Journal of Social and Personal Relationships

Despite considerable attention devoted to theory and research on close relationships, the construct of dyadic closeness has remained vague. This article attempts to clarify the concept of closeness in couple relationships and presents a conceptual model of “dyadic closeness.” Qualitative analysis of detailed interviews indicates that dyadic closeness is perceived as a whole, indivisible, and rewarding experience. It may be conceptualized by three major distinctions: A relatively stable relationship trait versus a fluctuating situational state; emotional versus physical closeness; and the constructed meanings of closeness versus its expressions.

The article explores how partners in intimate relationships experience and construct the meaning of dyadic distance. It challenges the common notions that closeness and distance are two poles of a continuum and that distance can be defined as the absence of closeness. Analyses are based on detailed semistructured interviews that produce a conceptual model of dyadic distance as it relates to the overall perception of the marital relationship. The conceptual model evolved from the first-order meaning (participants' primary and immediate responses) and second-order meaning (authors' inductive conceptualization based on participant accounts of their experiences) of dyadic distance in intimate relationships.

Mothers living with HIV/AIDS face the challenge of disclosing their illness to their uninfected children. This literature review devotes specific attention to rates and predictors of maternal disclosure, justifications for (non)disclosure, how mothers plan and execute disclosures, and postdisclosure adjustment in families. Although no research has conclusively shown that maternal disclosures are detrimental to children's wellbeing, findings on adjustment may differ depending on child age and whether mothers or children are the informants in research. Suggestions for further studies include the implications of mothers' specific communication strategies; age-related differences in, and adjustment to, disclosures; differentiating between short- and long-term functioning; and the further development of structured interventions to aid mothers and their families in both the pre- and postdisclosure period.

This study examined support concordance (i.e., the extent to which spouses agreed that supportive and unsupportive behaviors occurred) and the relationship, individual, and situational factors that influenced it. Cancer patients and their spouses (N = 239 couples) indicated how often spouses provided supportive and unsupportive behaviors. Couples had high agreement and showed greater concordance on unsupportive behaviors than supportive behaviors. Marital quality was associated with greater support concordance. Neither length of marriage nor psychological distress was related to support concordance. In terms of affiliative need, only spouses' need for attention was related to lower support concordance. Contrary to prediction, greater patient physical impairment was not significantly related to concordance for supportive behaviors but was related to lower concordance for unsupportive behaviors.

This study examined reappraisal of threat to self, child, and partner wellbeing in a sample of 92 battered women's shelter residents. Participants were assessed for type and severity of intimate-partner violence experienced and current psychological distress. Perceived threats to self, child, and partner wellbeing were assessed and subscale scores developed to serve as dependent variables in multivariate regression analyses. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) predicted reappraised threat to self wellbeing. Years in the relationship predicted reappraised threat to partner wellbeing. Threat to child wellbeing was predicted by mother's physical abuse and PTSD. Implications for future research include longitudinal studies that investigate threat reappraisal, including postshelter outcomes of women with PTSD.

Drawing upon earlier models of stress and divorce, this retrospective study investigates how divorced individuals appraise the role of stress in their divorce. Data from divorced individuals (N = 662) from Germany, Italy, and Switzerland suggest that low commitment and deficits in interpersonal competencies (communication, problem solving, coping) are more likely than stress to be perceived as reasons for divorce. However, when considering everyday stresses, participants reported trivial daily events to be one of the main reasons contributing to their decision to divorce. Although general stress level did not influence individuals' decision to divorce, most participants considered the accumulation of everyday stresses as a central trigger for divorce. Future research should investigate the process of divorce, particularly in relation to commitment and interpersonal competencies.

This research focuses on social and cultural determinants of grief processing among bereaved parents and spouses in the United States and China. Bereaved participants in both countries responded to a brief questionnaire, at 4 months and 18 months post loss, regarding four grief-processing behaviors (thinking about the deceased, searching for meaning in the loss, positive memories about the deceased, and avoiding thinking about the deceased) within three social contexts (family, friends, alone). As predicted, participants reported significantly less frequent grief processing with friends than with family or while alone, with a more pronounced difference at the second wave of data collection. Interactions of culture and lost relationship type were also observed. Implications for the understanding of grief processing and future research on bereavement are discussed.

This study examines the impact of social systems (i.e., marital quality, significant others' stress and community resilience) on individual reactions to the threat of war and terror resulting from Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000. Quantitative results (N = 992) revealed that proximity to the threat of war influenced marital quality, community resilience, life satisfaction, and stress among significant others. Three social system variables mediate these relationships. Qualitative analysis (N = 50 couples) highlights the role of social variables in personal reaction to stress. Differences emerged, however, in the perceived direction of the causal effects. Similarities and differences between the methodologies are discussed, and theoretical models are suggested to explain the results.

Past research has found support for an interpersonal-cognitive model of depression which suggests that a newly identified subtype of social support, inferential feedback, plays an important role in the development of depression. Inferential feedback from friends and family members addresses the cause, meaning, and consequences of negative life events and may influence depression through its effect on depression-inducing cognitions. The purpose of the current study was to validate a new measure of perceived inferential feedback (the Social Feedback Questionnaire; SFQ). Results indicate that the SFQ is a reliable, valid, and simple measure of social support that may prove useful for clinical research, assessment, and intervention.

Prior experiments documenting gender differences in mate preferences have relied on directive questions (e.g., “How important is physical attractiveness?”), which are susceptible to demand characteristics. To assess this potential confound, this study assessed mate preferences using indirect, openended questions, with anonymous computer administration and designated (same- or opposite-sex) targets. The frequency with which participants noted traits reflected key gender differences predicted by evolutionary accounts; evaluations of men focused more on ambitiousness, whereas evaluations of women focused more on attractiveness. The number of attractiveness comments was also greater, however, if the rated target was of the opposite sex. Kindness and intelligence comments did not show strong gender differences, although kindness-related comments were very frequent overall and particularly frequent from women participants.

Past research suggests that relationship quality is low in “precarious couples,” those in which the woman is both critical and more verbally disinhibited than her male partner. Such diminished relationship quality may compromise the capacity of precarious couples to cope with stressors. To test this hypothesis, we exposed 67 married women to an experimentally induced stressor, reunited them with their husbands, and examined the subsequent physiological reactions of both partners. Interacting with one's spouse after the stress-induction procedure resulted in relatively low heart rates among most people, but men in precarious couples displayed elevated levels of arousal. Apparently, for men in precarious couples, interacting with a recently stressed partner is itself stressful, which could ultimately compromise physical health.