Predictors Of Intimacy Research Articles

“Showmance”: Is performing intimacy associated with feelings of intimacy?

Many actors report, anecdotally, a phenomenon known as a “showmance,” whereby actors develop romantic and/or sexual feelings for acting partners, often in the process of portraying romance onstage together. Because acting partners spend so much time together and may be engaging in several activities that facilitate emotional and physical closeness, it is possible that performing intimacy may influence feelings of actual intimacy. In this study, we aimed to understand the association between the type of onstage relationship that an actor portrays with their acting partner and the degree of intimacy—specifically nurturance and eroticism—that they feel toward this partner. We surveyed actors (amateur and professional) about their past theatrical experiences performing with a romantic acting partner ( romantic/intimate), a non-romantic but still intimate partner ( non-romantic/intimate; e.g., friendship, parent-child), and a non-romantic and non-intimate partner ( non-romantic/non-intimate; e.g., strangers, colleagues). We found that actors reported significantly higher levels of nurturance when recalling romantic and non-romantic/intimate onstage roles, compared to non-romantic/non-intimate roles. We also found that actors reported significantly higher levels of eroticism when recalling romantic onstage roles compared to other roles. Finally, we found that actors reported having experienced a significantly greater proportion of romantic/sexual feelings across their acting careers toward romantic acting partners, compared to other acting partners. The findings of this study provide a better understanding of the bidirectional relationship between behaviour and affect, as well as the predictors of intimacy, through a theatrical lens.

Selected Predictors of the Sense of Intimacy in Relationships of Young Adults.

The main research objective of this study was seeking the predictive role of closeness to parents, attachment, identity style, identity commitment, type of relationship, and having children in intimacy among young women and men. Many studies indicate differences in the level of engagement, communication, and satisfaction in relationships. The study group comprised 227 people, including 114 women (M = 29.99; SD = 4.36), and 113 men (M = 30.00; SD = 4.33). A total of 40% of the subjects were married, and the remaining 60% subjects were in informal relationships; 101 people had children and the other individuals were childless. The following instruments were used: The Miller Social Intimacy Scale, questionnaires to assess closeness and attachment, and the Identity Style Inventory. The significance of the differences and the stepwise regression analysis were performed. The results of the study demonstrated a higher level of intimacy in a relationship with a partner among women than men. The nature of a relationship does not matter to the sense of intimacy. However, closeness to parents during childhood and adolescence, the model of interpersonal relations, and the identity style are predictors of intimacy in a relationship. The study results can be used in creating preventive and educational programs focused on family life and satisfied relationships.

Intimacy in adolescent friendship: The roles of attachment, coherence, and self-disclosure

This study examined attachment, coherence, and self-disclosure as predictors of intimacy in adolescent friendships as well as the extent to which coherence and disclosure mediate the relationship between attachment and intimacy. Gender and grade-level effects on intimacy development were also examined for one hundred ninety-six seventh, eighth and ninth grade students (116 boys and 80 girls). Attachment, coherence, and disclosure strongly predicted intimacy. Self-disclosure and coherence also interacted to influence intimacy where a tendency toward self-disclosure contributes to intimacy to a greater extent at low (when compared to high) levels of coherence. Structural Equation Modeling indicated that only coherence and self-disclosure had a direct effect on intimacy. Avoidant and anxious attachment had an indirect affect on intimacy, and were mediated by coherence and disclosure. Clinical implications of the results are discussed.

Predictors of intimacy in couples' discussions of relationship injuries: An observational study.

The interpersonal process model of intimacy (H. T. Reis & P. Shaver, 1988) proposes that self-disclosure and empathic responding form the basis of intimate interactions. This study examined this model in 102 community couples who completed intimacy measures following videotaped discussions about relationship injuries occurring both within and outside the relationship. Observational assessments of self-disclosure and empathic responding, as well as their respective components, were related to self-reported ratings of post-interaction intimacy. Men's own disclosure and empathic responding predicted their feelings of intimacy, whereas women's intimacy was predicted by their partner's disclosure and empathic responding. Self-disclosure and empathic responding appear to be important behavioral determinants of intimate feelings, but the manner in which they influence intimacy differs according to gender.

Prayer and Relationship with God II: Replication and Extension of the Relational Prayer Model

Using the explanatory framework of the Relational Prayer Model, and samples of 77 young adults (aged 18-34) and 54 middle-aged individuals (aged 35-65) that identified themselves as "Christian, " correlational and regression analyses indicated that chronological age was positively related to frequency of engaging in prayers of adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication, and contemplation (r's=.14-.25). Age was also positively associated with the mystical experience of the holy/sacred during prayer, positive affect during prayer, and perceptions of intimacy with God (r's=.18, .17, .29). The best predictor of intimacy with Godfor young adults was the prayer of thanksgiving while the prayer of adoration was the best predictor for middle-aged adults. Path analyses indicated that age had more of an indirect than a direct effect on relational intimacy with God while frequency of prayer and affect during prayer had direct effects on relational intimacy with God. Several suggestions for future research were offered.

Trauma, coping resources, and family functioning in emergency services personnel: A comparative study

In this study a sample of male, shift-working, operational ambulance officers were compared with a group of male shift-workers from a range of occupations in which exposure to traumatic events was not inherent in the role ( N = 71). Three dimensions of family functioning were examined: intimacy, conflict, and parenting styles, with respect to occupational type (i.e. work-related exposure to trauma) and accounting for personal resources (coping). Personal resources were found to have a significant impact on the dimensions of family functioning. Furthermore, differences emerged in the pattern of coping between the two groups. Ambulance officers demonstrated a more varied repertoire of personal resources than the control group. Social support was found to be the sole predictor of intimacy and conflict levels in the control sample. However, in the ambulance group social support was predictive of intimacy levels, rational-cognitive strategies were predictive of conflict levels, and self-care, social support, and rational-cognitive strategies were all significantly correlated with the three dimensions of family functioning.

Daily experiences of intimacy: A study of couples

AbstractThe present study examined people's working definitions of intimacy, which emerge through daily interactions that are perceived as intimate by the participant. We proposed that working definitions should be reflected in a set of interaction characteristics that prompt relationship partners to label their interaction as intimate. Participants were 113 cohabiting couples who completed questionnaires and kept diaries of their interactions for 1 week. Interaction characteristics explaining perceived intimacy were interaction pleasantness, disclosure of private information, the expression of positive feelings, the perception of being understood by one's partner, and the disclosure of emotion. Further, more satisfied couples perceived their interactions as more intimate and showed stronger associations between interaction intimacy and partner disclosure than did less satisfied couples. Findings indicated that couple characteristics are more salient than person characteristics as predictors of intimacy in interactions.The deepest need of man, then, is the need to overcome his separate‐ness, to leave the prison of his aloneness. The absolute failure to achieve this aim means insanity, because the panic of complete isolation can be overcome only by such a radical withdrawal from the world outside that the feeling of separation disappears–because the world outside, from which one is separated, has disappeared.

Gender Vertigo: American Families in Transition

Gender Vertigo: American Families in Transition. Barbara Risman. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. 1998. 189 pp. ISBN 0-300-07215-5. $25.00 cloth. This work is a mix of feminist gender arguments, extensive literature reviews, and empirical research directed toward eliminating gender inequality. Readers who hold feminist views will find strong arguments and consistent presentations for most of the book. Readers not sympathetic to the uncritical social construction of gender and the easy dismissal of contemporary sociological and psychological research indicating biological underlays for sex differences will be less persuaded. The major propositions are: There is a pervasive gender structure determining gendered behaviors and relationships between the sexes that is social in origin; gendered behavior results from actors meeting situational expectations, not from socialization; elimination of differences and reversal of roles in the family are possible and desirable; and socialization in egalitarian or single-parent families has no detrimental effect on children. Three different data sets and four analyses are presented to test these propositions. The reporting of the quantitative and qualitative research is characterized by careful, honest, and open discussion of the limitations of samples and designs and of the limited amount of variance actually explained. On the other hand, the relationships among theory, hypotheses, and specific evidence, and between results and conclusions are neither clearly explicated nor tightly drawn. The first proposition is not directly tested and is not directly germane to the reported analyses. The second and third are elevated in two studies. In the first, the effect of parental circumstances on mothering by women and men is examined. Mothering is measured by housework (the degree to which the parent takes responsibility for carrying out the various aspects of housework), intimacy with children (sharing emotions and concerns), and affection (spending time with and showing physical affection for children). A clearly nonrandom, recruited volunteer sample is classified in terms of parenting: primary (reluctant single fathers; single mothers; homemakers), shared (both spouses with full-time jobs), and traditional fathers (the comparison group for the preceding). The results are not inconsistent with the general proposition but do not clearly support the uniqueness of the situational explanation. Primary parenting is related to taking responsibility for housework, but is not related to affection nor to intimacy and only for males. Sex is related to both housework and affection, femininity is the best predictor of intimacy. The author argues that these results, combined with other replicating research, lead to the conclusion men can mother as well as women. …

Intimacy as a Variable in Lecture-Format Courses

This study reported ratings of intimacy collected over five semesters from 49,127 students in 2,166 classes. The best predictors of intimacy were instructors' encouragement of discussion, size of class, and observed format; R = .72.