Types Of Intimate Relationships Research Articles

Normative Sexual Health Development in Non-Normative Circumstances: Exploring Healthy Intimate Relationships Among Young People in Foster Care

While the sexual health risks among young people of color in foster care have been well-documented, healthy sexual development in this population has been less examined. The current study explored the experiences of Black youth in foster care and the factors that influenced their safer sex practices. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 18 sexually active Black participants (18–22 years old) in foster care from a large, Midwestern city in the United States. Grounded theory methods were used to (a) construct a conceptual framework illustrating the conditions the youth experienced that influenced their safer sex efforts, and (b) describe different types of intimate relationships that reflected their sexual health practices. Using specific strategies, the majority of the youth overcame obstacles and participated in positive sexual health practices. More than half (59%) reported they were in an intimate relationship for at least 6 months and either abstained from sex, used condoms 100% of the time, or employed safer sex methods. The findings suggest Black youth in state care can engage in positive sexual health practices and form healthy intimate relationships.

Funkcjonowanie seksualne w chorobie afektywnej dwubiegunowej

The aim of this article is an attempt to show various aspects of sexual functioning of people suffering from bipolar disorder. By reviewing the literature and currently available information on obstacles in the sexual life of patients and their partners, it gives the opportunity to gain a broader perspective on difficulties resulting from the symptoms of the disease, treatment and disease development. The following parts of the article will present how sexual life is influenced by: disease development and stage, type of intimate relationship and pharmacological treatment. This article will also describe the risks associated with sexual behavior that may occur during periods of mania. Short comments to the reviewed results, resulting from therapeutic experience of authors were added.

The structure of aggression in conflict-prone couples: Validation of a measure of the Forms and Functions of Intimate Partner Aggression (FFIPA).

Intimate partner aggression (IPA) is a complex construct composed of the means and the motivations by which a person harms his or her intimate partner. Existing measures only assess forms of IPA perpetration while neglecting to measure the motivations for aggressing. The present study sought to fill this lacuna by adapting and validating an existing measure of the forms and functions of adolescent peer aggression to assess IPA perpetration in adults. This new measure-the Forms and Functions of Intimate Partner Aggression (FFIPA)-comprises 4 latent dimensions of IPA (i.e., overt, relational, proactive, and reactive). Participants were 341 heavy-drinking heterosexual couples (N = 682) with a recent history of psychological and/or physical IPA recruited from 2 metropolitan cities in the United States. The FFIPA demonstrated good model fit and internal validity. Unique patterns of convergent and criterion-related validity supported the 4 dimensions of the FFIPA. Results also indicated women perpetrated significantly more overt and relational aggression than men. Findings support the FFIPA as a valid measure of the forms and functions of IPA perpetration. More important, as the only instrument that parses the forms and functions of IPA perpetration, the FFIPA delineates the unique motivations of an aggressive partner separately from the form of his or her aggressive behavior(s). Further replication is needed to generalize this measure to nonconflictual and other types of intimate relationships. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

HIV Sexual Risk Behaviors and Intimate Relationships among Young Sub-Saharan African Immigrants in Switzerland: A Brief Report

Objectives: This study explores the intimate relationship context in which sub-Saharan young immigrants (18–25) adopt HIV sexual risk behaviors. Methods: Qualitative data from 37 in-depth semistructured interviews and two focus groups were analyzed through an inductive approach and constant comparative analyses. Results: HIV sexual risk behaviors occurred in four types of intimate relationships. However, reasons for taking risks varied by relationship type and also depended on material resources, as well as interactional, cultural, and social dimensions related to sexual socialization and migration. Conclusions: Findings support the importance of considering the intimate relationship context to understand how HIV sexual risk behaviors occur.

Characteristics of Intimate Partner Homicide in China: Compared With Previous Studies in Other Countries.

Advancing towards modernization and urbanization, China is currently witnessing a soaring increase in intimate partner homicide (IPH). The present study sought to explore the characteristics of IPHs in China. Data from 979 judgments of this lethal serious crime were analyzed. In comparison with studies from other parts of the world, this study determined the characteristics of IPHs in China in terms of perpetrators, victims, incidents, and types of intimate relationships. Although the previous theoretical research has given reasonable explanations for IPHs, the relationship between perpetrator and victim is actually a neglected area in the study of IPHs. In this study, we found that the relationship between them played a leading role in understanding IPHs in China.

Three Types of Intimate Relationships among Individuals with Chronic Pain and a History of Trauma Exposure.

Individuals with chronic pain often have psychiatric disorders, such as depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which can affect their intimate relationship satisfaction and stability. Little is known about the nature of support stemming from chronic pain patients’ intimate relationships, and therefore, this study sought to: (1) use cluster modeling to construct specific intimate relationship groups based on types of support patients receive, and (2) determine if there is a relationship between support type and PTSD, chronic pain, anxiety, and depression. Ward’s method of cluster analysis in Stata was used to create groups based on the level of informational, affirmation, confident, emotional, and fun support received from chronic pain patients’ most intimate relationship. Three types of support were identified: high (type 1, n = 17), high emotional/low instrumental (type 2, n = 9), and unstable (type 3, n = 15). Types 1 and 3 included more family members (Type 1: 100%, Type 2: 93%), than type 2 (77%). Type 2 patients experienced more trauma (Mean = 9.4 ± 1.7 vs. 7.5 ± 0.88 for types 1 and 3) and were significantly more likely to have PTSD (X2 = 7.91, p < 0.05. Patients with low familial support may also benefit from PTSD screening and referral but further study is needed.

Intimate Relationship Commitment: An Integrated Conceptual Model

Relationship commitment, the intention to remain in one's relationship, is a significant predictor of relationship stability in intimate partnerships. In this article, the author reviews existing models of commitment and offers a new conceptual model of commitment that integrates the previous work of commitment researchers. The integrated model of commitment proposed in this article is intended for practical use in couple counseling with partners in diverse types of intimate relationships. The author ends with suggestions for clinicians in applying the integrated model to assess clients’ relationship commitment.

Learning to love again: ‘Broken families’, citizenship and the state promotion of coupledom

This article explores the ways in which coupledom is promoted through contemporary family policy in the UK. It does this in the context of dominant political discourses suggesting that broken relationships are a major political problem and the cause of almost all that is wrong with British society today. The paper performs an analysis of recent family policies, revealing narratives claiming that stable coupled relationships are the foundation of a strong nation. The reverse of this narrative, therefore, is that to not be in—or even worse, to not even aspire to be in—a coupled relationship is not just a personal failure, but a failure for the nation as a whole. The article therefore argues that the UK government encourages a particular type of intimate relationship, despite an increasing recognition of ’diverse’ family forms. Building upon Rich’s notion of compulsory heterosexuality, the article concludes that what we are witnessing in current British society is not compulsory heterosexuality, but compulsory coupledom.

Adolescent Intimate Heterosexual Relationships: Measurement Issues

During adolescence, individuals develop increased ability to have emotionally and physically intimate relationships. The type of intimate relationship will make a difference as to whether the adolescent engages in protective behaviors or avoids risky behaviors. However, in reviewing the literature on the association of relationship type and sexual risk and protective behaviors, four methodological challenges were noted. These challenges limit our understanding of the impact of relationship type. These four challenges are: (a) inconsistent definitional frameworks; (b) lack of adolescent voices; (c) lack of consideration of gender; and (d) poor differentiation between individual and relationship risk. These issues direct the course of future work in this area and are necessary to advance the field of adolescent sexual health, particularly with regard to the development and testing of appropriate interventions designed to reduce untoward outcomes of adolescent sexuality.

Validity and utility of a multidimensional model of received support in intimate relationships.

The authors of the present study statistically address the largely conceptual debate about the multidimensional nature of received support in intimate relationships. The Support in Intimate Relationships Rating Scale (SIRRS) was factor analyzed in 3 samples of dating and married couples. A novel, 4-factor structure of support types was generated that constituted esteem/emotional, physical comfort, informational, and tangible support types. This structure was reliable and valid in dating and marital relationships, across men and women, and across time. Each support type also demonstrated incremental validity for explaining marital adjustment, depression symptoms, and anxiety symptoms longitudinally. This study is among the first to generate and cross-validate a factor analytically derived set of support types for received support and the first to do so regarding partner support specifically. This is also the first study to replicate a distinct set of support types across different types of intimate relationships, across both sexes, and over time within relationships. Implications for enhancing functional theories of support and for augmenting the construct validity of a multidimensional model of received support are discussed.

The murder of children by fathers in the context of child abuse

Objective This study examined the backgrounds of fathers who fatally abuse their children and the contexts within which these homicides occur. The type of relationship between victim, perpetrator, and the victim's mother was a particular interest. Methods Data were gathered from 26 cases of fatal child abuse perpetrated by fathers derived from the wider Murder in Britain study. ** ** The Murder in Britain study was supported by an ESRC grant. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from extensive prison case files of men serving life sentences for child murder. Results This was a group of undereducated, underemployed men with significant criminal histories. All except one victim had been subjected to previous violence by the offender, almost three-quarter of whom had also perpetrated violence against their intimate partners (the child's birth mother). Many men had unreasonable expectations and low tolerance levels of normal childhood behaviors, and many appeared jealous and resentful of these young children. All 26 victims were under 4 years of age. Sixty-two percent of the offenders were stepfathers and in only four cases was the perpetrator a birth father married to the birth mother. Stepfathers had more disrupted and disadvantaged backgrounds and experiences than birth fathers. Conclusions Findings suggest that fathers who perpetrate fatal child abuse have a propensity to use violence against children in their care and intimate partners, raising questions about the gender dynamics and generational boundaries operating in these families. The nature and type of intimate relationship (whether married or cohabiting) and fathering relationship (whether birth or de facto) were important differentiating factors in these homicides as well as characteristics of the offender. Practice implications Professionals working in child protection strive to provide effective services to children and families, ever vigilant to the possibility of the death of a child as a consequence of an assault. By and large, fathers (either biological or de facro) as the perpetrators of such assaults have received minimal attention in both policy and practice. Findings from this study suggest that practitioners need to be cognisant of men's attitudes towards and excpeectations of fathering (particularly stepfathering) which may present increased levels of risk to both children and intimate partners.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN SAME‐GENDER RELATIONSHIPS

Physical violence occurs in 11–12% of same‐gender couples, which suggests that domestic violence is an abuse of power that can happen in any type of intimate relationship, regardless of gender or sexual orientation. Although incidents of violence occur at the same rate in same‐gender couples and cross‐gender couples, the violence appears to be milder in same‐gender couples and it is unclear what percentage of same‐gender violence should be characterized as abuse or intimate terrorism. Same‐gender victims also suffer from the additional stress of severe isolation and the abuser's threats to expose the victim's sexual orientation in a hostile manner.

Posthuman Law: Information Policy and the Machinic World

It has been an unspoken assumption that the law is made by humans for humans. That assumption no longer holds: The subject of information policy is increasingly flows between machines, machinic rather than social values play ever-more important roles in decision-making, and information policy for human society is being supplemented, supplanted, and superceded by machinic decision-making. As the barrier between the human and machinic falls with implantation of chips within the body and other types of intimate relationships, and as dependence upon the information infrastructure continues to grow, the question of the rights of technological systems themselves is entering the legal system. This paper explores information technologies as the policy subject, as determinant of the values that inform information policy, and as policy-makers. All of these are manifestations of a transformation in the legal system so fundamental that it may be said that we are entering a period of posthuman law.

Intimate homicide: Victim‐offender relationship in female‐perpetrated homicide

Principles of exchange theory are utilized to suggest conditions under which women involved in different types of intimate relationships may be likely to commit homicide against their male partners. A total of 1154 cases where the homicide offender was female are analyzed to suggest a link between relationship type and homicide. Age and race are found to have significant effects on the likelihood of homicide perpetrated by females.

Love and Sexual Attitudes, Self-Disclosure and Sensation Seeking

Love and sexuality are phenomena of central importance to certain types of intimate relationships. Although love has been a mainstream relationship variable in research, sexuality has often been explored only peripherally within a relationship context. Based on previous findings and using newly developed measures of love attitudes, sexual attitudes and self-disclosure, the present study explored the relation between love and sexuality and their mutual relations with self-disclosure and sensation seeking. Results (n = 218) indicated substantial correlations between love and sex attitudes, and between those variables and self-disclosure to a lover and to a friend, the ability to elicit self-disclosure, and sensation seeking. Males differed from females on only seven of 114 correlations, suggesting gender similarity in the pattern of variable relations. Such correlational evidence is helpful in interpreting mean differences between the sexes for several variables in this study and in previous research. This study shows that a multiplex of attitudes about love interlocks with attitudes about sexuality, and that both relate to other variables such as disclosure and sensation seeking. Such results begin the task of developing the characterizations of the love styles (Lee, 1973) and generalizing love-sex linkages towards the broader context of personality on the one hand, and the complex arena of personal relationships on the other.