Sally I Powers
Biographic Data
| ID | 5470470 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sally I Powers |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sally I |
| FAMILY NAME | Powers |
| SIGNATURE | POWERS S I |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Massachusetts Amherst |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 133 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1983 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
A coparent intervention to prevent prenatal stress and depression symptoms in families with lower incomes
Truth and Bias in Partner Perceptions of Attachment Orientation Over Time
People’s attachment orientations change over time and are linked with their relationship experiences. However, it is unclear whether perceptions of a partner’s attachment orientation—which likely reflect (and affect) aspects of a relationship—track with how the partner changes over time. Do people become more accurate judges over time? Further, are changes in judgments of partners’ dispositions affected by how happy people are in their relationsh…
Spouses’ attachment orientations shape physiological responses to relational stress over time
This research examined how the interplay between spouses’ attachment orientations contributes to physiological responses to relational stress. Mixed-gender newlyweds ( N Wave 1 = 218 couples; N Wave 2 = 184 couples; N Wave 3 = 164 couples) discussed relationship conflicts during three laboratory sessions over the first 3–4 years of marriage. Individuals provided saliva samples to assess their cortisol levels before, during, and after each conflic…
Is Low Power Associated With Submission During Marital Conflict? Moderating Roles of Gender and Traditional Gender Role Beliefs
Lower power during marital interactions predicts greater aggression by men, but no research has identified women’s response to lower power. We tested whether women who experienced lower situational power during conflict exhibited greater submission, especially if they held traditional gender role beliefs and thus accepted structural gender differences in power. Newlywed couples (Time 1, N = 204 couples) completed questionnaires and discussed an a…
Biocultural approaches to transgender and gender diverse experience and health
Transgender and gender diverse (TGD) people are increasingly visible in U.S. communities and in national media. With this increased visibility, access to gender affirming healthcare is also on the rise, particularly for urban youth. Political backlash and entrenchment in a gender binary, however, continue to marginalize TGD people, increasing risk for health disparities. The 2016 National Institute of Health recognition of sexual and gender minor…
Machine learning uncovers the most robust self-report predictors of relationship quality across 43 longitudinal couples studies
Significance What predicts how happy people are with their romantic relationships? Relationship science—an interdisciplinary field spanning psychology, sociology, economics, family studies, and communication—has identified hundreds of variables that purportedly shape romantic relationship quality. The current project used machine learning to directly quantify and compare the predictive power of many such variables among 11,196 romantic couples. P…
Spouses’ attachment pairings predict neuroendocrine, behavioral, and psychological responses to marital conflict
This research investigated how spouses' attachment styles jointly contributed to their stress responses. Newlywed couples discussed relationship conflicts. Salivary cortisol indexed physiological stress; observer-rated behaviors indexed behavioral stress; self-reported distress indexed psychological stress. Multilevel modeling tested predictions that couples including 1 anxious and 1 avoidant partner or 2 anxious partners would show distinctive s…
Off‐Time Pubertal Timing Predicts Physiological Reactivity to Postpuberty Interpersonal Stress
We investigated associations between retrospectively assessed timing of pubertal development, interpersonal interactions, and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis reactivity to an interpersonal stress task in 110 young adult women. Participants provided salivary cortisol samples at points prior and subsequent to a video-taped conflict discussion with their romantic partner. Participants also provided subjective global ratings of their discus…
Adolescents' Emotional Experiences of Mother–Adolescent Conflict Predict Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms
Research on adolescent emotion has generally focused on expressions of emotion; however, there are reasons to believe that adolescents' experiences of emotion may be related to adolescent development in unique and important ways. This study examined the relation of adolescents' emotional experiences of conflict with their mothers to their internalizing and externalizing symptoms at three time points, each a year apart. After participating in vide…
Dating couples' attachment styles and patterns of cortisol reactivity and recovery in response to a relationship conflict
This study investigated theoretically predicted links between attachment style and a physiological indicator of stress, salivary cortisol levels, in 124 heterosexual dating couples. Cortisol was assessed at 7 points before and after an experimental conflict negotiation task, creating a trajectory of stress reactivity and recovery for each participant. Growth modeling of cortisol data tested hypotheses that (a) insecurely attached individuals show…
Social-cognitive predictors of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal reactivity to interpersonal conflict in emerging adult couples
This study tested the extent to which the social-cognitive variables of sociotropy and negative relationship attributions predict physiological stress reactivity to interpersonal conflict among emerging adult romantic partners (N = 125 couples). It was hypothesized that sociotropy and negative relationship attributions would predict increased stress reactivity, indexed by salivary cortisol levels, both independently and inter-actively. Results su…
Divergent Realities and Perceived Inequalities
We examined mothers', adolescents', and observers' discrepancies in perceptions of family interaction guided by two approaches to discrepancies: divergent realities approach, which explores discrepancies in different peoples'perceptions of the samefamily member's interaction, and perceived inequality approach, which focuses on one individual's perception of discrepancies between family members' interaction. We used a video-recallprocedure to asse…
Adolescents' Affective Experience of Family Behaviors
Argues that a new definition of affect that focuses on the subjective understanding of interpersonal events, can be used to expand models of how observed family behaviors are related to adolescent psychosocial outcomes. A method for examining adolescents' subjective understanding of family behaviors, the video-recall method, is illustrated in a study of rural adolescents and their families
Understanding Family Contexts of Adolescent Coping
Many researchers, including John Hill, have studied parental influences on adolescent development. This sty investigated one aspect of parental influence, ego development, and its relation to adolescent coping. Two different groups of early adolescents were studied, one group from a public high school and the other current inpatients at a psychiatric hospital. This study found that when independently assessed, parental ego development was related…
Adolescent-Parent Interactions in Relation to Adolescents' Gender and Ego Development Pathway
Family communication patterns were examined in relation to adolescents' gender and ego development pathways using sequential analysis techniques. Thirty-two adolescents from a suburban Boston high school participated in a discussion of moral dilemmas with both their mothers and fathers. The family discussions were scored with the Constraining and Enabling Coding System. During the following 4 years, the adolescents' levels of ego development were…
Adolescent mental health
Parental contexts of adolescent self-esteem
Coping Strategies of Families of Seriously Ill Adolescents
This paper compares the coping strategies of two groups of families coping with unusual stresses: families of diabetic adolescents and families of adolescents who were psychiatrically hospitalized in early adolescence. The coping strategies of these two groups of families are also compared to the coping strategies of a group of families of non-patient adolescents. Analyses indicate that families of ill adolescents find a greater variety of coping…
Family contexts of pubertal timing
Familial Contexts of Adolescent Ego Development
In this paper we describe our newly constructed Constraining and Enabling Coding System (CECS). This scheme was constructed to identify family interactions that are conceptually relevant to adolescent ego development. First, we discuss the theoretical rationale and reliability properties of the codes. We then present results of applying the scales to observations of 61 families, consisting of 2 parents and an adolescent, drawn from matched high s…
Adolescent ego development and family interaction
For structural-developmental psychology to be useful in investigating the relationship between adolescent development and family interaction, its perspective must be expanded to include the role of affect and of cognitively inhibiting behaviors in producing environments for development
Adolescent mental health
Dating couples' attachment styles and patterns of cortisol reactivity and recovery in response to a relationship conflict
This study investigated theoretically predicted links between attachment style and a physiological indicator of stress, salivary cortisol levels, in 124 heterosexual dating couples. Cortisol was assessed at 7 points before and after an experimental conflict negotiation task, creating a trajectory of stress reactivity and recovery for each participant. Growth modeling of cortisol data tested hypotheses that (a) insecurely attached individuals show…
Spouses’ attachment pairings predict neuroendocrine, behavioral, and psychological responses to marital conflict
This research investigated how spouses' attachment styles jointly contributed to their stress responses. Newlywed couples discussed relationship conflicts. Salivary cortisol indexed physiological stress; observer-rated behaviors indexed behavioral stress; self-reported distress indexed psychological stress. Multilevel modeling tested predictions that couples including 1 anxious and 1 avoidant partner or 2 anxious partners would show distinctive s…
Divergent Realities and Perceived Inequalities
We examined mothers', adolescents', and observers' discrepancies in perceptions of family interaction guided by two approaches to discrepancies: divergent realities approach, which explores discrepancies in different peoples'perceptions of the samefamily member's interaction, and perceived inequality approach, which focuses on one individual's perception of discrepancies between family members' interaction. We used a video-recallprocedure to asse…
Adolescent-Parent Interactions in Relation to Adolescents' Gender and Ego Development Pathway
Family communication patterns were examined in relation to adolescents' gender and ego development pathways using sequential analysis techniques. Thirty-two adolescents from a suburban Boston high school participated in a discussion of moral dilemmas with both their mothers and fathers. The family discussions were scored with the Constraining and Enabling Coding System. During the following 4 years, the adolescents' levels of ego development were…
Adolescents' Affective Experience of Family Behaviors
Argues that a new definition of affect that focuses on the subjective understanding of interpersonal events, can be used to expand models of how observed family behaviors are related to adolescent psychosocial outcomes. A method for examining adolescents' subjective understanding of family behaviors, the video-recall method, is illustrated in a study of rural adolescents and their families
Social-cognitive predictors of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal reactivity to interpersonal conflict in emerging adult couples
This study tested the extent to which the social-cognitive variables of sociotropy and negative relationship attributions predict physiological stress reactivity to interpersonal conflict among emerging adult romantic partners (N = 125 couples). It was hypothesized that sociotropy and negative relationship attributions would predict increased stress reactivity, indexed by salivary cortisol levels, both independently and inter-actively. Results su…
Parental contexts of adolescent self-esteem
Adolescents' Emotional Experiences of Mother–Adolescent Conflict Predict Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms
Research on adolescent emotion has generally focused on expressions of emotion; however, there are reasons to believe that adolescents' experiences of emotion may be related to adolescent development in unique and important ways. This study examined the relation of adolescents' emotional experiences of conflict with their mothers to their internalizing and externalizing symptoms at three time points, each a year apart. After participating in vide…
Coping Strategies of Families of Seriously Ill Adolescents
This paper compares the coping strategies of two groups of families coping with unusual stresses: families of diabetic adolescents and families of adolescents who were psychiatrically hospitalized in early adolescence. The coping strategies of these two groups of families are also compared to the coping strategies of a group of families of non-patient adolescents. Analyses indicate that families of ill adolescents find a greater variety of coping…
Understanding Family Contexts of Adolescent Coping
Many researchers, including John Hill, have studied parental influences on adolescent development. This sty investigated one aspect of parental influence, ego development, and its relation to adolescent coping. Two different groups of early adolescents were studied, one group from a public high school and the other current inpatients at a psychiatric hospital. This study found that when independently assessed, parental ego development was related…
Family contexts of pubertal timing
Adolescent ego development and family interaction
For structural-developmental psychology to be useful in investigating the relationship between adolescent development and family interaction, its perspective must be expanded to include the role of affect and of cognitively inhibiting behaviors in producing environments for development
Familial Contexts of Adolescent Ego Development
In this paper we describe our newly constructed Constraining and Enabling Coding System (CECS). This scheme was constructed to identify family interactions that are conceptually relevant to adolescent ego development. First, we discuss the theoretical rationale and reliability properties of the codes. We then present results of applying the scales to observations of 61 families, consisting of 2 parents and an adolescent, drawn from matched high s…
Coping Strategies of Families of Seriously Ill Adolescents
This paper compares the coping strategies of two groups of families coping with unusual stresses: families of diabetic adolescents and families of adolescents who were psychiatrically hospitalized in early adolescence. The coping strategies of these two groups of families are also compared to the coping strategies of a group of families of non-patient adolescents. Analyses indicate that families of ill adolescents find a greater variety of coping…
Family contexts of pubertal timing
Parental contexts of adolescent self-esteem
Adolescent-Parent Interactions in Relation to Adolescents' Gender and Ego Development Pathway
Family communication patterns were examined in relation to adolescents' gender and ego development pathways using sequential analysis techniques. Thirty-two adolescents from a suburban Boston high school participated in a discussion of moral dilemmas with both their mothers and fathers. The family discussions were scored with the Constraining and Enabling Coding System. During the following 4 years, the adolescents' levels of ego development were…
Adolescent mental health
Understanding Family Contexts of Adolescent Coping
Many researchers, including John Hill, have studied parental influences on adolescent development. This sty investigated one aspect of parental influence, ego development, and its relation to adolescent coping. Two different groups of early adolescents were studied, one group from a public high school and the other current inpatients at a psychiatric hospital. This study found that when independently assessed, parental ego development was related…
Adolescents' Affective Experience of Family Behaviors
Argues that a new definition of affect that focuses on the subjective understanding of interpersonal events, can be used to expand models of how observed family behaviors are related to adolescent psychosocial outcomes. A method for examining adolescents' subjective understanding of family behaviors, the video-recall method, is illustrated in a study of rural adolescents and their families
Divergent Realities and Perceived Inequalities
We examined mothers', adolescents', and observers' discrepancies in perceptions of family interaction guided by two approaches to discrepancies: divergent realities approach, which explores discrepancies in different peoples'perceptions of the samefamily member's interaction, and perceived inequality approach, which focuses on one individual's perception of discrepancies between family members' interaction. We used a video-recallprocedure to asse…
Dating couples' attachment styles and patterns of cortisol reactivity and recovery in response to a relationship conflict
This study investigated theoretically predicted links between attachment style and a physiological indicator of stress, salivary cortisol levels, in 124 heterosexual dating couples. Cortisol was assessed at 7 points before and after an experimental conflict negotiation task, creating a trajectory of stress reactivity and recovery for each participant. Growth modeling of cortisol data tested hypotheses that (a) insecurely attached individuals show…
Social-cognitive predictors of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal reactivity to interpersonal conflict in emerging adult couples
This study tested the extent to which the social-cognitive variables of sociotropy and negative relationship attributions predict physiological stress reactivity to interpersonal conflict among emerging adult romantic partners (N = 125 couples). It was hypothesized that sociotropy and negative relationship attributions would predict increased stress reactivity, indexed by salivary cortisol levels, both independently and inter-actively. Results su…
Adolescents' Emotional Experiences of Mother–Adolescent Conflict Predict Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms
Research on adolescent emotion has generally focused on expressions of emotion; however, there are reasons to believe that adolescents' experiences of emotion may be related to adolescent development in unique and important ways. This study examined the relation of adolescents' emotional experiences of conflict with their mothers to their internalizing and externalizing symptoms at three time points, each a year apart. After participating in vide…
Off‐Time Pubertal Timing Predicts Physiological Reactivity to Postpuberty Interpersonal Stress
We investigated associations between retrospectively assessed timing of pubertal development, interpersonal interactions, and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis reactivity to an interpersonal stress task in 110 young adult women. Participants provided salivary cortisol samples at points prior and subsequent to a video-taped conflict discussion with their romantic partner. Participants also provided subjective global ratings of their discus…
Spouses’ attachment pairings predict neuroendocrine, behavioral, and psychological responses to marital conflict
This research investigated how spouses' attachment styles jointly contributed to their stress responses. Newlywed couples discussed relationship conflicts. Salivary cortisol indexed physiological stress; observer-rated behaviors indexed behavioral stress; self-reported distress indexed psychological stress. Multilevel modeling tested predictions that couples including 1 anxious and 1 avoidant partner or 2 anxious partners would show distinctive s…
Machine learning uncovers the most robust self-report predictors of relationship quality across 43 longitudinal couples studies
Significance What predicts how happy people are with their romantic relationships? Relationship science—an interdisciplinary field spanning psychology, sociology, economics, family studies, and communication—has identified hundreds of variables that purportedly shape romantic relationship quality. The current project used machine learning to directly quantify and compare the predictive power of many such variables among 11,196 romantic couples. P…
Is Low Power Associated With Submission During Marital Conflict? Moderating Roles of Gender and Traditional Gender Role Beliefs
Lower power during marital interactions predicts greater aggression by men, but no research has identified women’s response to lower power. We tested whether women who experienced lower situational power during conflict exhibited greater submission, especially if they held traditional gender role beliefs and thus accepted structural gender differences in power. Newlywed couples (Time 1, N = 204 couples) completed questionnaires and discussed an a…
Biocultural approaches to transgender and gender diverse experience and health
Transgender and gender diverse (TGD) people are increasingly visible in U.S. communities and in national media. With this increased visibility, access to gender affirming healthcare is also on the rise, particularly for urban youth. Political backlash and entrenchment in a gender binary, however, continue to marginalize TGD people, increasing risk for health disparities. The 2016 National Institute of Health recognition of sexual and gender minor…
Spouses’ attachment orientations shape physiological responses to relational stress over time
This research examined how the interplay between spouses’ attachment orientations contributes to physiological responses to relational stress. Mixed-gender newlyweds ( N Wave 1 = 218 couples; N Wave 2 = 184 couples; N Wave 3 = 164 couples) discussed relationship conflicts during three laboratory sessions over the first 3–4 years of marriage. Individuals provided saliva samples to assess their cortisol levels before, during, and after each conflic…
A coparent intervention to prevent prenatal stress and depression symptoms in families with lower incomes
Truth and Bias in Partner Perceptions of Attachment Orientation Over Time
People’s attachment orientations change over time and are linked with their relationship experiences. However, it is unclear whether perceptions of a partner’s attachment orientation—which likely reflect (and affect) aspects of a relationship—track with how the partner changes over time. Do people become more accurate judges over time? Further, are changes in judgments of partners’ dispositions affected by how happy people are in their relationsh…
Psychology (19 works) · Developmental psychology (17 works) · Social Psychology (16 works) · Social Psychology (12 works) · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development (11 works) · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics (10 works) · Clinical Psychology (6 works) · Medicine (6 works) · Clinical Psychology (5 works) · Id, ego and super-ego (5 works)