Quality Of Women's Relationships Research Articles

Intergenerational Transmission of Relationship Quality in Later-Life Families.

This article examines the transmission of older women's relationship quality with their mothers and fathers to their relationship quality with their own adult children in midlife. We also investigate how the transmission is moderated by the dimension of relationship quality (closeness vs. strain) and the gender of both the older women's parents and their adult children. Prior research has primarily examined parents' transmission of relationship quality to young children with little attention to whether and when this pattern occurs in later-life families. We conducted multilevel analyses using data collected from 249 older women and 643 of their adult children as part of the Within-Family Differences Study-I. We found evidence for transmission of older women's reported closeness and tension with their mothers and fathers to their reported closeness and tension with their adult children. Adult children's reports also revealed that older women's closeness with their own mothers was transmitted to their adult children's reported closeness with the older women themselves. Mother-child closeness was transmitted more strongly than mother-child tension, and mother-child closeness was transmitted more strongly to daughters than sons, based on adult children's reports. This study demonstrates the continuity of intergenerational influence in later-life families and highlights the essential roles that selective social learning and social structural position (i.e., gender) play in conditioning the socialization process.

To stay or go: Relationship dissolution and repartnering after paternal incarceration

AbstractObjectiveThis study investigated how relationship dissolution and repartnering shape women's relationship quality after their partner's incarceration and evaluates whether incarceration is a unique context for relationship transitions.BackgroundMillions of couples in the United States face incarceration each year, and many relationships do not survive the experience. Although these breakups are typically framed as negative events, it is unclear whether relationship dissolution harms or helps women navigating the incarceration of their partner or coparent.MethodUsing longitudinal data from the Fragile Families study, this article contrasts the experiences of women who stayed with their child's father through his incarceration, those who separated and remained single, and those who separated and repartnered. Three domains of relationship quality were considered: cooperativeness of parenting relationships, supportiveness of romantic relationships, and risk of domestic violence.ResultsData reveal that most relationships end, creating an opportunity for mothers to form stronger relationships with more advantaged new partners. Incarceration also provides a distinct context for repartnering, amplifying both the advantages and disadvantages of dissolution.ConclusionMost couples experiencing paternal incarceration will also navigate relationship dissolution, and many will integrate a new partner into the family. For many women, particularly those whose relationships have become violent, these transitions may be sources of resilience rather than hardship.ImplicationsRather than a proscriptive focus on preserving families, these findings highlight the need to support families simultaneously navigating incarceration and changing family roles.

Childhood Abuse and Positive and Negative Relationship Quality in Women: The Role of Depression

Abstract The interpersonal nature of childhood abuse has led researchers to examine how abuse in childhood is associated with the quality of adult women's romantic relationships. Depression is one pathway by which childhood abuse may be associated with relationship quality. The current study considers whether childhood abuse is linked to positive and negative relationship quality through depressive symptoms. Data were obtained from women participating in the Longitudinal Study of Childhood Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN; N = 544) and were analysed using structural equation modelling. Results indicate a significant indirect effect from childhood abuse to both positive and negative quality through women's depressive symptoms. The indirect effect from abuse to negative relationship quality through depression was significantly larger than positive relationship quality. These results suggest that childhood abuse and subsequent depressive symptoms has a twofold effect on women's romantic relationships.

A National Dyadic Study of Oral Sex, Relationship Quality, and Well-Being among Older Couples.

We examine how giving versus receiving oral sex, 2 processes that are linked to relationship quality, are associated with older men's and women's well-being. We analyzed 884 heterosexual couples from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (2010-2011). We estimate Actor-Partner Interdependence Models using the SEM approach to assess three well-being outcomes: general happiness, psychological distress, and self-reported mental health. Older adults with better relationship quality gave oral sex to their partner more often than those with worse relationship quality; this association was stronger for men than for women. While receiving oral sex was positively related to both men's, and women's perceptions of relationship quality, women's relationship quality was more strongly linked to their partners' well-being than men's. Correspondingly, men's giving of oral sex (and thus their female partner's receiving of oral sex) was positively related to their own well-being through increasing their female partner's perceived relationship quality. Given the high prevalence of sexual dysfunctions among older adults, oral sex may play an important but overlooked role in maintaining an active sexual life, a high-quality relationship, and psychological vibrancy in late life.

Relationships between body image, sexual satisfaction, and relationship quality in romantic couples.

Previous studies found important associations between body image, sexual satisfaction, and perceived romantic relationship quality, but mainly focused on one individual's perceptions rather than both partners. To take the interdependency of romantic partners into account, the present study examined these associations in romantic couples with a dyadic approach. In a cross-sectional design, 151 Dutch heterosexual couples completed an online survey measuring body image, sexual satisfaction, and perceived relationship quality. Hypotheses were tested using the actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) and an APIM extended with a mediator (APIMeM), with couple members' body image as predictors, couple members' sexual satisfaction as mediators, and couple members' relationship quality as outcomes. Results indicated that within individuals, a more positive body image was linked to higher perceived romantic relationship quality through greater sexual satisfaction. No gender differences were found, implying that body image and sexual satisfaction are equally strongly associated with perceived relationship quality in women and men. Results revealed no associations of an individual's body image and sexual satisfaction with the partner's perceived relationship quality. These findings implicate that interventions focusing on developing and maintaining a positive body image may be helpful in building on a more satisfying sex life and higher perceived relationship quality. (PsycINFO Database Record

The effects of similarity in the dark triad traits on the relationship quality in dating couples

The study examined the effects of similarity in the Dark Triad (DT) traits on women and men's relationship quality (RQ) by using profile similarity (PS) and polynomial regression analysis (PRA) as the methods for the assessment of partners' similarity. Participants were 100 young adult heterosexual dating couples. The effects of similarity in the DT traits on RQ were somewhat different depending on different methods used as well as whether we considered women or men's RQ. PRA showed that dissimilarity in psychopathy was related to lower women's RQ, while similarity at high levels of Machiavellianism to lower RQ in women and men. Additionally, women's RQ decreased more sharply when partners were similar at high levels of Machiavellianism. PS in narcissism was associated with higher RQ in women and men. This study suggests that different methods of assessment of (dis)similarity could add to the more thorough understanding of the associations between personality traits and relationship outcomes.

Empathy and Romantic Relationship Quality among Cohabitating Couples: An Actor-Partner Interdependence Model.

This study employed a dyadic data analysis approach to examine the association between partners' empathy and relationship quality among cohabitating couples. Data were collected from 374 cohabitating but non-married couples, who were participants in the Wave 3 Romantic Pairs Subsample of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Men's higher empathy was related to their own perceptions of better relationship quality and women's higher empathy was related to their own as well as their partner's perceptions of better relationship quality. These findings show that individuals' abilities to be understanding, compassionate, and sympathetic may be related to the overall feeling of satisfaction and love in romantic relationships. The only effect that did not reach statistical significance was the partner effect from men's empathy to women's relationship quality. Although previous research with married couples has shown that men's empathy may play a more important role in shaping couples' perceptions of relationship quality, according to the current findings, these findings may not extend to cohabitating couples. The current results provide beneficial guidance to clinicians working with distressed, non-married couples.

Assortative Mating for Psychopathy Components and its Effects on the Relationship Quality in Intimate Partners

In three studies, we examined assortative mating for psychopathy components as well as its effects on the relationship quality in intimate partners. Compared to the original structure we confirmed three factors of psychopathy: criminal tendencies (CT), erratic lifestyle (ELS) and interpersonal manipulation (IM), while callous affect (CA) was not replicated. Hypotheses regarding positive versus negative assortment, initial assortment versus convergence, and active assortment versus social homogamy were tested. All hypotheses were examined using both variable-centered approach (VCA) and couple-centered approach (CCA). We found moderate positive assortment between intimate partners in psychopathy as a latent construct estimated by structural modelling. Furthermore, positive assortment for all three components of psychopathy was found either by using only VCA (CT), only CCA (IM) or both approaches (ELS). Additionally, initial assortment rather than convergence hypothesis and active assortment rather than social homogamy hypothesis was confirmed for all three psychopathy components, with a slight tendency towards divergence and social homogamy. We explored the effects of similarity in psychopathy components on the women and men' relationship quality by using profile similarity and polynomial regression analyses. Profile similarity in IM was significantly positively related to women's relationship quality, while the results of the polynomial regression analyses were more complex, and showed that only (dis)similarity in CT did not exert any effect on women and men's relationship quality. Greater disagreement between women and men's ELS was related with more sharp decrease of women's relationship quality, while men's relationship quality decreased at the higher levels of women and men's ELS. Greater disagreement between women and men's IM results in a lower women's relationship quality, while women and men's relationship quality was higher when women's IM was higher than men's.

Financial Arrangements and Relationship Quality in Low‐Income Couples

This study explored the association between household financial arrangements and relationship quality using a representative sample of low-income couples with children. We detailed the banking arrangements couples utilize, assessed which factors relate to holding a joint account versus joint and separate, only separate, or no account, and analyzed the association between fiscal practices and men's and women's relationship quality. The majority of couples held joint accounts, though over one-quarter also have separate accounts; nearly one-tenth have no account. Joint bank accounts were associated with higher levels of relationship quality on numerous dimensions, though more consistently for women than men. Individualistic arrangements appeared to undermine women's relationship satisfaction and reduce feelings of intimacy, sexual compatibility, and satisfaction with conflict resolution.

Women's Relationship Quality is Associated with Specifically Penile-Vaginal Intercourse Orgasm and Frequency

A growing empirical literature demonstrates that the only sexual behavior consistently associated with indices of better physiological and psychological function is the one sexual behavior relevant to potential gene propagation. In the present study, 30 Portuguese women reported on their frequency of different sexual behaviors and corresponding orgasm rates and also completed the Perceived Relationship Quality Components (PRQC) Inventory. As hypothesized, frequency of penile-vaginal intercourse correlated positively with PRQC dimensions: Satisfaction, Intimacy, Trust, Passion, Love (all r ≥ .40) and Global Relationship Quality (r = .55). Noncoital sexual behaviors with a partner were uncorrelated with the PRQC dimensions. Masturbation frequency was inversely associated with Love (r = −.38). Penile-vaginal orgasmic frequency correlated positively with PRQC dimensions: Satisfaction, Intimacy, Passion, Love (all r ≥ .44) and Global Relationship Quality (r = .52). Penile-vaginal intercourse orgasmic consistency was inversely associated with masturbation frequency. Social desirability scores did not confound the associations. Results are discussed in terms of both evolutionary and psychoanalytic theories.

Does Men's Positivity Moderate or Mediate the Effects of their Abuse on Women's Relationship Quality?

Taylor's (1991) mobilization-minimization theory of coping with stress provides one perspective to understand counterintuitive findings from research on abuse of women (e.g., many abused women love their partner and report relational satisfaction). Extension of her theory led to the hypothesis that men's affection and caring behavior mediates the effects of their abuse on women's evaluative relational judgments (relational well-being, satisfaction, happiness, and commitment). Using an abused subsample from a larger study of low-income, ethnically diverse women, we tested whether men's positivity (caring behavior, relational satisfaction, and happiness) moderates their abuse (threats and acts of violence and sexual aggression) as suggested by Lloyd (1996) or functions as a mediator. The results of structural equation modeling with 717 African-American, Euro-American, and Mexican-American women indicated that Men's Positivity did not moderate the effects of Men's Abuse on Relational Quality. Partial and complete mediation provided similar fits, with the full mediation model accepted as the most parsimonious. This held for women who had sustained severe, potentially life-threatening violence. Neither ethnicity nor relational type (dating, cohabiting, married) functioned as moderators. Thus, when women are abused they apparently give more weight to their perceptions of the positive aspects of their partner when evaluating the quality of their relationship. Limitations of the study as well as implications for therapy and future research are discussed.