Relationship Quality Variables Research Articles

Relationship Quality, Commitment, and Stability in Long‐Distance Relationships

Using a nationally representative sample (N = 870), the present study compared long-distance romantic relationships to close-proximity romantic relationships in terms of relationship quality, commitment, and stability. Individuals in long-distance relationships generally reported higher levels of relationship quality on a number of relationship quality variables, as well as higher levels of dedication to their relationships and lower levels of feeling trapped (i.e., felt constraint), but were similar to individuals in close-proximity relationships in terms of perceived and material constraints. Although individuals in long-distance relationships perceived a lower likelihood of breaking up with their partner at the initial time point, they were as likely as the individuals in close-proximity relationships to have broken up by the follow-up assessment.

Customer intention to adopt a fee‐based advisory model

PurposeThe paper aims to identify which factors determine (German) retail banking customers' intention to adopt a new remuneration system for financial advice. The new system is a pay‐per‐use advisory model that supersedes existing commission‐based advisory approaches.Design/methodology/approachThe paper develops and tests a comprehensive conceptual framework that includes perceived innovation characteristics, relationship quality, and socio‐demographic and psychographic variables to explain adoption intentions of the new remuneration system. The data come from a survey among clients of a large German retail bank.FindingsPerceived innovation characteristics (i.e. relative advantage) largely determine the intention to adopt the fee‐based advisory model. Consumer and relationship quality variables do not directly impact adoption intentions, but have an indirect effect through influencing perceived innovation characteristics and moderating their relative importance. Relationship quality indicators, such as satisfaction with the current service and trust in the bank or its employees, do not impact customers' intentions to switch to the new remuneration system.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper describes a (case) study using data from a large German retail bank. Future research may investigate the findings' (international) generalizability using different datasets and also assess additional drivers of customers' intentions to adopt a fee‐based advisory model.Practical implicationsThe results suggest that banks should always explain the relative advantage of financial service innovations to their clients, as existing satisfaction and trust levels are not sufficient to ensure adoption.Originality/valueThis is the first paper examining the adoption of a new remuneration system for financial advice in the retail banking industry. By assessing a variety of variables the authors increase understanding of why customers adopt or reject such complex and difficult to evaluate service innovations.

Spirituality, Sacrifice, and Relationship Quality for Expectant Cohabitors

Given negative effects of cohabitation, we examine negative (ambivalence, conflict) and positive (commitment, satisfaction) relationship quality, as explained by perceptions of ease of relational sacrifices and spirituality, for unmarried cohabitors expecting their first child (46 individuals). Controlling for race/ethnicity and education, perceived ease of relational sacrifice was associated with greater satisfaction and lower ambivalence and conflict, whereas spirituality was not associated with any of the relationship quality variables. Examined together, greater ease of relational sacrifice and higher spirituality were associated with greater commitment and satisfaction and lower ambivalence and conflict. Given that many studies of cohabitation focus on demographic factors and that many studies of spirituality focus on married couples, the current study expands knowledge regarding relationship quality for nontraditional couples.

Mentalization and Relationships With Parents as Predictors of Eating Disordered Behavior

Our study postulated that deficient mentalization abilities and maladaptive relationships with parents may be risk factors in the genesis of eating disorder (ED). The study examined 34 female inpatients with anorexia nervosa-binging/purging type and 35 matched non-ED controls. Data indicated that anorexia nervosa-binging/purging type patients presented significantly lower mentalization levels and reported significantly lower quality of current relationships with their parents, compared with non-ED controls. The combination of the mentalization and relationship quality variables showed an additive effect for some ED-related symptoms but not others. Moreover, high mentalization reduced ED symptomatology even if relationship quality with parents was deficient. Findings supported the role of low mentalization as a risk factor, and of high mentalization as a protective factor, in the formation of ED.

College students' self-report of psychosocial factors in reactive forms of relational and physical aggression

This cross-sectional self-report study examined reactive physical aggression and reactive relational aggression as they relate to psychological distress, social behavior, and relationship quality in college students. A total of 329, primarily freshman year, college students participated. Results revealed statistically significant gender differences in the two types of aggression, as well as significant correlations between relational and physical aggression and their relation to psychological, social, and relationship quality variables. Exclusivity was uniquely associated with more reactive relational aggression in females, whereas hostility and depression were uniquely associated with reactive physical aggression in males. These results offer support for unique social and psychological factors in females and males, associated with reactive relational and physical aggression, respectively.

Expressed emotion versus relationship quality variables in the prediction of recurrence in bipolar patients

Background The expressed emotion (EE) construct has predicted clinical outcomes in schizophrenia and depression, but few studies have been conducted with bipolar patients. Moreover, there is a particular dearth of information regarding the prediction of depressive versus manic episodes in bipolar patients. Questions also remain about the utility of EE compared to other variables (perceived criticism, relationship negativity, and chronic strain in close relationships) that more directly evaluate interpersonal stress and about specific predictions of mania or depression. Methods Forty-seven outpatients with bipolar I disorder participated in a 1-year longitudinal study. A close collateral of the patient completed the Five Minute Speech Sample (FMSS) to assess EE, and participants completed perceived criticism and negativity ratings of collaterals. Clinical outcomes and chronic interpersonal stress were assessed by interview at 3-month intervals. Results High EE predicted depressive, but not manic recurrence. Other variables of close interpersonal relationships were not significant predictors of recurrence. Limitations Participants nominated collaterals, and those who did not have such a confidant were excluded. Conclusions The FMSS was sensitive to even mild negativity by the collateral that predicted later depressive episodes. This is the first study to demonstrate polarity-specific effects of EE on the prediction of recurrence in bipolar disorder.

Better physician-patient relationships are associated with higher reported adherence to antiretroviral therapy in patients with HIV infection

There is little evidence to support the widely accepted assertion that better physician-patient relationships result in higher rates of adherence with recommended therapies. To determine whether and which aspects of a better physician-patient relationship are associated with higher rates of adherence with antiretroviral therapies for persons with HIV infection. Cross-sectional analysis. Twenty-two outpatient HIV practices in a metropolitan area. Five hundred fifty-four patients with HIV infection taking antiretroviral medications. We measured adherence using a 4-item self-report scale (alpha= 0.75). We measured core aspects of physician-patient relationships using 6 previously tested scales (general communication, HIV-specific information, participatory decision making, overall satisfaction, willingness to recommend physician, and physician trust; alpha > 0.70 for all) and 1 new scale, adherence dialogue (alpha= 0.92). For adherence dialogue, patients rated their physician at understanding and solving problems with antiretroviral therapy regimens. Mean patient age was 42 years, 15% were female, 73% were white, and 57% reported gay or bisexual sexual contact as their primary HIV risk factor. In multivariable models that accounted for the clustering of patients within physicians' practices, 6 of the 7 physician-patient relationship quality variables were significantly (P < .05) associated with adherence. In all 7 models worse adherence was independently associated (P < .05) with lower age, not believing in the importance of antiretroviral therapy, and worse mental health. This study showed that multiple, mutable dimensions of the physician-patient relationship were associated with medication adherence in persons with HIV infection, suggesting that physician-patient relationship quality is a potentially important point of intervention to improve patients' medication adherence. In addition, our data suggest that it is critical to investigate and incorporate patients' belief systems about antiretroviral therapy into adherence discussions, and to identify and treat mental disorders.

Affect optimization and affect complexity: modes and styles of regulation in adulthood.

In this research, the authors hypothesize that affect regulation involves 2 independent strategies: affect optimization, the tendency to constrain affect to positive values, and affect complexity, the amplification of affect in the search for differentiation and objectivity. Community residents age 15 to 86 were assessed by using 2 convergent measurement domains: 1 based on measures of positive-negative affect and cognitive-affective complexity and 1 based on measures of coping and defense. Both domains yielded the hypothesized affect optimization and affect complexity dimensions. As predicted, the affect optimization dimensions are primarily related to relationship quality variables, and the affect complexity dimensions to socioeconomic status and education. Hence, positive affect and its maximization have different significance in the context of high- or low-affect complexity.

Sibling Relationships in Adulthood: Contact Patterns and Motivations

context of relationship quality variables (emotional closeness, sibling responsibility expectations, and conflict), and individual and family characteristics (sibling age differences, number of siblings, geographic proximity, sex of respondent, sex composition of sibling pair, and whether the respondent has coresident children). Through a two-stage systematic sampling procedure of telephone and mail surveys, a sample of 313 adults aged 25 years or older with living siblings was obtained from a southwest Virginia urban area. The proportion of variance explained by the predictors were significant and substantial for each criterion (dependent variable R2 s of. 65, .37, and .69). Emotional closeness, sibling responsibility expectations, and geographic proximity were most important in explaining dimensions of sibling interaction. These reflect the significance of internal states, cultural expectations and family norms, and practical opportunities for interaction, in matters concerning aspects of the sibling relationship. The sibling role potentially has the longest duration of any human relationship (Cicirelli, 1980b). Over 80% of American children grow up in a family that includes siblings (Mussen, Conger, and Kagan, 1974), and in late adulthood 79% have living siblings (Harris and Associates, 1975). There are cultural expectations that the sibling relationship should be more emotionally close, meaningful, and enduring than other interpersonal associations, as evidenced by denoting a close friend as like a or like a sister. In religious organizations, fraternal orders, or the military, the titles brother or sister connote solidarity and equality (Pollak, 1967). Liebow (1967) documented that impoverished urban blacks, lacking family ties, construct such associations by going for brothers as an attempt to create more stable, dependable relationships. Despite the prevalence of the sibling role in adulthood, and the expectations that sibling relationships be especially stable and emotionally close, the family relationships of siblings in adulthood have received little research attention. Research on family relationships across adulthood typically focuses upon the marital or parent-child pair and much less so upon the role that other kin may play in adult development. Most research on siblings has dealt with childhood or later life. For several decades, social and behavioral scientists have lamented the lack of research on adult sibling relationships (Cicirelli, 1980b; Goetting, 1986; Irish, 1965; Schvaneveldt and Ihinger, 1979; Streib and Beck, 1980). In conDepartment of Family and Human Development, Utah State University, UMC 29, Logan, UT 84322-2905.