Poor Relationship Quality Research Articles

Family caregivers' distress responses to daily behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia: The moderating role of relationship quality.

Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) are associated with distress among caregivers of persons with dementia (PWD), but less is known about how relationship quality may buffer this association. This study examines the association between daily BPSD and daily perceived distress among family caregivers and the moderating role of relationship quality. Data were from 173 family caregivers of PWD from the Daily Stress and Health study. Relationship quality was assessed at the baseline interview; then on each of the 8 following consecutive days, caregivers reported frequency of daily BPSD (six domains) and their respective distress (calculated as daily distress sum and daily distress mean scores) through daily evening phone interviews at home. A 2-level multilevel model approach was employed to differentiate within-person (WP) and between-person (BP) effects. Greater daily BPSD occurrence was associated with higher daily distress (sum and mean scores) at WP and BP levels. However, relationship quality moderated the association between daily BPSD occurrence and daily distress sum scores at both WP and BP levels. Caregivers who reported better relationship quality with the PWD had lower levels of daily distress sum scores in response to daily BPSD occurrence, compared to their counterparts with poorer relationship quality. This study revealed that relationship quality attenuated the effect of daily BPSD occurrence on caregivers' distress. Future dementia caregiver education and support programs should consider building relationship quality into the personalized program design to improve caregiver mental health and well-being.

Drugs as Soulmates: The Construction and Validation of a 12-Item Soulmate Scale to Measure Substance Addiction and Loneliness.

Substance users use substances to tackle psychological stress, frustrations, poor social support and poor-quality relationships. Such experience resembles seeking a soulmate for receiving comfort, a sense of security and satisfaction to relieve feelings of loneliness. Against this backdrop, the study aims to develop a Soulmate Scale to measure substance use and loneliness. Data were collected from 507 drug abusers between 18–71 years of age who were receiving drug addiction treatment in Hong Kong. Both exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were conducted. Results show a valid and reliable scale with three factors: psychological release and shelter, staunch and supportive friendship, and spiritual solace and companionship. This study offers additional support for understanding the drug-taking experience of substance users from their perspective. The Scale provides a useful tool to assess the underlying reasons for substance users to persistently take drugs and formulate corresponding intervention plans to achieve drug abstinence.

Relationship quality and mental health during COVID-19 lockdown.

Catastrophes are known to have an impact on relationships as well as on mental health. This study evaluated differences in several mental health and well-being measures according to relationship quality during the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic and related lockdown measures. A cross-sectional online survey was launched four weeks after lockdown measures were implemented in Austria. Relationship quality was measured with the Quality of Marriage Index (QMI), and mental health measures included quality of life (WHO-QOL BREF psychological domain), well-being (WHO-5), depression (PHQ-9), anxiety (GAD-7), stress (PSS-10), and sleep quality (ISI). ANOVAs with Bonferroni-corrected post-hoc tests and Chisquared tests were applied. In all mental health scales, individuals with good relationship quality (n = 543) scored better than individuals with poor relationship quality (n = 190) or without relationship (n = 272). The odds ratios (OR) between the poor and good relationship quality groups were 3.5 for the PHQ-9, 3.4 for the GAD-7, and 2.0 for the ISI. Additionally, individuals without no relationship scored better on all scales than individuals with poor relationship quality (all p-values < .05). Relationship quality was related to mental health during COVID-19. The prevalence of depressive symptoms increased according to relationship quality from 13% up to 35%. Relationship per se was not associated with better mental health, but the quality of the relationship was essential. Compared to no relationship, a good relationship quality was a protective factor whereas a poor relationship quality was a risk factor.

Month-of-Birth Effects on Skills and Skill Formation

We estimate month-of-birth effects on cognitive and noncognitive skills, as well as factors relevant to skill formation. Our estimates indicate that younger students in a given grade cohort have lower cognitive and noncognitive skills. To shed light on the underlying mechanisms, we also examine children's time use and interpersonal relationships. We find evidence of compensatory investment in cognitive skills by younger children, however, they are also more likely to have poor-quality relationships with their classmates and teachers, which may harm the long-term development of noncognitive skills. Our findings on skill formation have implications for efficiency and equity.

Beyond cold feet: Experiences of ending engagements and canceling weddings

The engagement period is a critical window to understand stay–leave decisions because it marks a stage when individuals are moving toward lifelong commitment, but do not have the obligations of legal marriage that make dissolution more difficult. According to Inertia Theory, felt momentum can propel couples through relationship transitions without sufficient consideration of their dedication, which could constrain partners in poor quality relationships. Drawing from this perspective, we examined how individuals reduce relationship momentum and end a marital engagement. We conducted interviews with individuals who made the decision to end their engagements and cancel their weddings ( N = 30). Experiences were analyzed using grounded theory techniques. The core concept we identified, visualizing, consisted of imagining a relational future (or alternative present) that became heightened during the engagement period. Rituals of wedding planning (e.g., trying on a dress and selecting a venue) appear to serve as a catalyst for this process. This cognitive shift prompted individuals to slow relational momentum (e.g., through trial separations and the returning of rings) and reconsider “red flags” and constraints to leaving the relationship. Once participants decided to leave, they described the process of breaking off the engagement and uncoupling from their partners. Family members and friends who assisted in managing the emotional fallout and logistics of ending the engagement (e.g., canceling with vendors and informing guests) were reported as particularly helpful supports. Visualizing married life beyond the wedding may be leveraged to help individuals navigate premarital doubts.

Student Vitality, Teacher Engagement, and Rapport in Studio Music Instruction.

Vitality is the feeling of being alive, vigorous, and energetic, and is an important indicator of overall motivation and wellbeing. Studio music instruction holds rich potential for creating feelings of vitality through close relationships, the potential for developing skills, and a shared endeavor of artistic expression. But they also have the potential to deplete vitality – through controlling teaching, a poor quality relationship, or harsh criticism from the teacher. The purpose of this study was to investigate relationships among student and teacher behavior, rapport, and students’ experiences of subjective vitality in the context of university-level applied performance lessons. Participants were six undergraduate instrumental music majors and their teachers located at universities in the United States and Australia, who were selected because they provided the highest (three participants) and lowest (three participants) scores on a measure of subjective vitality completed immediately following a studio music lesson. A lesson was recorded for each student-teacher participant pair, coded for the frequencies of 35 lesson behaviors, described with a qualitative contextual commentary, and rated for evidence of rapport and physical proximity. Clear differences emerged between the high and low vitality lessons with regard to questioning, feedback, modeling, student performance, and student talk. Teachers of high vitality students spent most or all of the lesson within close proximity to their student, and showed stronger rapport than teachers of low vitality students. The findings suggest that students’ vitality may depend on important differences in styles of teacher-student engagement and the quality of student-teacher relationships.

Disease course, stress, attachment, and mentalization in patients with inflammatory bowel disease

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, are chronic intestinal disorders that requires lifelong treatments. IBD are associated with perceived stress, poor quality of life, and psychopathological disorders. Previous studies have documented that psychological distress and depression are risk factors for IBD. On the other hand, IBD itself might be a source of psychological stress. IBD negatively affect individuals’ daily social interactions and close interpersonal relationships. Despite IBD's detrimental effects on quality of life, patients’ adherence to medicaments remains low, increasing the risk of relapses and the subsequent worsening of the clinical condition.Drawing on attachment and mentalization theories, we aim to contribute to understanding of the mechanisms involved in the poor quality of social relationships and the tendency for medication non-adherence in patients with IBD. We hypothesize a bidirectional link between IBD and attachment style and related mentalization abilities, where an individual’s attachment style refers to a complex and characteristic pattern of relating to self and others and mentalization refers to the process of inferring one’s own and others’ mental and physical states. This hypothesized link between IBD and insecure attachment style, mediated by reduced mentalizing abilities, may be a risk factor for developing both IBD-related psychological disorders and reduced medication adherence, which could then lead to worsening disease management and prognoses for the disease course. The medication nonadherence is here considered as both an outcome and a risk factor of this vicious circle.We share the view that preventing the worsening of the IBD condition and promoting patients’ medication adherence would be possible by considering the circular relationship between IBD, attachment, and mentalization and by promoting reflective functioning in patients with IBD, from the onset of the disease.

Stressful life events and adolescent well-being: The role of parent and peer relationships.

It is well established that stressful life events (e.g., family bereavements or moving to a new country) are damaging to psychological health and well-being. Indeed, social relationships are often noted as an important factor that can influence well-being and buffer the negative effects of stress. However, the quality and source of these relationships, particularly for adolescents, are often overlooked. Using the Growing Up in Ireland Survey, a population-based study of 13-year-old Irish adolescents (N = 7,525; 51.1% female), the current study examines the quality of both parent and peer relationships as potential mechanisms explaining the association between stressful life events and psychological well-being indices in adolescents. As expected, results showed that stressful life events negatively impacted the psychological well-being of adolescents. Parallel mediation analyses indicated that both parent and peer relationship quality mediated this association. Further exploratory analyses found that for girls, greater numbers of stressful life events were associated with poorer quality relationships with both their parents and peers, and in turn, these were linked to lower levels of psychological well-being. For boys, this effect was only evident for parental relationship quality, but not peers. The implication of these findings for adolescent's psychological well-being, particularly for girls, is discussed.

A Close and Supportive Interparental Bond During Pregnancy Predicts Greater Decline in Sexual Activity From Pregnancy to Postpartum: Applying an Evolutionary Perspective.

A common topic for advice given to parents after childbirth – both from relationship experts and popular media – is how to “bounce back” to one’s pre-pregnancy sexuality, with warnings that postpartum declines in sexual frequency will take a serious toll on one’s relationship. However, these admonishments may not accurately reflect the ways in which the unique reproductive context of pregnancy and the postpartum transition alter associations between sexual frequency and relationship quality. Evolutionary perspectives on reproductive strategies would suggest that in the postpartum context, decreased sexual activity would help target parental investment in the current offspring (rather than creating new offspring); however, if the parental relationship is lacking in intimacy and support, continued sexual activity may help seal the cracks in the bond. We tested this theory in a longitudinal dyadic study of changes in relationship quality and sexual frequency from pregnancy to 6 months postpartum among 159 heterosexual couples. We found that across three different measures of relationship quality taken from interviews and behavioral observation of couple interactions, higher relationship quality (i.e., greater support, intimacy, and responsiveness) predicted greater decline in sexual frequency whereas sexual frequency remained relatively stable in lower quality relationships. These findings suggest that, during the postpartum transition, decreased sexual frequency may not be a reliable signal of poor relationship quality.

OBSERVING SUPPORT INTERACTIONS BETWEEN PARENTS AND CHILDREN IN ADVANCED AGE

Studies on support exchanges in older parent-child dyads have so far not used observational approaches. Rather, they have mostly relied on self-report/questionnaire approaches. However, support exchanges represent a dyadic phenomenon that goes beyond individual perspectives on the quality of support; thus, self-reports offer only a part of the picture and are subject to bias (e.g., memory bias). In contrast, observations are better suited to capture specific support behaviors and allow for studying the dyad “in action.” Our study purpose was to examine mutual support during interactions between older adults and their children, and to investigate the links of support behaviors to relationship quality and health. Fifty dyads living in Switzerland, composed of individuals aged 70 and over and the child involved in their care, participated in a standardized interaction task: The parent described and discussed a personally challenging situation with the child for ten minutes; then roles were reversed. The videotaped interaction was analyzed using the Social Support Behavior Code Adapted for Elders (Meystre et al., submitted). Relationship quality and subjective health were assessed via standardized questionnaires. Various types of support were observed, ranging from positive to negative. Children provided more informational support than parents. Dyads with poor relationship quality showed more informational support. Better participant health was associated with fewer negative behaviors. In sum, observing the dyads in real time offered unique insights into interacting patterns of support among older parents and their children, and enabled us to capture the nature of their relationship above and beyond individual self-reports.

Dark Triad traits and perceived quality of alternative partners

Those high on Dark Triad traits (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy) report poor quality romantic relationships and greater susceptibility to infidelity. The present study investigated the relationship between Dark Triad traits and the perceived quality of alternative partners. Heterosexual women (NȂ=Ȃ379) aged 17–63 years (M = 26.93, SD = 10.78) completed the NPI-16, Mach IV, Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale, and Quality of Alternatives Scale. A multiple hierarchical regression revealed that the Dark Triad traits predicted perceived quality of alternatives when controlling for participant age and relationship length. Narcissism and Machiavellianism were the only significant individual predictors, such that women high on narcissism or Machiavellianism were more likely to acknowledge the availability of alternative relationships. Increased awareness of alternative mates may, in part, contribute to previously reported associations between these traits, poor quality relationships, and infidelity.

Understanding how low-income communities gain access to healthcare services: A qualitative study in São Paulo, Brazil

IntroductionAccessibility to healthcare is recognised as an important component in the uptake of healthcare. Accessibility gaps may underpin health inequalities and the burden often born by socially disadvantaged groups who experience higher levels of disease and have shorter lives. This study aims to identify, from the perspective of people on low incomes, the determinants of their ease of access to healthcare, and how this impacts upon short- and long-term mobility strategies for activity participation. MethodsThe research takes a qualitative approach, guided by a conceptual framework that combines transport disadvantage and social exclusion perspectives with human needs theories. We employed focus groups to gather views and experiences on healthcare accessibility from 114 residents of 12 low-income neighbourhoods in São Paulo (Brazil). ResultsFive emergent themes encompass the main barriers to healthcare accessibility, namely: proximity and remoteness, walking safety, public transport services, personal security issues, and quality of healthcare services. Participants explained the difficulties of gaining access to healthcare beyond factors such as location and distance. A range of inter-related, multidimensional factors shapes the accessibility of the poor to healthcare in São Paulo. Even under severe financial and time constraints, people may travel longer to access facilities perceived as adequate to respond to their health needs. Participants’ narratives suggest a strong effect of healthcare inadequacies, such as the poor quality of the patient-provider relationship and the long times needed to receive medical care, on mobility strategies. ConclusionsWithin policy setting agendas in Brazil, “objective” assessments of people's ability to access healthcare tend to over-emphasise the spatial separation between patients' home locations and the physical location of healthcare services, most notably in terms of travel time or distance. Tackling health inequalities requires planners to design integrated transport and health policies taking into consideration the adequacy and quality of both transport and healthcare services.

Antecedents of brand hate in the fast food industry

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of brand hate in detail which is the extreme negative emotion toward brands, by giving a comprehensive explanation concerning how brand hate evolves in consumers. More specifically, antecedents of brand hate are empirically assessed in this study.Design/methodology/approachThis study used primary data from 250 fast food brand consumers in Pakistan. Multiple regression analysis in SPSS was used to test the hypotheses related to the antecedents of brand hate.FindingsResults indicate that brand hate is instigated by five antecedents, which are negative past experience, symbolic incongruity, poor relationship quality, ideological incompatibility and rumor, with rumor being the biggest instigator.Originality/valueAntecedents of brand hate are assessed theoretically and empirically in this study which helps in understanding the true form of brand hate. More specifically, poor relationship quality and rumor are presented as the antecedents of brand hate according to the recommendations of the theory of hate.

Psychosocial stress and bone loss among postmenopausal women: results from the Women’s Health Initiative

BackgroundBone loss is a major public health concern with large proportions of older women experiencing osteoporotic fractures. Previous research has established a relationship between psychosocial stressors and fractures. However, few...

Self-silencing in school: failures in student autonomy and teacher-student relatedness

Self-silencing (Jack in Silencing the self: women and depression, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1991; Jack and Ali, in: Jack, Ali (eds) Silencing the self across cultures: depression and gender in the social world, Oxford University Press, New York, 2010), the tendency to silence one’s self-expressions in service of maintaining important relationships, has been studied primarily as a risk factor for depression in women. In this study, self-silencing in teacher-student relationships was assessed in a sample of college students (n = 142) and 4th-graders (n = 52), using a new scale adapted from Jack and Dill’s (Psychol Women Q 16:97–106, 1992) Silencing the Self scale. Self-silencing in school was shown to be related to several negative academic outcomes in both samples, including low behavioral engagement, negative emotions (i.e., sadness, anxiety, anger), and maladaptive strategies for coping with failure. The results of path analyses suggested that self-silencing relates to poor academic outcomes through its association with reduced student autonomy and poor teacher-student relationship quality. Based on these results, a reinterpretation of self-silencing through the perspective of self-determination theory (Ryan and Deci in Self-determination theory: basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness. The Guilford Press, New York, 2017) is presented.

Air Quality Index for Ciudad Juárez based on a Community Collaboration Scheme

There is a global concern for the increase in health costs in a poor air quality relationship especially in urban environments. In Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, although it has a discontinuous monitoring of air quality, there is no air quality program that includes thresholds and contingencies for poor quality. This article proposes an environmental quality index based on the algorithms of other entities and climatic variables typical of the characteristics of the city of Ciudad Juárez and El Paso. The system is in the way of integrating the measurements of gases such as Ozone, CO and PM2.5 as well as the meteorological variables of humidity, wind speed and temperature. To obtain the above, it is necessary to strategically install sensors in different areas of the city, extract their information, store them in databases, analyze the data and create a citizen warning mechanism when the value of the index can harm the health of people. Citizen participation is a fundamental element in the development of the project. This article shows the development of the environmental quality index for Ciudad Juárez and the results of the project.

Parental Disengagement in Childhood and Adolescent Male Gun Carrying.

To examine the association between parental disengagement in childhood and adolescent gun carrying and determine whether this association is accounted for by externalizing problems and affiliation with delinquent peers during early adolescence. The sample included 503 boys (55.7% African American, 40.6% white, 3.7% other) recruited from first-grade classrooms in Pittsburgh public schools. Multi-informant assessments were conducted regularly (semiannually then annually) from approximately ages 7.5 to 20 years. Latent factors were constructed by using parent-reported parental disengagement (ie, poor parental involvement, poor parent-son communication, poor parent-son relationship quality) collected from ages 7.5 to 10 years, youth-reported peer delinquency from ages 10.5 to 13 years, and teacher-reported externalizing problems from ages 10.5 to 13 years. The outcome was youth-reported gun carrying from ages 14 to 20 years. Twenty percent of individuals sampled reported carrying a gun during adolescence. Childhood parental disengagement was significantly associated with adolescent gun carrying (β = .22; 95% confidence interval: 0.08 to 0.36). Furthermore, the association between parental disengagement and gun carrying was partially mediated through peer delinquency and externalizing problems during early adolescence. The 2 indirect paths accounted for ∼29% of the total effect of parental disengagement. Boys exposed to poorer parental engagement during childhood are more likely to affiliate with delinquent peers and exhibit externalizing problems during early adolescence, which (in turn) increases their risk of carrying a firearm in later adolescence. This suggests that gun violence prevention efforts with children should work to enhance aspects of parental engagement.

Psychosocial Intervention in Couples Coping with Dementia Led by a Psychotherapist and a Social Worker: The DYADEM Trial.

Psychosocial interventions may improve the quality of life of both people with dementia (PWD) and their family caregivers. However, research is inconclusive and focused primarily on the quality of life of either the PWD or the caregiver, rather than on both. Our aim was to evaluate the effect of couple-based interdisciplinary psychosocial intervention in patients with mild-to-moderate dementia on quality of life of both partners. 108 community-dwelling PWD and their caregiving partners were enrolled in this pragmatic randomized controlled trial. The intervention consisted of 7 sessions at participants' homes led by a psychotherapist and a social worker. Quality of life was evaluated at baseline, one, and six-month follow-up for patients and their partners. Mixed effects models have been applied. Intervention allocation was not associated with an improvement in quality of life in either the patients or their partners. In subgroup analyses, intervention was negatively associated with caregiver performance. However, this was only present in those reporting poor relationship quality. Patients in the intervention group who reported good relationship quality were found to have decreased cognitive decline. A couple-based interdisciplinary intervention did not yield improvements in quality of life. This may be the result of a bias caused by an increased awareness due to the intervention. Relationship quality and support in the long-term should be considered when designing and implementing interventions for PWD and their partners.

Childhood adversity and depressive symptoms among middle-aged and older Chinese: results from China health and retirement longitudinal study

Objectives: A number of studies have established the link between childhood adversity (CA) and depression across the life span. This association can be culturally specific, and it remains unclear whether and how different aspects of CA affect depressive symptoms in later life in non-Western societies.Method: Data were from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study in 2011, 2013, 2014 (Life Event History survey) and 2015 (N = 13,710). Depressive symptoms were measured repeatedly in 2011, 2013, and 2015 using the ten-item Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D-10). CA was assessed in 2014 by parental physical abuse, maternal emotional neglect, early parental death, parental mental health problems, poor quality of parental relationship, and childhood socioeconomic disadvantage. Multilevel linear models were used to analyse the data.Results: Parental physical abuse was associated with 0.51 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.28, 0.74) and 0.59 (95% CI: 0.31, 0.88) higher CES-D-10 scores compared to those without such abuse experience for men and women, respectively. Emotional neglect predicted 0.30 (95% CI: 0.07, 0.51) and 0.33 (95% CI: 0.08, 0.58) higher CES-D-10 scores for men and women. Elevated CES-D-10 scores were also found among men and women whose parents had poor mental health and poor relationship, and those who experienced food inadequacy (men: 0.78, 95% CI: 0.54, 1.01; women: 1.15, 95% CI: 0.90, 1.41). Early parental death nevertheless was not associated with CES-D-10 scores.Conclusion: CA exerts long-term detrimental effects on mental health in mid- and late-life among Chinese adults. The findings are consistent with those from Western societies, except for early parental death.

The long-term effects of childhood traumatic brain injury on adulthood relationship quality

ABSTRACTPrimary Objective: To investigated the long-term effect of childhood Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) on adulthood Relationship Quality (RQ), examining injury severity, age of injury, and markers of prefrontal cortex (PFC) functioning, apathy, disinhibition, and executive dysfunction.Research Design: Longitudinal, between-subjects, cross-sectional design using retrospective and current data.Methods and Procedures: Participants (N = 169; 61 mild TBI (mTBI); 65 moderate to severe TBI (MSTBI); 43 orthopaedic injury (OI); Injury age: 1–17 years; Testing age: 18–31 years) completed a structured interview regarding their injury, demographic characteristics and RQ, the National Adults Reading Test, and Frontal Systems Behaviour Scale. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS 25.Main Outcomes and Results: Adults who had experienced childhood TBI had significantly poorer RQ than adults who had experienced childhood OI. Severity of TBI did not impact adulthood RQ. Earlier age of injury predicted reduced adulthood RQ in the MSTBI group. Greater PFC dysfunction predicted poorer RQ in adults with a history of childhood TBI. While elevated levels of apathy, disinhibition, and executive dysfunction were associated with poorer RQ, no individual marker had predictive value.Conclusion: Experiencing a childhood TBI can have a long-term negative influence on adulthood RQ. Such RQ deficits can underpin reduced life satisfaction and increased health issues.