Dependency and Frustration Tolerance in Adolescent and Young People's Romantic Relationships: A Latent Profile Analysis.

Using Latent Profile Analysis and Related Approaches in Adolescent Health Research

This prospective, longitudinal investigation examined psychological violence across generations. We examined how parent psychological violence experienced during adolescence influenced the stability of one's own intimate partner psychological violence perpetration across time and how psychological violence is related to harsh parenting in adulthood. Data came from 193 parents and their adolescent who participated from adolescence through adulthood. Parental psychological violence was assessed in early adolescence. Partner violence was assessed in late adolescence, emerging adulthood, and adulthood. Harsh parenting to their offspring was assessed in adulthood. Parent psychological violence in early adolescence was associated with one's own intimate partner psychological violence in late adolescence. Partner psychological violence was stable from emerging adulthood to adulthood. Moreover, parental violence was also related to their own harsh parenting in adulthood. Findings suggest that children exposed to parental psychological violence during adolescence may have greater difficulty developing acceptable behaviors in their own romantic relationships over time, as well as parenting their own child in adulthood. Findings highlight the importance for clinicians and policy makers to develop and utilize effective educational and preventive interventions designed toward not only adolescent behaviors, but also that of the parent. Understanding how the family environment impacts current and long-term functioning is important in helping stop the cycle of violence across generations.

The substantial number of young people in romantic relationships that involve intimate partner violence, a situation deleterious to physical and mental health, has resulted in increased attention to understanding the links between risk factors and course of violence. The current study examined couples' interpersonal stress related to not liking partners' friends and not getting along with parents as contextual factors associated with couples' psychological partner violence and determined whether and when couples' friend and parent stress increased the likelihood of couples' psychological partner violence. A linear latent growth curve modeling approach was used with multiwave measures of psychological partner violence, friend stress, parent stress, and relationship satisfaction obtained from 196 men at risk for delinquency and their women partners over a 12-year period. At the initial assessment, on average, the men were age 21.5 years and the women were age 21 years. Findings indicated that couples experiencing high levels of friend and parent stress were more likely to engage in high levels of psychological partner violence and that increases in couples' friend stress predicted increases in couples' partner violence over time, even when accounting for the couples' relationship satisfaction, marital status, children in the home, and financial strain. Interactive effects were at play when the couples were in their early 20s, with couples being most at risk for increases in psychological partner violence if they experienced both high friend stress and low relationship satisfaction. Couples' friend stress had the greatest effect on psychological partner violence when the couples were in their early to mid 20s when levels of friend stress were high. As the couples reached their 30s, low relationship satisfaction became the leading predictor of couples' psychological partner violence.

Does psychological violence contribute to partner violence research? A historical, conceptual and critical review

A two-generation study: The transmission of attachment and young adults’ depression, anxiety, and social media addiction

Educational and skills-based interventions are often used to prevent relationship and dating violence among young people.

Gender, gender role, and attachment style were used to predict emotional and instrumental dependency in a Basque student sample (N = 602). Psychometrically sound Spanish adaptations of English–language measures of dependency and attachment were created. As predicted, women were more emotionally and instrumentally dependent than men, but the sex differences were mediated by psychological masculinity and femininity. The anxious attachment dimension was correlated with emotional and instrumental dependency, the preoccupied rating with emotional dependency, and the avoidant attachment dimension and fearful rating with instrumental dependency. When the two attachment dimensions and the two gender–role variables were combined to predict dependency, emotional dependency was a function of anxious attachment and femininity; instrumental dependency was a function of anxious and avoidant attachment and low masculinity. Limitations and future directions are discussed.

This study aims to explore the relationship between insecure attachment and emotional dependence in romantic relationships in early adulthood. This quantitative study used convenience sampling method as the sampling process. Participants in this study were early adults in the age range of 18-25 years old who have been and or are in romantic relationships with a total of 150 participants. The measuring instrument used to measure insecure attachment uses the Indonesian version of the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised (ECR-R) measuring instrument and emotional dependence is measured using the Emotional Dependence Questionnaire (EDQ). The results of data analysis show that there is a positive correlation between anxiety attachment and emotional dependence, while avoidant attachment shows a negative correlation to emotional dependence. The findings of these results are expected to provide new insights into the psychological dynamics in romantic relationships, especially in the context of insecure attachment patterns.

Many researchers have found that the key to future adaptations or maladaptations of children is the attachment they form with their parents (Davies & Sturge-Apple, 2007; Marvin & Britner, 2008). Early research on attachment has highlighted the impact of parent-child attachment continuing across life (Bowlby, 1982). Recent research has shown that insecure attachment during childhood impacts young adults’ attachment with their parents and in turn, impacts different aspects of their lives. However, no or limited studies have explored the direct relationship between attachment styles and young adults’ romantic relationships among Maldivian young adults. This study aimed to fill this gap by assessing the relationship between young adult’s parent child attachment, and the quality of romantic relationships among young adults in Higher Education Institutions in the Maldives. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 463 students aged 18 to 28 in higher education institutions in the Maldives. The data were collected using the Perceived Relationship Quality Scale by Fletcher et al. (2000) and the Attachment to Parent/Caregiver Inventory by Hu (2009). The data were analyzed using IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and PLS SEM software. The results showed high levels of avoidant attachment with both mother and father among the participants, which was negatively associated with their current romantic relationship quality. In addition, it also showed an association between mother child anxious attachment, father-child anxious attachment, and the romantic relationship quality of young adults. Hence, a direct connection between insecure attachment styles (avoidant attachment and anxious attachment) and low levels of relationship quality was established.

Intimate partner violence is a problem in women who are refugees but the relationship of this violence to physical health has not been studied well. To identify significant associations between physical health problems and partner violence by type in refugee women. For this cross-sectional study, data were collected from a convenience sample of 238 women attending healthcare centres of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in three Jordanian cities (Amman, Irbid and Zarqa). Victims of violence reported different health problems. However, rates of health problems were higher among victims of psychological partner violence and more health problems had significant associations with psychological violence when compared to physical and sexual partner violence. Furthermore, women's self-rated health status was only significantly associated with psychological partner violence but not with the other types of partner violence. Vulnerability to partner violence is related to life stressors women may encounter. Physical health is a fundamental target for psychological partner violence; evidenced by the resultant wide range of health problems in victims. This association occurs although psychological violence is not associated with health trauma/injury that physical and sexual partner violence usually generate. This conclusion highlights one aspect of the associated harm of psychological partner violence in victims' lives. Empowerment of women socially, economically and psychologically, in collaboration with related community parties, should be an adopted international health policy by the governments. Screening policy for partner violence should be integrated with health and nursing services. Nurses are in a position to facilitate the implementation of health policy. Their role include helping women identify resources of help, develop required skills necessary for dealing with violence and identify their social support network. Social desirability and use of convenience sampling are major limitations of the study.

In this 10-year longitudinal study 150 mother-daughter pairs were recruited to participate in a study examining gender-based abuse across three generations. Forms of gender-based abuse included: child sexual abuse, witnessing intimate partner violence against their mothers, and intimate partner violence or dating violence in adolescence or adulthood. Daughters were interviewed when they were on average 9, 14, and 16 years old. Regression analyses revealed that if the grandmother (G1) was abused by her husband, her daughter (G2) was more likely to be sexually molested in childhood and was also more likely to be in an abusive relationship as an adult. If the mother (G2) was sexually abused as a child her daughter (G3) was at increased risk for child sexual abuse. In turn, child sexual abuse for the daughters related to their reports of dating violence in adolescence. Daughters (G3) who were sexually abused expressed more anxiety about romantic relationships, reflecting early attachment conflicts. Both child sexual abuse and anxious romantic attachment style independently predicted adolescent sexual risk-taking as in having multiple sexual partners or dating older men. These findings demonstrate how informative it is to include multiple forms of gender-based abuse in research and practice to better illuminate complex family dynamics. In addition, the findings support previous empirical work showing the importance of attachment behavior in women who are in abusive relationships, which has unique clinical implications.

Despite legislative advances in Tunisia, intimate partner violence (IPV) remains a widespread issue where cultural norms and systems often reinforce silence and male authority over women. This study aims to explore the characteristics of IPV and assess the emotional abuse, emotional dependency, alexithymia, and self-esteem among female victims. We conducted a cross-sectional observational study, involving 120 female victims of IPV who sought expertise at the Psychiatric Emergency Department in Sfax, Tunisia. The data were collected through individual medical visits using the Emotional Abuse Scale (EAS), the Emotional Dependence Questionnaire (EDQ), the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES). Of the 120 women who agreed to participate in this study, 75.8% were affected by severe emotional violence, 38.3% were emotionally dependent on their spouses, 59.2% were alexithymic, and 83.3% had low self-esteem. The emotional abuse scores were positively correlated with emotional dependency scores (p = 0.026; rho = 0.204). The presence of alexithymia among the victims was significantly correlated with their emotional dependency on their husbands (p = 0.004). Our findings confirm that considering women’s emotional profiles can have important implications for designing both preventive and effective interventions.

The prevalence of social media addiction has increased with the intensive use of technologically-mediated communication in everyday life. Most studies on social media addiction are based on the variable-centered approach with very few taking a person-centered approach. Since only one previous study has investigated the profiles of social media addiction based on a psychopathological model, it is important to bring a complementary view by exploring psychosocial traits associated with the different levels of maladaptive social media use, as well as antecedents of these profiles in terms of sociodemographic variables. To fill this gap, the present study explored social media addiction profiles based on a psychosocial model. The profile indicators were social media addiction, need to belong, anxious attachment, and social media intensity use (SMIU). Data were collected from 705 participants (61% females, age range 18–54 years, Mage = 30.2 years). Latent profile analysis (LPA) showed three distinct profiles: ‘low risk of addiction’ (61.3%), ‘moderate risk of addiction’ (29.6%), and ‘high risk of addiction’ (9.1%). Social anxiety, gender, and age were antecedents of the profiles. These results based on mixture modeling approach are meaningful to the field, bringing a complementary view to the previous findings obtained in a psychopathological framework. The findings could aid practitioners in the development of targeting at-risk social media users, namely social anxious young adult females with an unmet need to belong and anxious attachment, and designing programs to help them to develop rewarding social relationships and healthy social media use.

Discordant and Concordant Substance Use and Daily Partner Violence in Adolescent and Young Adult Relationships With Baseline Dating Violence

Background: Emotional abuse and gaslighting in romantic relationships are increasingly recognized as serious threats to young adults’ mental health, yet limited empirical research has explored their independent and combined effects, particularly within non-Western cultural contexts. Objective: This study aimed to examine the relationships among gaslighting, emotional abuse, and mental well-being in young adults involved in romantic relationships, and to evaluate their predictive effects and potential gender differences. Methods: A cross-sectional correlational design was employed with a sample of university students (n = 204; 108 men, 96 women), aged 18–35, from the University of Management and Technology, Lahore. Participants currently or previously involved in a romantic relationship of at least four months were included. Standardized tools—the Gaslighting Relationship Exposure Inventory, the Emotional Abuse Questionnaire, and the Warwick–Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale—were administered. Ethical approval was obtained from the UMT Ethics Committee in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS v27, employing Pearson correlation, multiple linear regression, and independent t-tests. Results: Emotional abuse significantly predicted reduced mental well-being (β = −0.30, p < .01), while gaslighting, though correlated with both emotional abuse (r = 0.49, p < .01) and mental well-being (r = −0.15, p < .01), was not a significant predictor. No gender differences were observed across variables. Conclusion: Emotional abuse exerts a stronger negative impact on mental well-being than gaslighting, though both are harmful. These findings underscore the need for early psychosocial screening and gender-inclusive interventions targeting emotional abuse in young adult populations.