Romantic Bonds Research Articles

What's love got to do with jealousy?

Romantic love and jealousy seem antagonistic, but the expression of both emotions have evolutionary functions that can go in the same direction of maintaining a relationship. Considering natural selection designed adaptations to solve the problems surrounding reproduction, then love and romantic jealousy are emotions aimed at staying cooperative for a period of time, where love solves the adaptive challenges of promoting pair bonding, cooperation, and protecting offspring; and jealousy is triggered by a threat or the loss of a valuable cooperative relationship, either on behalf of descendants in need of resources, or a close romantic bond. Consequently, understanding love and romantic jealousy points in the same adaptive functional domain of protecting a romantic pair bond. Specifically, love can be comprehended in two different ways and in regard to jealousy. First, conceiving love as the attachment to significant others one develops throughout lifetime, and secondly, it contemplates affective dependence. Results from a sample of single and committed individuals (n = 332) show the predicted positive correlation between attachment and jealousy as stable traits, consistent with previous literature. In addition, there is a non-significant and low correlation, respectively, between attachment and love as a measure of dependence. Furthermore, in the single participants group, jealousy was associated with love. The discussion emphasizes the need for expanding a functional account of love and jealousy as complementary emotions of our human affective endowment. Finally, it would be informative to study attachment as a relational trait and love as a specific affection for a romantic partner that could be manipulated to elucidate the functional design of jealousy.

Heterosexist discrimination and relational sacrifice of same‐sex couples

AbstractDrawing on the family stress process model and using data from 141 same‐sex couples (N = 282 partners), we examined associations between heterosexist discrimination and relational sacrifices (i.e., willingness and behaviors). We also examined the moderating roles of both partners' internalized homophobia and state‐level liberalism on same‐sex marriage legalization. Actor‐partner interdependence moderation models were conducted. Most of our findings supported hypotheses from the family stress process model. One individual's experiences of greater heterosexist discrimination were related to the partner's higher levels of sacrifice willingness and the individual's own higher frequency of sacrifice behaviors. Such associations emerged (a) among couples living in more liberal states that legalized same‐sex marriage earlier, and (b) when the individual's partner reported lower levels of internalized homophobia. Yet the moderating role of an individual's internalized homophobia was the opposite of our hypothesis. When individuals reported high (versus low) internalized homophobia, individuals' experiences of more discriminative events were related to partners' higher levels of sacrifice willingness. Collectively, our study findings highlight that—when investigating how same‐sex couples forge and maintain romantic bonds—researchers should consider their experiences in the social cultural context of heteronormativity, which includes the focus on discrimination, stigma, and affirmative laws and policies.

Love's a dance you learn as you go: Evidence for interpersonal complementarity during romantic conflict and its association with relationship outcomes

AbstractHigh‐quality romantic bonds benefit people. Extant literature has explored many individual and relational factors that contribute to high‐quality relationships, yet research on how moment‐to‐moment behaviours predict quality is still in the nascent stages. The current study explored interpersonal complementarity on warmth and dominance as one index of moment‐to‐moment interaction dynamics in romantic relationships. The sample included 180 couples (360 individuals), examined at 10‐s intervals, over the course of an 8‐min conflict discussion. Analysis confirmed the predicted pattern of complementarity such that people adjusted their behaviours in response to their partner's behaviour, engaging in similar levels of warmth and opposite levels of dominance (Hypothesis 1). Additionally, results revealed that relationship length was logarithmically related to dominance complementarity, whereas it was not significantly related to warmth complementarity (Hypothesis 2). Finally, dominance and warmth complementarity were differentially associated with numerous relational constructs (Hypothesis 3a/3b).

Differences by sexual orientation in romantic relationship attitudes and skills among adolescents

AbstractObjectiveThis study examined differences by sexual orientation in romantic relationship and marriage attitudes, and relationship skills, among a large, diverse sample of high school youth.BackgroundThe romantic relationships of sexual minority youth have been understudied, particularly factors related to their relationship quality, such as attitudes and skills. Sweeping changes in social and legal equality (e.g., same‐sex marriage) have promoted a paradigm shift in relationship possibilities for sexual minority youth.MethodsData were drawn from the baseline survey of a study of school‐based relationship education for adolescents. Adolescents (N = 979) completed a self‐report survey of their demographics, attitudes regarding romantic relationships and marriage, and their romantic relationship skills. Regression models examined differences by sexual orientation identity in relationship outcomes, controlling for relevant demographics.ResultsSixteen percent of youth identified as sexual minority. Sexual minority youth, relative to heterosexual youth, did not differ in their attitudes regarding qualities of healthy romantic relationships. However, sexual minority youth endorsed less traditional views of marriage and held less traditional expectations of marriage for themselves. They also perceived themselves to have fewer romantic relationship skills than heterosexual youth.ConclusionsToday's sexual minority youth hold less traditional views of marriage as a future for themselves, although legalized same‐sex marriage is now available. They perceived themselves as less skilled in romantic relationships, which are critical in adolescence for social and emotional development. Scientific efforts are needed to understand contributors to these differences and inform evidence‐based practices to support strong, healthy romantic bonds for all teens.

PARENTING ALLIANCE MEASURE: FACTOR STRUCTURE IN AN ARGENTINIAN SAMPLE

Parenting alliance refers to those aspects of a relationship between parents that are related to their shared parental responsibilities and are independent from their romantic bond. It reflects the way each member of the parental dyad appraises the other’s strengths and weaknesses as a parent and their joint parenting work. The Parenting Alliance Measure (PAM) was developed to measure this construct reliably, but with limited representation of minorities in its original sample. The aim of this study was to explore the factor structure and psychometric properties of a Spanish version of the complete PAM in an Argentinian sample. Two hundred twenty-seven parents from Buenos Aires completed the PAM. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was completed based on the Unweighted Least Squares estimation method with oblique promax rotation on a polychoric correlation matrix and parallel analysis as the extraction method. Statistical analysis yielded a two-factor solution retaining 18 of the PAM’s initial 20 items that explained 65% of the variance. Each factor was composed of 9 items. Factor 1 was related to respect towards the other parent and Factor 2 to the quality of their communication and teamwork. These results support the use of the PAM with Argentinian samples.

Bio-behavioral synchrony is a potential mechanism for mate selection in humans

The decision with whom to form a romantic bond is of great importance, yet the biological or behavioral mechanisms underlying this selective process in humans are largely unknown. Classic evolutionary theories of mate selection emphasize immediate and static features such as physical appearance and fertility. However, they do not explain how initial attraction temporally unfolds during an interaction, nor account for mutual physiological or behavioral adaptations that take place when two people become attracted. Instead, recent theories on social bonding emphasize the importance of co-regulation during social interactions (i.e., the social coordination of physiology and behavior between partners), and predict that co-regulation plays a role in bonding with others. In a speed-date experiment of forty-six heterosexual dates, we recorded the naturally occurring patterns of electrodermal activity and behavioral motion in men and women, and calculated their co-regulation during the date. We demonstrate that co-regulation of behavior and physiology is associated with the date outcome: when a man and a woman synchronize their electrodermal activity and dynamically tune their behavior to one another, they are more likely to be romantically and sexually attracted to one another. This study supports the hypothesis that co-regulation of sympathetic and behavioral rhythms between a man and a woman serves as a mechanism that promotes attraction.

“Stay Down”: Moonlight and Negative Affect as an Analytic

“Stay Down”: <i>Moonlight</i> and Negative Affect as an Analytic

Neural and Molecular Contributions to Pathological Jealousy and a Potential Therapeutic Role for Intranasal Oxytocin.

Romantic jealousy, especially in its pathological form, is a significant contributor to both domestic abuse, including partner sexual coercion and even murder, although relatively little research has been conducted on it. Both obsessive and delusional forms have been identified although only the latter is currently recognized as a pathological disorder. Studies in both clinical and healthy populations have identified altered fronto-striatal responsivity as being associated primarily with romantic jealousy and to date drug based treatments have targeted both dopaminergic and serotonergic systems. However, there is increasing interest in a potential role for the neuropeptide oxytocin, which can also modulate dopaminergic and serotonin systems in the brain and has been shown to altered in other psychotic conditions, such as schizophrenia and obsessive compulsive disorder. Recent studies in healthy populations have reported that when oxytocin is administered intranasally it can influence the brain to promote strengthening of romantic bonds and reduce romantic jealousy in both men and women evoked in either imagined or real contexts. These findings indicate a possible therapeutic use of intranasal oxytocin administration in pathological jealousy.

Individual Differences in Romantic Attachment

Abstract. In the 1980s, psychologists extended attachment theory into the domain of adult romantic bonds by proposing that romantic love can be conceptualized as a process of becoming attached ( Hazan &amp; Shaver, 1987 ). From this perspective, individuals differ in two primary attachment dimensions: anxiety, the extent to which they worry about abandonment in their romantic relationships, and avoidance, the extent to which they are uncomfortable with interdependence and closeness. Research suggests that people perceive the rearing environment as a primary cause of people’s romantic attachment styles ( Tillman et al., 2008 ). If it is, family members should be similar in attachment-related anxiety and avoidance. To test this idea, we collected romantic attachment data on 965 US college students and the family members they nominated (205 siblings, 245 mothers, and 182 fathers). The students and family members in our sample showed negligible-to-weak resemblance in attachment-related anxiety and avoidance. Because previous studies have shown substantial similarity between identical twins and weak similarity between fraternal twins in romantic attachment styles, our data reinforce the possibility that nonshared environmental influences (such as individuals’ specific relationship histories) and genetic influences are the primary sources of individual differences in attachment-related anxiety and avoidance.

Intranasal oxytocin may help maintain romantic bonds by decreasing jealousy evoked by either imagined or real partner infidelity.

While romantic jealousy may help to maintain relationships, following partner infidelity and an irretrievable loss of trust it can also promote break-ups. The neuropeptide oxytocin can enhance the maintenance of social bonds and reduce couple conflict, although its influence on jealousy evoked by imagined or real infidelity is unclear. This study aimed to investigate the effects of intranasal oxytocin (24 IU) on romantic jealousy in both males and females in imagined and real contexts. Seventy heterosexual couples participated in this double-blind, placebo-controlled, between-subject design study. Jealousy was firstly quantified in the context of subjects imagining partner infidelity and secondly in a Cyberball game where their partner interacted preferentially with an opposite-sexed rival stranger to simulate partner exclusion, or rejected a neutral stranger but not the partner. Oxytocin primarily decreased jealousy and arousal ratings towards imagined emotional and sexual infidelity by a partner in both sexes. During the Cyberball game, while male and female subjects in both groups subsequently threw the ball least often to the rival stranger, under oxytocin they showed reduced romantic jealousy and arousal ratings for stranger players, particularly the rival one, and reported reduced negative and increased positive feelings while playing the game. Together, our results suggest that oxytocin can reduce the negative emotional impact of jealousy in established romantic partners evoked by imagined or real infidelity or exclusive social interactions with others. This provides further support for oxytocin promoting maintenance of relationships.

Singlehood and Attunement of Self-Esteem to Friendships

Romantic relationships activate a process of psychological attunement whereby self-esteem becomes responsive to the romantic bond, thereby potentially benefitting relationship quality and bolstering self-esteem. Yet some people are romantically single, raising the question: Do single people also exhibit psychological attunement? In a 2-year longitudinal study of young adults (N = 279), we test whether singles psychologically attune to their friendships. Multilevel modeling revealed that within-person fluctuations in friendship quality predicted within-person fluctuations in self-esteem, and this association was stronger for singles than for partnered people. A cross-sectional mediation analysis also revealed that singles invested more in their friendships than partnered people, and greater friendship investment predicted greater friendship quality and self-esteem later on. Finally, singles maintain their friendship quality over time while partnered people experience declines. Taken together, these results suggest that singles are psychologically attuned to their friendships, and such attunement may benefit their belongingness and self-esteem.

The twink next door, who also does porn: networked intimacy in gay porn performers’ self-presentation on social media

ABSTRACT The performer–viewer relationship premised on mediated intimacy is a pivotal element of porn. As social media afford more interactivity and flexibility for pornographic relationship-building, gay porn performers start to have an active presence on platforms like Twitter to not only promote their works, but also showcase what is ‘behind the scene’. This study provides a qualitative analysis of the Twitter feeds of performers affiliated with Helix Studios, a gay porn producer specializing in the twink genre. It is found that a networked intimacy is constructed through performers’ Twitter self-presentation. The networked intimacy pivots on the fantasy of the twink body, the romantic and sexual bonds among performers, and the fandom-facilitated interactions. Relational labour is dedicated to the authentication of performers’ professional persona through their private life. Under this aesthetics of authenticity, intimacy is commodified to sell sex, and sexuality is essentialized into a staged congruity between sexual acts and desires. Networked intimacy, as a common condition for gay porn production and consumption in a hybrid media system, develops into a multilayer shape on social media platforms. This case study of Helix Studios performers’ tweets reveals both precarities and potentials of networked intimacy in gay porn.

Oxytocin amplifies sex differences in human mate choice

Infidelity is the major cause of breakups and individuals with a history of infidelity are more likely to repeat it, but may also present a greater opportunity for short-term sexual relationships. Here in a pre-registered, double-blind study involving 160 subjects we report that while both sexes valued faithful individuals most for short-term and long-term relationships, both single men and those in a relationship were more interested in having short-term relationships with previously unfaithful individuals than women. Oxytocin administration resulted in men rating the faces of unfaithful women as more attractive and likeable but in women rating those of unfaithful men as less attractive and also finding them less memorable. Oxytocin also increased single men’s interest in having short-term relationships with previously unfaithful women whereas it increased single women’s interest in having long-term relationships with faithful men. Thus, oxytocin release during courtship may first act to amplify sex-dependent priorities in attraction and mate choice before subsequently promoting romantic bonds.

Understanding the Nature and Implications of Romantic Relationships Among Criminally Involved Individuals with Mental Illness

This study explores the role romantic relationships play for individuals who live with significant mental illness and are involved in the criminal justice system. Life-course researchers have long hypothesized about the important influence of romantic bonds as impacting outcomes for both criminally involved men and women in varying ways. Far less attention, however, has focused on individuals with significant mental illness and criminal justice system involvement, and there is almost none that addresses criminally involved individuals with mental illness’ own perspective on these matters. The current study examines the narratives of 111 probationers with mental illness on a specialty mental health caseload to understand how romantic relationships impact their lives. Findings demonstrate the dynamic influence of mental illness on romantic relationships in conjunction with addiction, violence, and criminal justice involvement. Each is discussed with special consideration given to the gendered impact that these relationships have on this group.

The Influence of Endogenous Opioids on the Relationship between Testosterone and Romantic Bonding.

The endogenous opioid system has received attention and extensive research for its effects on reward, pleasure, and pain. However, relative to other neurochemicals, such as oxytocin, vasopressin and dopamine, the function of opioids in regulating human attachment, sociosexuality, and other aspects of human sociality has not received much consideration. For example, nonapeptides (oxytocin and vasopressin) have been extensively studied in animals and humans for their possible roles in mother-offspring attachment, romantic attachment, fatherhood, and social cognition. Likewise, others have proposed models wherein oxytocin and vasopressin are moderators of the relationship between steroid hormones and human social behaviors. Recently, opioids have generated renewed interest in relation to social pain, and importantly, the brain opioid hypothesis of social attachment (BOTSA), which suggests that endogenous opioids are a key implementer in primate and human bonding, has received some support. Here we focus on romantic bonds by proposing that endogenous opioids are an important mechanism mediating reproductive trade-offs through their inhibitory effects on testosterone production.

It's About the Money, and It's Not About the Money

It’s About the Money, and It’s Not About the Money Barbara L. Mitchell1 issn 0362-4021 © 2018 Eastern Group Psychotherapy Society group, Vol. 42, No. 2, Summer 2018 259 1 Faculty and Supervisor, Couple Therapy Program, Training Institute for Mental Health, New York. Correspondence should be addressed to Barbara L. Mitchell, LCSW, 25 West 45 Street, Suite 401, New York, NY 10036. E-mail: mitchell.relationships@gmail.com. Money is frequently a source of conflict for couples. We hear “you spend too much” or “you just don’t make enough.” The couple gets stuck in a cycle of blame and recrimination. As therapists, we are often stuck with them in trying to figure it all out. When the couple’s conflicts are played out with money, we need a framework to understand what is underneath the conflict and how to intervene. In other words, it’s about the money, and it’s not about the money. THE MEANING OF MONEY Economically, money facilitates the exchange of goods and services from one person to another. As a means of interacting with the world, we use money to meet our physical needs for food and shelter. Wealth confers status in most cultures, whether it is the size of your goat herd or the size of your bank account. As such, it draws envy and jealousy from some who do not have a lot of it or a sense of superiority and entitlement among some who do. Owing to the powerful symbolic nature of money, it becomes freighted with a great deal of conscious and unconscious meaning in turn. Our use or misuse of money becomes a way to live out unresolved issues from early stages of psychological development. Individuals who have suffered physical or emotional abuse and neglect are left with a deep sense of unworthiness and shame. Money can be a symbol of satisfaction for traumatic relational wounds. A mother struggling with addiction, illness, or deprivation is unable to adequately mirror her baby. The infant’s unmet oral needs leave her with a deep sense of shame and unworthiness and the need to experience 260 mitchell a good and worthy self. The need goes underground and remains unconscious. Spending becomes a means of addressing this depleted self state. The experience of buying gives her a temporary feeling of worthiness that is repeatedly sought. The negative consequences of her overspending (mounting credit card debt) are disregarded for a while because of the way money satisfies the ever-present need. Over time, however, she becomes trapped in a compulsive cycle of repeatedly seeking the feeling she so longs for and simultaneously fighting against it. Thus her early trauma is re-created as money fails to permanently satisfy her hunger. A dearth of experiences of healthy autonomy can leave an individual with feelings of inadequacy and incompetence. Doling out money to others can meet the need for power and control. This can be seen in individuals whose parents regulate access to their money through the establishment of trust funds. The unconscious message is experienced as a lack of confidence in their adult child’s abilities to manage himself or herself, and as such, inordinate numbers of trust funders have difficulty establishing themselves in work or careers. A condition of “one foot on the gas, one foot on the brake” characterizes their approach to establishing themselves as adults. Family history is repeated, as the parent of the adult child injects puts his or her disowned deprivation, despite his or her fortune, into the child by withholding and controlling his or her child’s access to money. UNCONSCIOUS PARTNER SELECTION PROCESS The forces that draw two people together and help them form a romantic bond are almost always outside of conscious awareness. Chemistry is fueled by a sense that the other is the one each was meant to be with, a sense that the relationship is preordained. We hear “he completes me,” “she knows what I’m thinking.” Our experience of love is informed by what love looked like, sounded like, and felt like at home. Our expectations of what it feels like to be in a romantic relationship reflect our early experiences of...

How the brain codes intimacy: The neurobiological substrates of romantic touch.

Humans belong to a minority of mammalian species that exhibit monogamous pair-bonds, thereby enabling biparental care of offspring. The high reward value of interpersonal closeness and touch in couples is a key proximate mechanism facilitating the maintenance of enduring romantic bonds. However, surprisingly, the neurobiological underpinnings mediating the unique experience of a romantic partner's touch remain unknown. In this randomized placebo (PLC)-controlled, between-group, pharmacofunctional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study involving 192 healthy volunteers (96 heterosexual couples), we intranasally administered 24 IU of the hypothalamic peptide oxytocin (OXT) to either the man or the woman. Subsequently, we scanned the subjects while they assumed that they were being touched by their romantic partners or by an unfamiliar person of the opposite sex, although in reality an identical pattern of touch was always given by the same experimenter. Our results show that intranasal OXT compared to PLC selectively enhanced the subjective pleasantness of the partner's touch. Importantly, intranasal OXT selectively increased responses to partner touch in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and anterior cingulate cortex. Under OXT, NAcc activations to partner touch positively correlated with the subjects' evaluation of their relationship quality. Collectively, our results suggest that OXT may contribute to the maintenance of monogamous relationships in humans by concomitantly increasing the reward value of partner touch and diminishing the hedonic quality of stranger touch. Hum Brain Mapp 38:4525-4534, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Recollections of puberty and disordered eating in young women

Puberty begins a period of vulnerability for disordered eating that is maintained and amplified through adolescence and early adulthood. In the present study, we test the association between young women's recollections of physical maturation and disordered eating outcomes in early adulthood. Participants comprised N = 421 female undergraduate students at a large, northeastern university in the United States (Mage = 19.7 years). Three models assessed the relative contributions of recollected puberty (perceptions of changes and preparedness, and timing of puberty), current contextual (social support, romantic bond, sorority or sport participation), and demographic (race, socioeconomic status, family structure) variables to three eating-disorder outcomes. Recollections of feeling unprepared and disliking the physical changes of puberty predicted eating disorder symptoms more than any other demographic or current contextual factor. Results indicate that how young women experience the pubertal transition is related to eating disorder symptoms many years later.

Life outcomes and relationship dispositions: The unique role of Emophilia

Emophilia (EP) predicts forming indiscriminate romantic bonds, and is associated with falling in love faster and with more people. Retrospective data examined life outcomes and relationship orientations in a large adult sample. Among both men and women, results indicated that both sociosexuality and EP were unique predictors of number of previous romantic relationships. However, among both men and women, EP was the only unique predictor of number of times being engaged to be married. Further, among women, EP was a unique predictor of younger age of first marriage engagement. Finally, high levels of both EP and unrestricted sociosexuality were associated with more pregnancies by different men. In sum, sociosexuality, anxious attachment, and EP all uniquely associated different relationship life outcomes, especially among women. Overall, the findings support and extend previous research showing that Emophilia is a critical variable in the realm of relationships.

When Love Dies: Further Elucidating the Existence of a Mate Ejection Module

As a species, humans are generally serial monogamists; in some cases mating with the same partner for years or even decades. Nonetheless, humans often mate with more than one partner over the life course, meaning that romantic pair bonds often come to an end. Prior research has tentatively suggested that a mental mechanism might exist that facilitates severing the romantic bond between mates. Put differently, because romantic love is a species-typical trait, all members of the human species may come equipped with the mental hardware for both falling in love as well as for ending a relationship. Currently, the evolutionary, cognitive, neurobiological, and genetic underpinnings of human mate ejection have yet to be fully elucidated. We examine each of these factors to illuminate the possible mechanisms that may underpin the human tendency to fall out of love.