to the self, they actually change less. Lastly, the fourth talk considers consequences of misperceptions in established romantic relationships, specifically when misperceptions are good for the relationship and when they are bad. Kim and colleagues find that people often underperceive their partner's love behaviors, which is associated with lower actor satisfaction but higher partner satisfaction. Couples who have complementary styles of misperceptions in terms of love behaviors (one overperceives while the other underperceives) have the greatest levels of satisfaction. These four feature varied methodologies (speed dating, daily diary, longitudinal) as well as diverse types of analytic approaches to misperception in romantic relationships (APIM, Truth and Bias Model, Dyadic Response Surface Analysis). Ultimately, the talks identify contexts and self-aspects that influence when people may be accurate or inaccurate in their perceptions in romantic relationships.

KEYWORDS: Close

11:05-12:21 PM

Full-Length Paper

Topic: Social networks and support (Led by Justin Cavallo)

12:25-01:40 PM

Symposium

Romantic relationships are commonly seen as a resource of resilience when it comes to regulating affect and stress-responses in daily life. Concurrently, couple situations such as conflict can provoke interpersonal stressful events that possibly need to be buffered by adaptive intrapersonal emotion regulation. This interplay between intra- and interpersonal regulation in couples is still hardly understood and requires the analysis of ecologically valid dyadic data. This symposium aims at contributing to a better understanding of these processes by relying on innovative methods such as ambulatory assessment in daily life and multi-method approaches including physiological stress responses as well as including a life-span perspective. The first study by Salo et al. investigates the buffering effect of intrapersonal emotion regulation on physiological stress responses (cardiovascular reactivity) in a marital conflict. Subsequently, a study by Meier et al. sheds light on younger and older couples' everyday emotional disclosure by examining age differences in "we-ness", positive and negative emotions as reflected in language markers of daily couple conversations. In the following study, Huber and colleagues present data from the same project investigating daily momentary affective connectedness within person and between partners over time as a proxy of intra- and interpersonal regulation relying on dyadic network modelling in younger and older couples. Finally, the symposium is completed by a study by Aguilar-Raab et al. investigating instructed partner appreciation as an interpersonal strategy to improve stress-resilience in couples' daily life and its associations with momentary stress-responses and cortisol levels.

KEYWORDS: Close

12:25-01:41 PM

Data Blitz

Topic: Gender and sexuality (Led by Matthew Rivas-Koehl)

12:25-01:42 PM

Full-Length Paper

Topic: Communication (Led by Jody Koenig Kellas)

01:45-03:00 PM

Symposium

Child maltreatment (CM, physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, and physical and emotional neglect) is highly prevalent and associated with long-term negative effects persisting into adulthood. Given their intrinsic interpersonal nature, experiences of CM may be particularly deleterious for survivors' intimate relationships. Yet, dyadic studies are lacking to understand the complexity of the effects that CM may have on romantic relationships. How CM may affect the perception of the partner empathic responses, including romantic support and alliance between partners, might shed light on those complex effects. This symposium features four studies examining the associations between CM and adults' romantic relationships using dyadic designs that take into account the interdependency between partners. First, Vaillancourt-Morel will share the results of a study examining the association between CM and perceived partner responsiveness using a dyadic daily diary and longitudinal design. Second, Gosselin will discuss the results of a study examining the role of attachment as a mediator of the link between CM and perceived partner responsiveness in two samples of young adults. Third, Godbout and Bakhos will document the role of partner romantic support in the association between CM and parental stress in a sample of parents welcoming a newborn. Finally, Rassart will present the results of a dyadic longitudinal study examining the mediating role of self-capacities in the association between CM and parenting alliance among parental couples. Together, these findings provide a rich, multi-layered mixed-methodology analysis on how CM may affect intimate relationships, highlighting the key role of perceived partner's responses and support. Close

01:45-03:01 PM

Special

The IARR teaching committee will host a session highlighting interactive innovations that address common challenges for relationship science instructors. Specific topics will be:(1) the balance between quantitative and qualitative/case studies; (2) designing relevant experiments as part of a relationships class assignment; (3) immersing students in theory; (4) application to business and marketing courses; (5) student inclusion and engagement challenges, emphasizing intersectionality; and (6) improving student motivation and engagement through flipped classrooms. Close

01:45-03:02 PM

Posters

While friendships typically offer social support and mental health benefits during times of crisis, polarized views on COVID-19 pandemic and political discord have led to increased friendship conflict or even breakup. Research exclusively focused on friendships, especially during a pandemic, are scarce. Our goal was to examine the impact of Covid-19 pandemic and politics on friendship conflict outcomes. Our research questions explored: 1) the prevalence, seriousness, and topics of conflict, 2) factors that have impacted the outcome of the conflict (e.g., using Rahim Conflict Inventory for peers, ROCI-Rahim, 1983; Patient Health Questionnaire, PHQ-9). We collected initial online data in January 2022. Participants were staff, faculty, and students at a public university in the northeast of the U.S., N=217, mean age=33.8, SD=15.2, 60% female. We found that friendship conflicts were prevalent: 80% had experienced conflict (mean seriousness =3.7, SD=1.5). The top topics of conflict were whether one should get vaccinated and if Black Lives Matter movement is necessary. Regarding outcome of conflict, in 80% of cases no resolution was achieved and in 12.5% of cases, the friendship changed for the worse or dissolved. While age, gender, and closeness of friendship did not relate to the outcome, higher scores on liberalism (r=.22, p=.004), seriousness of conflict (r=.41,p=.001), an assertive conflict resolution style that views conflict as a problem to be solved (r=.18, p=.03), and depression (r=.29, p=.001), were all associated with less desirable conflict outcomes. Future research should explore the criteria which participants use to judge the seriousness of the conflict.

KEYWORDS:Friendship;Conflict and Conflict Resolution;Depression Close

03:05-04:20 PM

Symposium

Forming intimate relationships are parenting are key developmental tasks in adulthood. The nature and quality of these relationships are consequential for adults, children, and families. Yet, scholars have not well documented the normative relationship and parenting experiences of Black men. Further, although scholars have examined the experiences of Black men and fathers, researchers frequently employ methods that do not allow for an understanding of meanings, perceptions, and family processes. Family processes refer to the complex ways in which families' function internally, which affects development (Broderick, 1993; Bronfenbrenner, 1986; Cummings, Davis, & Campbell, 2000). Survey methodologies only permit scholars to infer processes. An inductive approach like qualitative interviews and focus groups can illuminate family processes, meaning, and perceptions related to intimate relationships and parenting. In this symposium comprising four presentations, scholars will utilize samples of Black men and qualitative methods (e.g., semi-structured interviews, focus groups) to explore normative experiences in intimate relationships and parenting. The authors will highlight how Black men navigate contextual challenges and inequalities in order to support their partners, children, and families. The first two papers focus on men's reflections of their marital and intimate relationships, while the second two papers highlight men's responsibilities as fathers. Collectively, these papers advance the research literature about how Black men approach family. Using these methods also allowed the men to provide context and speak about the meanings of their experiences. This effort supports the utility of using inductive approaches with an understudied group to allow these insights to emerge from methods that are qualitative in nature.

KEYWORDS: Close

03:05-04:21 PM

Full-Length Paper

Topic: Older adults (Led by Jeffrey Stokes)

03:05-04:22 PM

Full-Length Paper

Topic: Challenges and irritations (Led by Cheryl Harasymchuk)

04:25-05:40 PM

Symposium

The COVID-19 pandemic has involved stressful, ongoing challenges that threaten the health and wellbeing of families across the globe. This symposium will use data gathered from New Zealand families prior to the pandemic and during two mandatory lockdowns at the start of the pandemic (March-April 2020) and 1.5 years into the pandemic (August-September 2021). The fist talk considers how the increased burden of parenting and domestic labor during the lockdown was unfairly shouldered by women, producing poorer relationship and personal outcomes for women. The second talk investigates whether within-family support processes can buffer the harmful effects of parents' distress on parenting during the lockdown. Parents' distress predicted poorer parenting, but these detrimental effects were buffered by partner support and cooperative parenting. The final talk examines the role that emotion regulation plays in biasing memories of distress. Regulating emotions during the second COVID-19 lockdown influenced how people remembered how distressed they felt during the initial lockdown. These findings provide insight into how the pandemic has affected family life during lockdown.

KEYWORDS: Close

04:25-05:41 PM

Full-Length Paper

Topic: Structural and economic factors (Led by Terri Orbuch)

04:25-05:42 PM

Full-Length Paper

Topic: Infertility and sexuality (Led by Sharon Flicker)

05:45-07:00 PM

Symposium

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic required couples around the world to abruptly restructure their daily lives as they coped with a slew of new, unforeseen stressors. In this way, the pandemic underscored the importance of understanding when, why, and how stressful life circumstances can disrupt couples' relationship dynamics. Yet, although numerous theoretical perspectives emphasize the influence of stressful contexts on relationship functioning, relationship processes frequently have been examined in couples facing little stress. The pandemic has provided an invaluable opportunity to put our existing relationship theories to the test. To this end, the studies described below all leveraged the unique conditions created by the COVID-19 pandemic not only to examine the generalizability of key theoretical principles in this novel context, but also to explore frequently theorized, yet rarely tested ideas within the literature. Consistent with the Vulnerability-Stress-Adaptation Model of relationships, Overall and colleagues begin by demonstrating that couples' enduring vulnerabilities (e.g., attachment anxiety, sexist attitudes) and strengths (e.g., effective emotion regulation, co-parenting skills) become especially important for family well-being within stressful contexts. Crockett and colleagues build on this theme by highlighting how a unique pandemic-related stressor — household density during stay-at-home orders — may exacerbate the harmful effects of conflict avoidance on relationship outcomes. Likewise, using data from participants spanning 57 countries, Balzarini and colleagues examine the increased importance of perceived partner responsiveness for protecting relationship quality during this stressful time. Finally, Neff and colleagues consider the notion that not all stressors are alike; indeed, the distinctive features of the pandemic may encourage benevolent attributions for relationship problems, which mitigates the harmful effects of stress on relationships. These findings provide insight into contextual influences on couple dynamics during an unprecedented time and advance our understanding of the factors that may promote couples' resiliency during periods of stress.

KEYWORDS: Close

05:45-07:01 PM

Full-Length Paper

Topic: Gratitude and sacrifices (Led by Mariko Visserman)

05:45-07:02 PM

Full-Length Paper

Topic: Biopsychology (Led by Karen Wu)

07:05-08:20 AM

Symposium

Individuals differ regarding a variety of demographic characteristics of diversity (i.e., gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, religion). However, the impact of diversity on individuals' relationships has long been neglected by psychologists and health scientists. For example, studies on how diversity affects peer relationships in schools or relational and health outcomes in socially marginalized couples (i.e., same-sex couples, interfaith couples) are underrepresented in relationships research. This symposium brings together empirical studies, new theoretical perspectives, and innovative methodological approaches to shed light on the role of diversity in individuals' social relationships across different life contexts. First, Tomasz Moschko and colleagues report considerable differences in social acceptance for different diversity domains in the school context. Second, Gertraud (Turu) Stadler and colleagues present a newly developed minimal item set of survey items for ten diversity domains allowing a brief, yet comprehensive assessment of diversity in studies in relationships research. Third, David Frost and colleagues introduce and review evidence for couple-level minority stress theory, a theoretical framework to explain unique couple-level effects of social stigmatization on stress experience in marginalized couples.Fourth, using data from romantic couples, Nathalie Meuwly and colleagues suggest that support processes in intimate relationships are similar for mixed-gender and same-gender couples. Ashley Randall will critically discuss the four contributions from a psychological perspective and discuss implications for future research.

KEYWORDS: Close

07:05-08:21 AM

Full-Length Paper

Topic: Childhood and adolescence (Led by Anat Korem)

07:05-08:22 AM

Full-Length Paper

Topic: Emotion and affect (Led by Esther Liekmeier)

08:25-09:40 AM

Symposium

While there has been a growing body of research on the individual and relational well-being of those who identify with diverse sexual (e.g., lesbian, gay, and bisexual) and/or gender identities (e.g., transgender or gender queer) research including these populations remains a relatively small amount of the research literature on personal relationships. The research that does include those with diverse sexual and gender orientations tends to exclude those who identify with a sexual orientation other than gay or lesbian. Research including those who identify as a gender other than cisgender are even more excluded in personal relationship research. Further, research has focused on sexual and gender minorities tends to do so within a specific geographical area (i.e., within the United States). Therefore, there is a need for both an expansion of research within specific geographic regions to include a greater understanding of the lived experiences of traditionally underrepresented sexual and gender orientations and studies that include multiple geographic regions to allow for multi-nation comparisons. This symposium will present research employing data from a large, multi-nation survey study examining the lived experiences of sexual and gender minority individuals. In 2021, teams of researchers across 14 nations administered a survey to sexual and gender minority volunteers in their respective countries resulting in an overall sample of N = 4,050 individuals. This symposium includes presentations from the research teams located in Italy, Malaysia, Turkey, and the United States discussing initial data examining individual well-being variables including psychological distress and identity-related variables, and relationship variables including couple resilience and dyadic coping, and the overall organization and methods of this unique project.

KEYWORDS: Close

08:25-09:41 AM

Full-Length Paper

Topic: Trust and stressors (Led by Kathryn Coduto)

08:25-09:42 AM

Full-Length Paper

Topic: Social networks and support (Led by Cecilia Serrano)

09:45-11:00 AM

Symposium

While a deep body of research has linked physical touch to multiple domains of well-being, key contextual, methodological, and theoretical questions remain. We address three in this symposium. (1) Does this link between touch and well-being manifest differently across different populations and relationships? Understanding the unique stressors facing sexual minority couples, Brandt (Study 3) confronts the heteronormativity of existing research by exploring internalized heterosexism's impact on touch in sexual minority relationships. Debrot (Study 2) takes a cross-cultural approach to this question by examining whether the strength of the touch-well-being relationship differs across Swiss and Latin American samples. Granderson (Study 4) breaks from the traditional focus on romantic relationships by investigating patterns and practices of affectionate touch in men's same-sex friendships. (2) Are current measures adequately designed and calibrated to capture phenomenon as complex and situational as touch? Study 2 addresses this question from an evaluative perspective in one of the first studies to explore cross-culture measurement invariance on an established self-report measure of affectionate touch frequency. Study 4 takes an innovative approach to the question by piloting a novel, behavior-focused measure of physical intimacy to capture men's experience with and capacity for physical intimacy in their friendships with men. (3) Do existing theories sufficiently equip us to understand touch in context? While this symposium brings to bear an array of theories on questions of touch, from theories of attachment and masculinity (Study 4) to minority stress (Study 3), Jolink (Study 1) explicitly addresses this question by proposing and evaluating an extension of the interpersonal process model of intimacy that centers the heretofore untested role of affectionate touch. Taken together, the works in this symposium advance the scholarly conversation around affectionate touch by addressing key outstanding questions in the literature — while also posing a few new questions of their own.

KEYWORDS: Close

09:45-11:01 AM

Full-Length Paper

Topic: Values, belilefs and priorities (Led by Cheryl Carmichael)

09:45-11:02 AM

Full-Length Paper

Topic: Gender and sexuality (Led by Rita Luz)

11:05-12:20 PM

Symposium

Family members' health and wellbeing and are inextricably linked with each other, and bidirectional associations exist between family dynamics and health outcomes. This symposium presents research that illuminates ways family members can impact each other in direct and indirect ways through a variety of mechanisms and in diverse populations. Dr. August and colleagues utilized dyadic data from 462 heterosexual and gay married couples and explored whether foodwork (food shopping and meal preparation) was related to diet quality, and whether these associations differed by gender or sexual orientation. Results found that one individual was responsible for these roles in a majority of couples, although meal preparation was more likely to be shared in gay than in heterosexual couples. The person responsible for these food roles ate healthy more frequently compared to when their partner was responsible. Next, utilizing an RCT design among 710 women, Dr. Sorkin and colleagues examined dyadic influences on health behavior change in a sample of overweight/obese Mexican-American mothers and their adult daughters who share elevated risks for type 2 diabetes. Although significant differences in weight loss did not emerge across the intervention conditions, they found some evidence of intervention effects on dietary behavior. Trends suggested superior outcomes for the dyadic condition across several health behaviors. Finally, Dr. Novak and colleagues present results from a latent profile analysis results using a national sample of 446 family members of persons with type 2 diabetes. This study found 4 unique clusters of family members' illness appraisals, involvement, and psychological distress: Moderately Concerned, Involved, and Distressed (32.51%), Least Concerned, Distressed, and Involved (27.13%), Less Concerned and Distressed, Moderately Involved (23.77%), and Most Concerned, Involved, and Distressed (16.82%). These findings suggest that intervention efforts must consider the psychological health and illness appraisals of family members rather than a one-size fits-all approach.

KEYWORDS: Close

11:05-12:21 PM

Data Blitz

Topic: Attachment and stressors (Led by Sarafina Métellus)

11:05-12:22 PM

Full-Length Paper

Topic: LGBTQ+ relationships (Led by Gabriel León)

12:25-01:40 PM

Symposium

Consensual non-monogamy (CNM) is a type of relationship agreement in which individuals openly engage in more than one concurrent intimate, romantic, and/or sexual relationship, including polyamory, swinging, and open relationships. Recent estimates suggest that approximately 4-5% of U.S. Americans are currently involved in consensually non-monogamous relationships (Levine et al., 2018) and around 20% of single US Americans have been involved in CNM relationships at some point in their lifetime (Haupert et al., 2017). Yet, the vast majority of relationship research focuses on monogamy and assumes monogamy as the ideal type of relationship. This symposium focuses on the experiences of individuals involved in consensual non-monogamy from a variety of angles. Flicker et al. present a qualitative examination of the individual, relationship and extra-relationship factors that facilitate or hinder the experience of compersion, the positive feelings (such as joy, excitement and contentment) one may experience in response to their partner's intimate involvement with extradyadic partners. Kieran and Rafacz present a qualitative examination of clinicians' experiences assessing relationship type on demographic forms, barriers to clinician assessment of relationship type and recommendations for best practices. Cardoso discusses the gendered dynamics of CNM activism across the UK and Portugal, implementing a transnational comparative approach. Smith and Ellis present a qualitative analysis of the experiences of student service professionals at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) as they strive to offer culturally competent services to LGBTQ students and students involved in CNM during the COVID pandemic.

KEYWORDS: Close

12:25-01:41 PM

Symposium

Mindfulness, frequently defined as an open and receptive attention to and awareness of what is occurring in the present moment, often predicts positive personal and relationship outcomes. Our symposium presents cutting-edge research illuminating novel benefits of both trait mindfulness and mindfulness training in interpersonal relationships. How does mindfulness contribute to social interactions and social connectedness? The first two talks address this question. van der Schans et al. utilized a laboratory interaction paradigm to examine how trait mindfulness influenced social interactions with strangers. They found mindfulness was negatively associated with interpersonal distress and positively associated with interaction enjoyment, how attentive actors perceived their interaction partner to be, and how well they perceived the other to be able to cope with an interpersonal coordination task. They also found that one person's mindfulness was positively associated with the other's enjoyment. Next, in a meditation intervention study in which participants received training in mindfulness or loving-kindness meditation, Don et al. found that participants in both meditation groups reported lower social connectedness variability over time (i.e., social connectedness was more stable over time). This link was partially mediated by lower positive and negative affect variability. The second set of talks focus on benefits of mindfulness in romantic relationships specifically. In a longitudinal dyadic study, Gazder and Stanton found that baseline relationship-specific mindfulness predicted a decrease in attachment avoidance 2.5 months later via greater daily empathy. Lastly, Leavitt et al. found that trait and sexual mindfulness attenuated the negative associations between power imbalance in romantic relationships and relational and sexual outcomes. They also discovered that both trait and sexual mindfulness were connected to relational flourishing and sexual harmony for both partners. This diverse set of talks highlight exciting new contributions of mindfulness to positive interpersonal outcomes, both within social relationships broadly and romantic relationships in particular.

KEYWORDS: Close

12:25-01:42 PM

Full-Length Paper

Topic: Covid-19 pandemic (Led by Asuman Buyukcan-Tetik)

01:45-03:00 PM

Symposium

Across four talks, this symposium presents novel empirical findings on the predictors, benefits, and moderators of high-quality sex lives for individuals and couples across the lifespan. To start, two talks explore the predictors of sexual satisfaction, highlighting behavioral and cognitive phenomena that improve sexual and relational well-being. The first presents three cognitive processes that increase sexual desire and satisfaction: sexual savouring (enjoying positive sexual experiences in the moment), sexual anticipation (thinking about future positive sexual experiences), and sexual reminiscing (thinking about past positive sexual experiences) (Raposo). The second talk identifies a key interpersonal behavioral process responsible for increased sexual and relationship satisfaction: affectionate touch leading to increased body image satisfaction for both men and women (Gesselman). Building off this research underscoring innovative predictors of sexual satisfaction, our final two talks examine benefits of such high-quality sexual experiences, with attention to attachment security as an outcome and moderator in this domain. We first demonstrate how feeling sexually desired shapes the development and maintenance of felt security in romantic relationships (Mizrahi), followed by an illustration of how attachment security alters the relational, but not personal benefits derived from a high-quality sex life (Wolfer). Utilizing a variety of methods (e.g. cross-sectional, longitudinal, daily-diary, self-report, experimental, individual, dyadic), this symposium draws from nine distinct samples across the lifespan including younger/newlywed, midlife, and older adults. We aim to pave the way for future research and programming to consider the myriad processes that not only precede (i.e. perceived partner sexual desire, affectionate touch, body satisfaction, sexual savoring), but also alter (i.e. attachment security), and result from (i.e. felt security, psychological well-being, relationship satisfaction) high-quality sexual and romantic experiences. Taken together, this symposium shares a toolbox of data and strategies for researchers, clinicians, and community members working to promote sexual functioning and personal and relational well-being. Close

01:45-03:01 PM

Full-Length Paper

Topic: Digital tools/communications (Led by Laura Vowels)

01:45-03:02 PM

Posters

The use of emotionally valanced language (i.e., language that conveys one's feelings) is a common occurrence in couples. However, findings from studies examining emotion word use and well-being are mixed, and this research largely consists of emotionally expressive writing tasks or self-reports of emotional expression. Emotional approach coping (EAC) is the tendency to express or process emotions in response to stress and may play a role in who benefits from daily, naturally occurring emotional expression. The purpose of this report is to determine if the use of emotion words in daily life predicts positive health and well-being, and if EAC processing or EAC expression moderates these associations. Married/cohabitating couples (N = 116) completed a measure of EAC with sub-scales for processing and expression. Then couples completed a 14-day daily diary to assess individual and relational outcomes (e.g., anxious/depressed mood, physical health symptoms, relationship quality). During 4 of those days, couples wore the electronically activated recorder (EAR) which recorded ambient sound every 6 minutes for 56 seconds. Sound files were transcribed and processed using Linguistic Inquiry Word Count (LIWC) to quantify daily emotion word use. In preliminary analyses, greater use of emotion words was associated with higher anxiety and depressed mood, greater reports of physical symptoms, and poorer relationship satisfaction on average. However, these associations were largely mitigated for people higher in EAC expression or processing. The implications of this work provide greater insight to the associations between emotional approach coping and individual well-being outcomes in couples.

KEYWORDS:Emotions;Mental Health;Physical Health Close

03:05-04:20 PM

Symposium

Sexual abstinence (SA) is linked to informed decision-making, healthier relationships, and higher quality and stable marriages (Busby et al., 2010; Teachman, 2004; Willoughby et al., 2014). Most previous research, although informative, utilized nationally representative samples and conducted analyses that illuminate associations, not process or meaning. Little is known about the lived experiences of people who practice SA until marriage, particularly among African American samples. It is important to understand how SA occurs within this population. The original study aimed to explore the lived experiences and relationship processes among African American couples who remained sexually abstinent until marriage. A sample of 36 African American couples (N = 72 individuals) who abstained from sex for at least six months prior to marriage was recruited and investigated, utilizing a phenomenological approach to inquiry (Husserl, 1970; Sloan & Bowe, 2014). The first author completed three virtual interviews per couple: one individual each, and one dyadic. As a result of descriptive analysis, several significant themes emerged, including Motivations, Challenges, Allowable Sexual Behaviors, and Connections among SA and Relationships and Marriage. The key strengths of this study are the detailed couples' accounts. Each paper within this symposium depicts the nuanced insights about the benefits that SA provides to individuals, couples, marriages, families, and beyond. Paper 1 illuminates how couples defined SA in terms of sexual history and behavior and their overall experience of SA until marriage. Paper 2 dives further into the connections between SA and marriage, explicitly highlighting an unexpected finding that emerged: initial sexual dissatisfaction once married. Lastly, Paper 3 explains the perception that their decision to abstain not only impacted their marriage but the lives of others. The results reveal that they "defied the odds" with what they accomplished, having a greater impact on African American relationships, families, and community.

KEYWORDS: Close

03:05-04:21 PM

Special

There is currently no Abstract available. Close

03:05-04:22 PM

Full-Length Paper

Topic: Intimate partner violence (Led by Cantyo Atindriyo Dannisworo)

04:25-05:41 PM

Data Blitz

Topic: Relationship processes (Led by Michelle Miller-Day)

05:45-07:00 PM

Keynote

Increasingly researchers are studying relationships in the workplace and how such critical relationship variables as attachment style, social support, a sense of belonging and interpersonal conflict impact employee well-being, dyadic relationship dynamics, team cohesion and functioning as well as the larger organizational culture and climate of the workplace. This keynote will briefly review that literature and give some specific examples of studies conducted in child welfare organizations examining the role attachment style, perceptions of supportiveness and other traits and behaviors play in supervisor-employee relationship dynamics and the impact those dyadic dynamics have on employee secondary trauma, retention, and climate. Close

07:05-08:20 AM

Full-Length Paper

Topic: Well-being across relationship statuses and contexts (Led by Gul Gunaydin)

07:05-08:21 AM

Full-Length Paper

Topic: Attachment (Led by Danyang Li)

07:05-08:22 AM

Full-Length Paper

Topic: Gender and sexuality (Led by Spencer Olmstead)

08:25-09:40 AM

Full-Length Paper

Topic: Covid-19 pandemic (Led by Sonia Ranieri)

09:45-11:00 AM

Special

Come learn how and where to get your relationship scholarship published.Are you interested in submitting your article/book proposal to an IARR sponsored publication? Do you struggle with where to submit your scholarship? IARR sponsors four publications: Personal Relationships (PR), Journal of Social and Personal Relationships (JSPR), Advances in Personal Relationships Series (Cambridge University Press), and Relationship Research News (RRN). This session will have at least one Editor/Associate Editor from each IARR publication outlet to discuss: how to get through the publication process, new initiatives, and the mission/goals of each specific publication. The session will be followed by an open discussion and Q/A. Compared to traditional presentations, town halls are typically less formal and provide more opportunities for open dialogue.

Moderator:
Terri Orbuch, Chair Publications Committee

Presenters:
Chip Knee, CUP Advances in Personal Relationships Series Editor
Elaine Scharfe, RRN Editor
Ohad Szepsenwol, JSPR Associate Editor
Xiaomin Li, JSPR Associate Editor
Joris Van Ouytsel, PR Associate Editor
Leah Bryant, PR International Section Associate Editor
Close

09:45-11:01 AM

Symposium

Listening to personal disclosure and responding in nonverbal ways may facilitate feelings of togetherness and trust, thus cultivating the speaker's personal growth and encouraging relationship development. These seemingly passive behaviors may provide sensitive displays of attentiveness without interrupting to the speaker's flow of thoughts and instill feelings of being understood, respected and cared for in a non-intrusive manner. Indeed, the provision of high-quality listening and nonverbal responsiveness may promote personal well-being of the speaker and signal the responder's emotional availability, thus intensify the connection. The present symposium focuses on the beneficial contribution of high-quality listening and nonverbal responsiveness to personal well-being and relationship development. In the first presentation, Guy Itzchakov will present findings from four experiments examining the effect of high-quality listening on reducing the speaker's feelings of loneliness while discussing social rejection. Next, Netta Weinstein will present findings about the effect of high-quality listening on satisfying speakers' needs of relatedness and autonomy that consequently promote the personal well-being of the speaker. In the third presentation, Cheryl Carmichael will describe the role of affection touch as a nonverbal responsive gesture that enhances intimacy and relationship satisfaction in romantic relationships. In the fourth and final presentation, Moran Mizrahi will present findings of the effect of nonverbal responsiveness on the development of interpersonal trust in initial acquaintances. This collection of studies integrates findings from complementary methods and theoretical approaches that, in concert, should enrich the understanding of how personal well-being and interpersonal connections may be enhanced by listening and nonverbal responsiveness.

KEYWORDS: Close

09:45-11:02 AM

Symposium

Although modern life presents ample opportunities for interactions with non-humans, relatively little research was done on the relationships between humans and non-humans such as AIs. Research presented in this symposium examines how people interact with non-humans by utilizing theories and research that explain human relationships. Specifically, four talks examine people's trust in AIs, fulfillment of attachment needs by AIs, feelings of closeness towards robots, and flirtation with virtual agents. The talks utilize attachment theory, research on shared experience, and research on infidelity as their theoretical framework. The first talk focuses on the associations between attachment style and trust in AI. The researchers found that attachment anxiety but not avoidance predicted less trust in AI, and priming attachment anxiety reduced trust, whereas priming attachment security increased trust in AI. The second talk focuses on whether AI could serve as a companion or a relationship partner and as such fulfill attachment needs and reduce loneliness. The third talk focuses on people's feelings of closeness to human and robot partners through imagined shared experiences. The researchers found that feelings of closeness to the interaction partner were amplified when imagining sharing (vs. not sharing) an experience, regardless of whether their partner was a human or a robot. The last talk focuses on whether interactions with a virtual agent can inoculate people against the allure of alternative human mates. The researchers found that following the flirtatious virtual encounter, participants devalued alternative partners and invested less time in helping them, as well as perceived their current partner more positively. Together these four talks support the idea that research on human relationships is both relevant and important for the understanding of relations with non-humans. Furthermore, they suggest that interactions with non-human can affect people's relations with other humans.

KEYWORDS: Close

11:05-12:20 PM

Symposium

Despite love being a fundamental need within relationships, it is rarely studied and ill-defined in close relationships research. This symposium provides new ways of conceptualizing love and highlights the important implications of love for relationships, the self, and the community. The first talk (Sasaki) conceptualizes love as caring, valuing, and understanding (i.e., perceived partner responsiveness). Sasaki emphasizes that the very nature of love involves another person and thus will involve dyadic processes. Across three daily sampling studies and three observational studies (N = 703 couples), significant Actor × Partner felt-loved interactions revealed that partners feeling loved can protect against the damaging effects of actors feeling unloved on destructive behavior during relationship interactions. The second talk (Wu) also conceptualizes love as caring, valuing, and understanding, but considers cultural variations in the perceptions of loving behaviors. In a retrospective study (current N = 187 individuals) assessing participants' reports of a recent stressor and good news, Asians perceived instrumental support (for stressors and good news) and implicit support (for good news) behaviors as more loving compared to Caucasians. Asians and Caucasians did not differ in how much they perceived emotional and explicit support behaviors as loving. Perceiving certain support behaviors as more loving promoted individuals' well-being. The third talk (Zhou) conceptualizes love as the simultaneous presence of shared positive affect, nonverbal synchrony, and biological synchrony (i.e., positivity resonance). Participants (N = 416 individuals) were randomly assigned participants to either of two social connectedness interventions or either of two control groups and then completed a daily diary. The intervention groups showed growth in everyday experiences of positivity resonance, and greater positivity resonance promoted prosociality, implying community-level benefits. Across 8 studies, this symposium offers novel advances to the understanding of love and showcases the benefits of love for relationships, the self, and the community.

KEYWORDS: Close

11:05-12:21 PM

Symposium

Infidelity is a common experience within romantic relationships and is linked with relationship dissolution and reductions in personal health and well-being. This symposium will showcase various facets of infidelity research, including predictors of infidelity, suspicion of infidelity, and experiences of infidelity partners (i.e., the third party). Talks will cover the association between mental health and suspicion of infidelity, links between infidelity and relationship satisfaction changes during the COVID-19 pandemic, strategies for confirming suspicion of infidelity, and relationship trajectories and outcomes for infidelity partners. Close

11:05-12:22 PM

Special

In light of recent events in the United States, please join us in an open discussion about issues of social justice, the IARR’s role in relation to such issues, and pathways forward. Close