Intimate Relationships Research Articles

Attitudes towards people with disabilities in Greenland and the need for empowered changes

ABSTRACT In order to understanding public attitudes towards people with disabilities in Greenland and analyse how to facilitate further empowerment, a national survey was produced in 2020. The results from the survey showed a clear difference in attitudes towards people with either physical or mental disabilities. The survey ‘Holdninger til Handicap’ (attitudes towards disabilities), which was carried out by Tilioq (the spokesperson institution for people with disabilities) and Ilisimatusarfik Centre for Arctic Welfare, included almost 1,000 responses. Respondents had a more positive view of people with physical disabilities than those with mental disabilities. Furthermore, the survey highlights a prejudice among respondents in relation to dating or having intimate relationships with a person with a disability or mental disability. Despite the respondents’ divided view of having an intimate relationship with people with disabilities, there was more openness to accepting people with a physical disability in a position of power (e.g. politicians or managers). However, the respondents were not willing to accept people with mental disabilities in positions of power. The study in Greenland is the first to explore barriers and attitudes towards people with disabilities in non-intimate and intimate social relationships and power relationships. The study provided knowledge to support decision-makers and NGOs in informing society in general about physical and mental disabilities and the rights of disabled people in Greenland in relation to empowerment and further inclusion.

An Exploration of Common Dyadic Coping Strategies: A Perspective from Pakistani Couples Living with Chronic Conditions.

This qualitative study was conducted to explore the common dyadic coping (DC) efforts of married couples, with a chronically ill partner. The sample for the study consisted of twelve couples chosen from Gujrat, Pakistan. The semi-structured interviews were conducted with the help of aninterview guide and analyzed using thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006). The following four major themes were emerged: "common problem-focused DC," "common emotion-focused DC," "common religious DC," and "combined pattern of intimate relationships." The findings indicated that partners are not preferring relational coping resources for problem- and emotion-focused DC. However, the majority of couples participate in religious DC process in a complementary way to cope with stressful situation in the result of chronic illness. The study also indicated various indigenous factors, for example, socioeconomic status, family culture, lack of physical resource, and religious standpoints contributing in the lack of connectivity and sexual intimacy. To conclude, the results revealed that future research is required to investigate the patient and partner's relationship in greater depth, focusing on above-mentioned contextual factors.

Learning in the Intimacy of the Guru-Disciple Relationship

Our article has two aims: first, to track the ethos of learning and the importance of the guru–disciple relationship in the Amma movement, and secondly, to explore the ways in which one Finnish disciple frames her life though this special relationship. The narrative of the disciple becomes especially interesting in that she is a long-term devotee from Finland who has a background in formal academic learning and works in a socially highly valued and demanding profession – and yet has chosen to invest a considerable amount of time and energy to spirituality and committed herself to a close and intimate guru–disciple relationship that guides her personal and work life as well as her overall understanding of learning. Our case study, drawing especially on such materials as Amma’s public discourse and one extensive individual narrative, complemented by ethnographical observations in the ashram in India, shows how pervasive the language and ethos of learning can be in a spiritual context, and what the intimacy of the teacher–student relationship may provide to highly educated individuals in contemporary largely secular Western society.

Navigating legal protections for cohabiting and economic relationships: can the market/home dichotomy guide us?

ABSTRACT Many Western jurisdictions take a split approach to protecting the economically vulnerable party in private relationships. In the family sphere, many jurisdictions are reluctant to intervene in intimate partner relationships, particularly outside the marital context. This lack of legal protection often leaves the economically vulnerable partner in a precarious financial position at the end of the relationship. By contrast, legal protections for vulnerable parties are much more common in the economic sphere. This article explores this split approach to protecting the vulnerable partner in private relationships through the lens of the market/home dichotomy. It focuses on the Belgian regulation for unmarried cohabiting partners on the one hand, and for tenants, consumers, and employees on the other hand. The article concludes that the dichotomy has value as an explanatory framework for the divergent norms of cohabiting and economic relationships, but that it is most useful as a heuristic framework for challenging the ideologies that inspire the market and the family. Incorporating the viewpoint of non-traditional families only adds to that conclusion.

“I Don’t Really Have Many”: Student Parents Navigating Social Supports

Drawing on the social support hypothesis, this paper examines social supports available to a sample of student parents in a small city in Southern Ontario and how they experienced and valued those supports. Our wider research project investigated the experiences of young student parents enrolled in an alternative high school, particularly looking at the effectiveness of a newly introduced mentorship program. Following protocols approved by our university’s Research Ethics Board, we conducted up to three qualitative, semi-structured, one-on-one interviews with 11 female student parents before, during, and after the summer closure of their high school program (29 interviews in total), most of whom were working-class, white, and heterosexual. In this study, we explore three questions: (1) what challenges do student parents experience in their daily lives; (2) when and where do student parents receive supports, and what form do these supports take; and (3) how do student parents perceive and value these supports? Using thematic analysis, we identified that participants experienced daily challenges due to a lack of mental health supports, adequate housing, childcare, and time. Six spheres of social support were shared by most of our participants: friendships, family members, intimate relationships, relationship with child/ren, mentorship, and program support. These spheres provided a variety of the three types of support distinguished by the social support hypothesis (i.e., emotional/social, tangible, and informational). Implications for the design of programs aiming to meaningfully support the well-being of student parents are discussed. 

Dating Apps and Shifting Sexual Subjectivities of Men Seeking Men Online

AbstractLeading theories of the recent history of sexuality have pointed to trends toward detraditionalization and precarity in intimate relations, but also to democratization and innovation. This study grounded in 79 qualitative interviews with men seeking men online considers their experiences in light of these theories. The rise of dating apps has generated sexual fields that have shaped the sexual subjectivities of the current era in multiple ways. The narratives of study participants show much more than the hook-up culture that dating apps are best known for. They speak to experiences of superficiality, unmet expectations, and sometimes bruising intersections with hierarchies defined by age, race, body type, gender expression, and serostatus. Yet at the same time, they show a strong aspiration to sociability, social network building, and reach for a language of affiliation beyond the kin and friendship terms of the larger society. Generational comparisons indicate the shifting sexual subjectivities that dating apps have shaped by constituting virtual sexual fields.

What Drives Mating Effort: Fear of Singlehood, Relationship Status, and Self-Esteem

Abstract Purpose Attracting and maintaining a romantic partner requires considerable effort. In the current study, we aimed to test the hypothesis that fear of singlehood is a primary factor driving individuals to allocate scarce resources in the mating domain. Methods We conducted a close-ended survey with a sample of 990 Greek and Turkish-speaking participants. Results We found that that a stronger fear of singlehood was associated with higher mating effort. Moreover, voluntarily single participants experienced lower fear of singlehood compared to other categories of singles and individuals in intimate relationships. Additionally, higher self-esteem was associated with lower fear of singlehood. We also identified a significant indirect effect of relationship status and self-esteem on mating effort through fear of singlehood. Specifically, involuntarily single individuals tended to exert more mating effort due to heightened fear of singlehood compared to those in other relationship status categories. Furthermore, higher self-esteem was associated with reduced mating effort, as it was associated with lower fear of singlehood. These findings held true across both the Greek and Turkish samples. Conclusion Relationship status and self-esteem play a role in mating effort through fear of singlehood.

The effect of student-perceived teacher support on math anxiety: chain mediation of teacher–student relationship and math self-efficacy

IntroductionThis study investigates the mechanisms linking students’ perceived teacher support with math anxiety, focusing on the mediating roles of the teacher–student relationship and mathematics self-efficacy.MethodsThe research was conducted with 401 fifth-grade students in China, utilizing scales for Students’ Perceived Teacher Support, Teacher–Student Relationship, Math Self-Efficacy, and Math Anxiety.ResultsFindings revealed that student-perceived math teacher support, teacher–student relationship, and math self-efficacy were all significantly negatively correlated with math anxiety. It was notably found that student-perceived math teacher support influenced math anxiety through the chain mediation of teacher–student relationship and math self-efficacy. Additionally, the effect of students’ perceived emotional support from math teachers on math anxiety, mediated by teacher–student relationship intimacy, was significant only among male students.DiscussionThese results underscore the importance of fostering positive teacher–student interactions and enhancing self-efficacy to reduce math anxiety among primary school students. The gender-specific findings regarding emotional support and relationship intimacy highlight the need for tailored strategies in addressing math anxiety.

Genetic and subjective sensitivity, relationship dynamics, and psychological distress in couples.

Positive and negative aspects of intimate relationships influence mental health and well-being in couples. According to the environmental sensitivity framework, individuals differ in how strongly they are affected by their environment, with some individuals being more or less sensitive to both negative and positive experiences. The present study examined the longitudinal associations between positive and negative relationship dynamics, including marital satisfaction, positive bonding, and negative communication, and psychological distress as well as the extent to which individual differences in genetic and subjective measures of environmental sensitivity moderated the association between relationship dynamics and psychological distress in a sample of couples in the U.S. Army (n = 238 individuals representing 152 unique couples). Sensitivity was measured by self-report and a polygenic score derived from previous genome-wide association study results. Separate three-level multilevel models were conducted for each relationship dynamic and sensitivity variable. Only for subjective (i.e., self-reported) sensitivity did significant cross-level interactions emerge in predicting psychological distress, whereas no such interactions were found for genetic (i.e., polygenic score) sensitivity. Specifically, lower marital satisfaction and positive bonding were associated with higher psychological distress among subjectively highly sensitive individuals, and higher negative communication was associated with higher psychological distress among subjectively highly sensitive individuals. Findings suggest that both low positive and high negative relationship dynamics may have a greater effect on psychological distress among highly sensitive individuals, which may help to inform tailored intervention to meet the unique needs of couples. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Love burnout: young women, mobile phones, and delayed marriage in Yaoundé, Cameroon

AbstractThis article examines how work towards the promise of love marriage comes to be exhausted. It focuses on young urban women living in Yaoundé, Cameroon, trying to ‘catch’ a husband using digital technologies in which photographs figure prominently. Focusing on the visual production of dating profiles, I show how mobile phones place young women at the centre of their own husband‐catching pursuits. Through digital actions, these young women produce the promise of love marriage, but at the same time their actions require increased volumes of emotional work. As phones constantly compel young women to intensify their husband‐catching efforts and amplify the promise of love marriage, they rarely bring the desired results. Thus, young women, burdened by the emotional work necessary to sustain this promise, experience a form of love burnout, suspend their actions, and delay marriage. In highlighting the emotional laboriousness of intimate relations in technologically mediated worlds, this article draws out the limitations of the way in which the promise of love marriage is circulated and points to how neoliberal economies of affect may be temporarily suspended.

Reproductive coercion and abuse in intimate relationships: Women's perceptions of perpetrator motivations.

Reproductive coercion and abuse is a hidden and poorly recognised form of violence against women. It refers broadly to behaviours that interfere with or undermine a person's reproductive autonomy, specifically to promote or prevent pregnancy. Reproductive coercion and abuse can involve physical, sexual, financial or psychological abuse in order to achieve these aims, and is overwhelmingly perpetrated by men against women. As an emerging field of scholarship, conceptual understanding of reproductive coercion and abuse is still in its infancy; however, it is often described as being linked to coercive control. In this article, we seek to highlight the complexity of this relationship through qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews with 30 victim/survivors in Australia recruited from the community, focusing on their perceptions of the perpetrator's motivations. We developed four themes from our analysis: 1) His needs came first; 2) The illusion of a perfect father; 3) Creating a weapon of control; and 4) My body was his. Perceived perpetrator motivations ranged from entitlement and self-interest to a deep desire for domination and entrapment. Pregnancy preventing behaviour was more likely to be linked with entitlement and self-interest, whereas pregnancy promoting behaviour tended to be described by participants in relationships where there was a broader pattern of ongoing control and entrapment. Thus, we suggest that coercive control is a motivating factor for some, but not all men who perpetrate reproductive coercion and abuse. A greater understanding perpetrator motivations may be important for practitioners, particularly those working in sexual and reproductive health services, since it could be relevant to women's level of risk for coercive controlling behaviour or more extreme forms of physical or sexual violence.

Intimacy and industry: the multiple heterosexual intimacies shaping cycle rickshaw men’s labor and migration in India

ABSTRACT Indian men who migrated circularly from their village homes to Delhi to pedal cycle rickshaws for work practiced intimate relationships with their wives, sex workers, and middle-class female customers. While the intimacy practiced by South Asian men who migrate is, in popular discourse, often framed as deviancy or assumed to be only about physical gratification, this article’s ethnography demonstrates that rickshaw men’s heterosexual/erotic intimacies took multiple forms which were variously characterized by sexual exchange, physical closeness, emotional connections, and/or the denial of gender and sexuality. The intimate practices were informed by intersecting identities and systems of social hierarchy, and it is argued that they had considerable bearing on the men’s migration decisions and labor performance. Although neither intimacy studies nor South Asian labor migration studies are in the habit of analyzing industries like the cycle rickshaw industry through the same lens as, for example, sex work or surrogacy and fertility work, a case is made that such industries that rely on South Asian male migrants’ manual labor and migration may, too, be profitably understood as intimate industries.

No “cookie cutter rules”: best practice for social care staff in supporting autistic adults with relationships and sexuality

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore the support needs surrounding intimate relationships and sexuality of autistic adults accessing funded social care in England. Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured interviews with 15 autistic adults who were accessing funded social care examined their support needs surrounding intimate relationships and sexuality, with subsequent data analysis using reflexive thematic analysis. Findings Four themes were generated: Help at hand, but not too close for comfort, No “cookie-cutter rules”: personalised, inclusive approaches, Playing it safe, not leaving it too late, and Autism-informed education and support. Practical implications The authors produced an online learning module for social care staff in England on best practice in supporting autistic adults without learning disabilities with relationships and sexuality. Originality/value To the best of the authors' knowledge, there has been no other UK-based research published to date on the social care support needs of autistic adults without learning disabilities surrounding relationships, gender and sexuality.

A new data infrastructure for family research and demographic analysis: the German Family Demography Panel Study (FReDA)

Abstract This data brief introduces the German Family Demography Panel Study (FReDA; https://www.freda-panel.de/), a longitudinal, multi-actor database for family research. Major substantive fields addressed in the questionnaire include fertility-related attitudes and behaviours, reproductive health, work-family conflict, couples’ division of labour, gender roles, intimate relationships, separation and divorce, parenting and intergenerational relations, and well-being. FReDA is based on two initially independent samples: the newly drawn FReDA-GGS sample (n_recruitment = 37,777 respondents, aged 18–49 years), constituting the German contribution to the Generations and Gender Surveys (GGS-II), and the FReDA-pairfam sample (n = 6,216 respondents who originally participated in the German Family Panel [pairfam]). Both samples are fully integrated, using one survey instrument consisting of the harmonized GGS-II and pairfam questionnaires. Mainly web-based interviews, complemented by paper-based interviews, are conducted biannually, with one wave being split across two subwaves. We provide a short description of FReDA’s forerunners—the GGS and pairfam—and give an overview of FReDA’s design and content, its baseline wave (collected in 2021) and data releases, as well as a brief outlook on FReDA’s road ahead.

Black Queer Men Transgressing Masculine Normativity

ABSTRACT This qualitative study examined how Black queer men (BQM) in college conceptualized gender and sexuality as they navigated hegemonic and toxic forms of masculinity. Mobilizing queer of color critique, we delve into data from a multi-year critical ethnographic study to unearth the worldmaking practices that BQM engage to dislodge and disrupt the omnipresent gender norms they faced within postsecondary contexts. Our analysis yielded three themes related to BQM experiences with masculinities: (a) perspectives on hegemonic masculinities, (b) queering the politics of intimate and platonic relationships, and (c) institutionalized heteronormativity. We argue that BQM experience insidious forms of heteromasculinity, compulsory heterosexuality, and heterogenderism in college. We conclude by offering implications for higher education research, practice, and policy.

Attachment insecurities, emotion dynamics and stress in intimate relationships during the transition to parenthood

BackgroundIn intimate relationships, which are characterized by emotional interdependence, partners act as attachment figures which serve emotion regulation functions. The experience of emotions as well as the strategies that partners use to regulate them and to respond to relational experiences, especially during stressful periods, differ greatly according to their attachment orientation. An important aspect in emotion dynamics is emotional inertia, which reflects the degree to which a person’s current affective state is resistant to change on a moment-to-moment basis. Inertia has been related to maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, like suppression and rumination, preferentially used by highly anxious and avoidant individuals. The aim of this study is to examine associations between attachment orientations and reports on the experience of positive and negative affect, and their dynamics in daily life across the transition to parenthood.MethodsLongitudinal data from a sample of 152 mixed-gender couples collected across the transition to parenthood was analyzed. We predicted that individuals with a more insecure attachment would report more negative and less positive affect, and that their emotional experience would be more resistant to change over time. We explored effects when participants reported feeling stressed.ResultsThe data suggested that attachment anxiety was associated with less positive and more negative affect and that attachment avoidance was associated with more positive affect. Anxious individuals showed lower emotional inertia and not higher as we expected. Reported stress for anxious and avoidant individuals was significantly associated with more negative but not less positive affect.ConclusionsResults are discussed in the light of their impact on couples during stressful periods. Differences between anxiety and avoidance are found, emphasizing the importance of attachment insecurities on the experience of emotion. Furthermore, our findings on momentary fluctuating affect offer complementary insight into the emotional functioning of individuals with different attachment orientations.

The string and the abyss: an autistic child’s experience of space

ABSTRACT The author presents the issue of the development of internal space, as a function of the relationship of intimacy and synchrony with the caregiver, with the purpose of rendering more tolerable the experience of space outside the body. This paper argues that if this relationship does not stabilise by the end of the first year of life, an absence of representation of an internal space in the unidimensional realm might ensue. The psychoanalytic treatment of autistic children offers windows to certain developmental challenges associated with the representation of both internal and external spaces, the consequent development of dimensionality and its deviations. The case of a young autistic child in the first year of her four-session-a-week analysis is described as an illustration of the child’s struggle to overcome precipitation anxiety around the experience of falling by using her movements in the external space. The child’s autistic defences and deficits at first functioned to keep her in a liquid state, and later denied gravity by means of repetitive movements of her body while exploring the space of the analyst’s room. Her mouth was experienced as a hole to be completely blocked with either food or a pacifier, preventing exchanges with the analyst. Her subsequent compulsive use of strings in activities revealed at the same time the search for links, and her difficulty connecting and establishing communication. At the end, the analyst realised an archaic equivalence between their room and body, as a ‘concrete transference’, revealing the child’s attachment and motivation to explore it, which could be interpreted as an affective link between the analyst and patient.

Design of a randomized clinical trial of brief couple therapy for PTSD augmented with intranasal oxytocin

BackgroundLeveraging military veterans' intimate relationships during treatment has the potential to concurrently improve posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and relationship quality. Cognitive-Behavioral Conjoint Therapy (CBCT) and an 8-session Brief Cognitive-Behavioral Conjoint Therapy (bCBCT) are manualized treatments designed to simultaneously improve PTSD and relationship functioning for couples in which one partner has PTSD. Although efficacious in improving PTSD, the effects of CBCT on relationship satisfaction are small, especially among veterans. Intranasal oxytocin, which targets mechanisms of PTSD and relationship quality, may enhance the efficacy of bCBCT. Method/designThe purpose of this 4-year clinical trial is to compare the outcomes of bCBCT augmented with intranasal oxytocin (bCBCT + OT) versus bCBCT plus placebo (bCBCT + PL). We will also explore potential mechanisms of action: self-report communication skills, empathy, and trust. We will recruit 120 dyads (i.e., veteran with PTSD and their intimate partner) from the [masked for peer review]. Veterans will be administered 40 international units of oxytocin (n = 60) or placebo (n = 60) 30 min before each of 8 bCBCT sessions delivered via telehealth. Clinical and functioning outcomes will be assessed at five timepoints (baseline, mid-treatment, post-treatment, and 3- and 6-month follow-up). ConclusionStudy findings will reveal the efficacy of oxytocin-assisted brief couple therapy for PTSD, which could serve as highly scalable option for couples coping with PTSD, as well as provide preliminary evidence of interpersonal mechanisms of change.ClinicalTrials.govIdentifier:NCT06194851

Psychosocial Sequalae of Sexual Assault in a Sample of Partnered Adults Experiencing Alcohol Use Disorder and Intimate Partner Violence.

Research has shown that experiencing a sexual assault results in significant and lasting effects in many psychosocial domains. However, most studies on the impact of sexual assault examine university samples or the immediate aftermath of the assault, not taking into account the longer-term complexities and contexts of life for many victims. The current study seeks to evaluate the role of lifetime sexual assault history on several psychosocial outcomes in adults who are in intimate relationships that have included both intimate partner violence (IPV) and alcohol use disorder. The study included 100 adult romantic couples who were part of a larger project addressing violence and alcohol use. A majority of participants were Caucasian (74.3%) and female (53%). Participants reported on lifetime sexual assault history, depression, perceived stress, maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation, and perceived intimate relationship functioning. Multilevel analyses controlled for couple interdependence as well as current levels of alcohol use and IPV. Results indicated that the presence/absence of sexual assault was only related to perceived life stress (p = .016), while the total number of lifetime assault experiences was related to depression symptoms (p < .001), perceived life stress (p = .052), maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation (p = .048), and dyadic adjustment (p = .003). These findings underscore the importance of investigating sexual assault outcomes in complex populations, as well as the need for more thorough and regular assessment of sexual assault history. Focusing on empowerment and recovery for sexual assault victims of any age is an important tool to prevent the detrimental outcomes that particularly accompany multiple victimizations.

Navigating Dating Violence: An Intersectional Analysis of Agency Among Young Iranian Immigrant Women

Women's agency in resisting violence and control within intimate relationships manifests in diverse forms, shaped by various social divisions and the socio-cultural contexts in which gender relations evolve. This research explores first-generation young Iranian immigrant women's responses to violence and control within their dating relationships in Canada. Employing an intersectional analysis, it delves into the multifaceted agency demonstrated by these women when confronting dating violence (DV). By contextualizing their agency within Collins's matrix of oppression, the study unveils how systems of oppression interlock to shape their agency. The findings underscored the substantial agency displayed by young women in asserting their self-determination and self-definition. This was evident in their ability to recognize the aggressor's controlling behaviors within their relationships and their outspoken critique of the deeply entrenched patriarchal and gendered norms prevailing in the dominant discourse within the Iranian community. The results underscore the pressing need for culturally sensitive interventions and education programs that move beyond mere DV awareness.