Brooke C Feeney
Biographic Data
| ID | 650409 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Brooke C Feeney |
| GIVEN NAMES | Brooke C |
| FAMILY NAME | Feeney |
| SIGNATURE | FEENEY B C |
| AFFILIATIONS | Carnegie Mellon University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6195-6338 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 34 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 607 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 34 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1996 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 12 |
Cyclical Links Between Daily Partner Interactions and Sleep Quality in Older Adult Couples: The Mediating Role of Perceived Partner Responsiveness and Negative Affect
Researchers have found significant associations between romantic relationship experiences and sleep quality. However, most existing studies are cross-sectional, few have focused on the aging population, and few have considered mechanisms underlying such associations. To address these gaps, 238 older adult couples completed 7-day daily diaries, reporting on their daily relationship, emotional, and sleep experiences. Multilevel structural equation …
Mechanisms Linking Attachment Orientation to Sleep Quality in Married Couples
There is emerging evidence for links between relationship factors and sleep quality. Existing research linking attachment orientation to sleep quality has yielded inconsistent effects, has focused on younger samples, and has not considered underlying mechanisms of action. This research addressed these gaps in two studies that investigated the links between attachment orientation and sleep quality in both younger/middle-aged (Study 1) and older (S…
Associations Between Attachment and Depressive Symptoms Among Older Adults Living With Early-Stage Cognitive Impairment and Their Adult Children
Psychosocial interventions that incorporate attachment theory as a framework may benefit parent-child dyads coping with dementia
Affectionate Touch Promotes Shared Positive Activities
Shared positive activities, such as engaging conversations and interactive play, enhance relationships and buffer the consequences of negative interactions. The current research tested whether affectionate touch (a prime target for intervention) encourages people to prioritize other shared positive activities and to view shared activities more positively. In a pre-registered dyadic diary study of married couples (Study 1), greater affectionate to…
Perceptions of oneself and one’s spouse following a stressor discussion predicting attachment insecurity over one year
The Attachment Security Enhancement Model (ASEM) posits that attachment anxiety decreases when people revise their negative working model of self, whereas attachment avoidance decreases when people revise their negative working model of others. These revisions are expected to occur in diagnostic situations that provide relevant information about the self and close others. Guided by this theory, the current research assessed whether state percepti…
Social Support is a Balancing Act: Mitigating Attachment Anxiety by Supporting Independence and Dependence
Due to the personal and relationship costs associated with attachment anxiety, there has been substantial interest in identifying factors that reduce attachment anxiety over time and buffer attachment anxiety in the moment. We integrated the Attachment Security Enhancement Model (ASEM) and the dependency paradox based in attachment theory to derive novel predictions about how perceived partner support predicts attachment anxiety prospectively (on…
Responsive social support serves important functions in clinical communication: Translating perspectives from relationship science to improve cancer clinical interactions
Individual and relational differences in desire for touch in romantic relationships
Although touch is common in romantic relationships and is generally beneficial, people differ in the extent to which they desire to give and receive touch. The current research identified individual and relationship characteristics that predict overall desire for touch and unique desire for overtly affectionate versus indirectly affectionate forms of touch. In both a sample of dating, engaged, and married individuals (Study 1) and a dyadic sample…
Benefits of daily support visibility versus invisibility across the adult life span
Amid growing disagreement about the benefits of visible and invisible support, we tested daily associations among support visibility and changes in individual and relational well-being in young adult newlyweds (Study 1) and older married couples (Study 2). To extend past research, we assessed emotional and practical support visibility in 3 contexts (context-general, stress-related, and goal-related) each day. In both samples, reporting context-ge…
Interpersonal touch as a resource to facilitate positive personal and relational outcomes during stress discussions
This investigation examined the extent to which receiving touch during discussions of stressors predicts subsequent personal and relational well-being. Married couples were unobtrusively videotaped as couple-members took turns discussing their personal stressors with one another. We assessed the degree to which couple-members received touch from their spouses during the discussions and investigated whether touch receipt predicted beneficial perso…
Touch reduces romantic jealousy in the anxiously attached
Feelings of jealousy are usually detrimental to relationships, often resulting in negative outcomes ranging from conflict to violence and relationship dissolution. Anxiously attached individuals are especially prone to jealousy in their relationships and are therefore especially likely to experience negative outcomes of jealousy. In this research, we examined the effectiveness of both touch and a traditional security prime as a potential means of…
Affectionate Touch to Promote Relational, Psychological, and Physical Well-Being in Adulthood: A Theoretical Model and Review of the Research
Throughout the life span, individuals engage in affectionate touch with close others. Touch receipt promotes well-being in infancy, but the impacts of touch in adult close relationships have been largely unexplored. In this article, we propose that affectionate touch receipt promotes relational, psychological, and physical well-being in adulthood, and we present a theoretical mechanistic model to explain why affectionate touch may promote these o…
Apprehensive about retirement: Women, life transitions, and relationships
Understanding women's attitudes toward retirement is crucial for being able to help women adjust to this transition. The present study uses interviews and questionnaires to understand retirement ambivalence and the role that close relationships play in women's retirement experiences. Findings indicate that women have mixed feelings about retirement; they are both excited and fearful. They particularly enjoy the freedom and control this transition…
What will I tell you about my marriage? The relationship between attachment and autobiographical memory of married life
The relationship between attachment orientation and the emotional and thematic content of autobiographical memory about marriage in later life was investigated. A total of 242 older married adults received a quick recall interview to retrieve as many events as one could of what happened in his or her marital life. Each event was rated by the participant on its emotional valence, and its thematic content was coded by two raters according to three …
A Sense of Security: Touch Promotes State Attachment Security
Adults can be made to experience state attachment security (e.g., feel calm, cared for, and trusting) when they recall experiences, in which others were accepting and responsive. In two experiments, we tested whether receiving affectionate touch in the context of a close relationship naturally promotes state attachment security. As hypothesized, participants who imagined receiving touch had greater accessibility of secure words on a memory task (…
Keep in touch: The effects of imagined touch support on stress and exploration
Daily goal progress is facilitated by spousal support and promotes psychological, physical, and relational well-being throughout adulthood
In 2 daily diary studies, we tested the consequences and precursors of daily goal progress throughout the adult life span. Attachment theory posits that exploration-including the pursuit of autonomous goals-promotes well-being across the life span and is facilitated by support from close others. For both young-adult newlyweds (Study 1) and married couples in late adulthood (Study 2), daily independent goal progress predicted same-day and next-day…
A New Look at Social Support: A Theoretical Perspective on Thriving Through Relationships
Close and caring relationships are undeniably linked to health and well-being at all stages in the life span. Yet the specific pathways through which close relationships promote optimal well-being are not well understood. In this article, we present a model of thriving through relationships to provide a theoretical foundation for identifying the specific interpersonal processes that underlie the effects of close relationships on thriving. This mo…
Attachment orientation and reactions to anxiety expression in close relationships
This study examined perceptions, interpretations, and emotional reactions to a close partner's anxiety expression as mediators for the association between attachment orientation and caregiving effectiveness. One member of married or dating couples was exposed to a stressor and unobtrusively observed while interacting with his or her partner. Results revealed that anxious attachment was related to higher perceptions of partners' anxiety expression…
Attachment insecurity and perceived partner suffering as predictors of personal distress
Relationship influences on exploration in adulthood: The characteristics and function of a secure base
This investigation advances theory and research regarding relationship influences on exploration in adulthood. This is accomplished by (a) identifying important characteristics of a secure base, (b) examining the influence of the presence or absence of these characteristics on exploration behavior in adulthood, and (c) identifying individual-difference factors that are predictive of the provision and receipt of secure base support. In 2 sessions,…
Growing through attachment: The interplay of attachment and exploration in adulthood
In this paper we discuss the advancement of theory and research regarding relationship influences on exploration in adulthood. First, we describe and extend attachment theory's concept of a secure base and discuss the need for continued theoretical development in this area. Second, we describe an innovative program of research (involving the use of a variety of research methods) that tests some of these theoretical extensions in the context of ad…
Affiliation with new peer acquaintances during two initial social support interactions
This investigation examined the influence of a prior social support interaction on a subsequent interaction between new peer acquaintances. Pairs of adolescent peers (recruited in a large metropolitan area in the United States) were videotaped as they met and discussed current life concerns in 2 separate interactions. Results indicated that (a) the behaviors of new interaction partners are coordinated within an interaction (social coordination hy…
The generalization of attachment representations to new social situations: Predicting behavior during initial interactions with strangers
The idea that attachment representations are generalized to new social situations and guide behavior with unfamiliar others is central to attachment theory. However, research regarding this important theoretical postulate has been lacking in adolescence and adulthood, as most research has focused on establishing the influence of attachment representations on close relationship dynamics. Thus, the goal of this investigation was to examine the exte…
The dependency paradox in close relationships: Accepting dependence promotes independence
Using multiple methods, this investigation tested the hypothesis that a close relationship partner's acceptance of dependence when needed (e.g., sensitive responsiveness to distress cues) is associated with less dependence, more autonomous functioning, and more self-sufficiency (as opposed to more dependence) on the part of the supported individual. In two studies, measures of acceptance of dependency needs and independent functioning were obtain…
A safe haven: An attachment theory perspective on support seeking and caregiving in intimate relationships
Working Models of Attachment Shape Perceptions of Social Support: Evidence From Experimental and Observational Studies
Two studies examined the association between attachment style and perceptions of social support. Study 1 (N = 95 couples) used an experimental paradigm to manipulate social support in the context of a stressful task. Insecure participants (anxious and avoidant) who received low-support messages appraised these messages more negatively, rated a prior behavioral interaction with their partner as having been less supportive, and performed significan…
Predictors of caregiving in adult intimate relationships: An attachment theoretical perspective
Romantic couples (N = 194) participated in an investigation of caregiving processes in adulthood. In Phase 1, couple members completed questionnaires designed to identify attachment style differences in caregiving behavior and to explore the underlying (personal and relationship) mechanisms that lead people with different attachment styles to be effective or ineffective caregivers. Results revealed that social support knowledge, prosocial orienta…
Projection of responsiveness to needs and the construction of satisfying communal relationships
This research tested a social projection model of perceived partner responsiveness to needs. According to this model, people project their own care and supportiveness for a partner onto their perceptions of their partner's caring and supportiveness. In 2 dyadic marriage studies, participants' self-reported responsiveness to the needs of a spouse predicted perceptions of the spouse's responsiveness to the self more strongly than did the spouse's s…
A Secure Base: Responsive Support of Goal Strivings and Exploration in Adult Intimate Relationships
A theoretical framework is proposed for examining the interpersonal processes involved in the support of a relationship partner's goal strivings, personal growth, and exploratory behavior, and for examining consequences of receiving either responsive or unresponsive support in this domain. These processes were examined using both observational and experimental methods. In Phase 1, couples were videotaped as they discussed personal goals for the f…
Feeling supported and feeling satisfied: How one partner's attachment style predicts the other partner's relationship experiences
This study explored the association between one partner's attachment style and the other partner's relationship experiences (N = 305 couples). It was hypothesized that individuals would be more satisfied in their relationship when their partners were more secure (lower in attachment avoidance and anxiety), and that this association would be mediated by perceived caregiving. Results indicated that men were less satisfied when their female partners…
The dependency paradox in close relationships: Accepting dependence promotes independence
Using multiple methods, this investigation tested the hypothesis that a close relationship partner's acceptance of dependence when needed (e.g., sensitive responsiveness to distress cues) is associated with less dependence, more autonomous functioning, and more self-sufficiency (as opposed to more dependence) on the part of the supported individual. In two studies, measures of acceptance of dependency needs and independent functioning were obtain…
Effects of adult attachment and presence of romantic partners on physiological responses to stress
The effects of presence vs. absence of a romantic partner on psychophysiological responses to a stressful laboratory situation were examined in a sample of 35 college women involved in serious dating relationships. Participants performed a standard psychological stress task both in the presence and in the absence of their romantic partners, with order counterbalanced across participants. Heart rate and blood pressure were measured in each of thes…
Relationship influences on exploration in adulthood: The characteristics and function of a secure base
This investigation advances theory and research regarding relationship influences on exploration in adulthood. This is accomplished by (a) identifying important characteristics of a secure base, (b) examining the influence of the presence or absence of these characteristics on exploration behavior in adulthood, and (c) identifying individual-difference factors that are predictive of the provision and receipt of secure base support. In 2 sessions,…
Touch reduces romantic jealousy in the anxiously attached
Feelings of jealousy are usually detrimental to relationships, often resulting in negative outcomes ranging from conflict to violence and relationship dissolution. Anxiously attached individuals are especially prone to jealousy in their relationships and are therefore especially likely to experience negative outcomes of jealousy. In this research, we examined the effectiveness of both touch and a traditional security prime as a potential means of…
Keep in touch: The effects of imagined touch support on stress and exploration
Growing through attachment: The interplay of attachment and exploration in adulthood
In this paper we discuss the advancement of theory and research regarding relationship influences on exploration in adulthood. First, we describe and extend attachment theory's concept of a secure base and discuss the need for continued theoretical development in this area. Second, we describe an innovative program of research (involving the use of a variety of research methods) that tests some of these theoretical extensions in the context of ad…
Interpersonal touch as a resource to facilitate positive personal and relational outcomes during stress discussions
This investigation examined the extent to which receiving touch during discussions of stressors predicts subsequent personal and relational well-being. Married couples were unobtrusively videotaped as couple-members took turns discussing their personal stressors with one another. We assessed the degree to which couple-members received touch from their spouses during the discussions and investigated whether touch receipt predicted beneficial perso…
Individual and relational differences in desire for touch in romantic relationships
Although touch is common in romantic relationships and is generally beneficial, people differ in the extent to which they desire to give and receive touch. The current research identified individual and relationship characteristics that predict overall desire for touch and unique desire for overtly affectionate versus indirectly affectionate forms of touch. In both a sample of dating, engaged, and married individuals (Study 1) and a dyadic sample…
Daily goal progress is facilitated by spousal support and promotes psychological, physical, and relational well-being throughout adulthood
In 2 daily diary studies, we tested the consequences and precursors of daily goal progress throughout the adult life span. Attachment theory posits that exploration-including the pursuit of autonomous goals-promotes well-being across the life span and is facilitated by support from close others. For both young-adult newlyweds (Study 1) and married couples in late adulthood (Study 2), daily independent goal progress predicted same-day and next-day…
The generalization of attachment representations to new social situations: Predicting behavior during initial interactions with strangers
The idea that attachment representations are generalized to new social situations and guide behavior with unfamiliar others is central to attachment theory. However, research regarding this important theoretical postulate has been lacking in adolescence and adulthood, as most research has focused on establishing the influence of attachment representations on close relationship dynamics. Thus, the goal of this investigation was to examine the exte…
Benefits of daily support visibility versus invisibility across the adult life span
Amid growing disagreement about the benefits of visible and invisible support, we tested daily associations among support visibility and changes in individual and relational well-being in young adult newlyweds (Study 1) and older married couples (Study 2). To extend past research, we assessed emotional and practical support visibility in 3 contexts (context-general, stress-related, and goal-related) each day. In both samples, reporting context-ge…
Attachment insecurity and perceived partner suffering as predictors of personal distress
Reconstructive Memory Related to Adolescent-Parent Conflict Interactions: The Influence of Attachment-Related Representations on Immediate Perceptions and Changes in Perceptions Over Time
This investigation examined the hypothesis that individuals change, over time, their perceptions of interactions with attachment figures in ways that are consistent with their attachment-related representations of those individuals. In an original and a replication study, adolescents participated in laboratory conflict discussions with each of their parents. Adolescents rated their perceptions of the interactions immediately after the conflict di…
Social Support is a Balancing Act: Mitigating Attachment Anxiety by Supporting Independence and Dependence
Due to the personal and relationship costs associated with attachment anxiety, there has been substantial interest in identifying factors that reduce attachment anxiety over time and buffer attachment anxiety in the moment. We integrated the Attachment Security Enhancement Model (ASEM) and the dependency paradox based in attachment theory to derive novel predictions about how perceived partner support predicts attachment anxiety prospectively (on…
Perceptions of oneself and one’s spouse following a stressor discussion predicting attachment insecurity over one year
The Attachment Security Enhancement Model (ASEM) posits that attachment anxiety decreases when people revise their negative working model of self, whereas attachment avoidance decreases when people revise their negative working model of others. These revisions are expected to occur in diagnostic situations that provide relevant information about the self and close others. Guided by this theory, the current research assessed whether state percepti…
What will I tell you about my marriage? The relationship between attachment and autobiographical memory of married life
The relationship between attachment orientation and the emotional and thematic content of autobiographical memory about marriage in later life was investigated. A total of 242 older married adults received a quick recall interview to retrieve as many events as one could of what happened in his or her marital life. Each event was rated by the participant on its emotional valence, and its thematic content was coded by two raters according to three …
Effects of adult attachment and presence of romantic partners on physiological responses to stress
The effects of presence vs. absence of a romantic partner on psychophysiological responses to a stressful laboratory situation were examined in a sample of 35 college women involved in serious dating relationships. Participants performed a standard psychological stress task both in the presence and in the absence of their romantic partners, with order counterbalanced across participants. Heart rate and blood pressure were measured in each of thes…
A safe haven: An attachment theory perspective on support seeking and caregiving in intimate relationships
Predictors of caregiving in adult intimate relationships: An attachment theoretical perspective
Romantic couples (N = 194) participated in an investigation of caregiving processes in adulthood. In Phase 1, couple members completed questionnaires designed to identify attachment style differences in caregiving behavior and to explore the underlying (personal and relationship) mechanisms that lead people with different attachment styles to be effective or ineffective caregivers. Results revealed that social support knowledge, prosocial orienta…
Motivations for Caregiving in Adult Intimate Relationships: Influences on Caregiving Behavior and Relationship Functioning
This study identified and examined the correlates of specific motivations for caregiving in romantic couples (N = 194 couples). At Time 1, couple members completed measures assessing motivations for caregiving, the quality of caregiving that occurs in the relationship, and personal and relationship characteristics that might influence caregiving motivations. Relationship functioning was then assessed 2 to 3 months later. Results revealed that (a)…
Reconstructive Memory Related to Adolescent-Parent Conflict Interactions: The Influence of Attachment-Related Representations on Immediate Perceptions and Changes in Perceptions Over Time
This investigation examined the hypothesis that individuals change, over time, their perceptions of interactions with attachment figures in ways that are consistent with their attachment-related representations of those individuals. In an original and a replication study, adolescents participated in laboratory conflict discussions with each of their parents. Adolescents rated their perceptions of the interactions immediately after the conflict di…
A Secure Base: Responsive Support of Goal Strivings and Exploration in Adult Intimate Relationships
A theoretical framework is proposed for examining the interpersonal processes involved in the support of a relationship partner's goal strivings, personal growth, and exploratory behavior, and for examining consequences of receiving either responsive or unresponsive support in this domain. These processes were examined using both observational and experimental methods. In Phase 1, couples were videotaped as they discussed personal goals for the f…
Working Models of Attachment Shape Perceptions of Social Support: Evidence From Experimental and Observational Studies
Two studies examined the association between attachment style and perceptions of social support. Study 1 (N = 95 couples) used an experimental paradigm to manipulate social support in the context of a stressful task. Insecure participants (anxious and avoidant) who received low-support messages appraised these messages more negatively, rated a prior behavioral interaction with their partner as having been less supportive, and performed significan…
The dependency paradox in close relationships: Accepting dependence promotes independence
Using multiple methods, this investigation tested the hypothesis that a close relationship partner's acceptance of dependence when needed (e.g., sensitive responsiveness to distress cues) is associated with less dependence, more autonomous functioning, and more self-sufficiency (as opposed to more dependence) on the part of the supported individual. In two studies, measures of acceptance of dependency needs and independent functioning were obtain…
Projection of responsiveness to needs and the construction of satisfying communal relationships
This research tested a social projection model of perceived partner responsiveness to needs. According to this model, people project their own care and supportiveness for a partner onto their perceptions of their partner's caring and supportiveness. In 2 dyadic marriage studies, participants' self-reported responsiveness to the needs of a spouse predicted perceptions of the spouse's responsiveness to the self more strongly than did the spouse's s…
Feeling supported and feeling satisfied: How one partner's attachment style predicts the other partner's relationship experiences
This study explored the association between one partner's attachment style and the other partner's relationship experiences (N = 305 couples). It was hypothesized that individuals would be more satisfied in their relationship when their partners were more secure (lower in attachment avoidance and anxiety), and that this association would be mediated by perceived caregiving. Results indicated that men were less satisfied when their female partners…
The generalization of attachment representations to new social situations: Predicting behavior during initial interactions with strangers
The idea that attachment representations are generalized to new social situations and guide behavior with unfamiliar others is central to attachment theory. However, research regarding this important theoretical postulate has been lacking in adolescence and adulthood, as most research has focused on establishing the influence of attachment representations on close relationship dynamics. Thus, the goal of this investigation was to examine the exte…
Affiliation with new peer acquaintances during two initial social support interactions
This investigation examined the influence of a prior social support interaction on a subsequent interaction between new peer acquaintances. Pairs of adolescent peers (recruited in a large metropolitan area in the United States) were videotaped as they met and discussed current life concerns in 2 separate interactions. Results indicated that (a) the behaviors of new interaction partners are coordinated within an interaction (social coordination hy…
Attachment insecurity and perceived partner suffering as predictors of personal distress
Relationship influences on exploration in adulthood: The characteristics and function of a secure base
This investigation advances theory and research regarding relationship influences on exploration in adulthood. This is accomplished by (a) identifying important characteristics of a secure base, (b) examining the influence of the presence or absence of these characteristics on exploration behavior in adulthood, and (c) identifying individual-difference factors that are predictive of the provision and receipt of secure base support. In 2 sessions,…
Growing through attachment: The interplay of attachment and exploration in adulthood
In this paper we discuss the advancement of theory and research regarding relationship influences on exploration in adulthood. First, we describe and extend attachment theory's concept of a secure base and discuss the need for continued theoretical development in this area. Second, we describe an innovative program of research (involving the use of a variety of research methods) that tests some of these theoretical extensions in the context of ad…
Attachment orientation and reactions to anxiety expression in close relationships
This study examined perceptions, interpretations, and emotional reactions to a close partner's anxiety expression as mediators for the association between attachment orientation and caregiving effectiveness. One member of married or dating couples was exposed to a stressor and unobtrusively observed while interacting with his or her partner. Results revealed that anxious attachment was related to higher perceptions of partners' anxiety expression…
A New Look at Social Support: A Theoretical Perspective on Thriving Through Relationships
Close and caring relationships are undeniably linked to health and well-being at all stages in the life span. Yet the specific pathways through which close relationships promote optimal well-being are not well understood. In this article, we present a model of thriving through relationships to provide a theoretical foundation for identifying the specific interpersonal processes that underlie the effects of close relationships on thriving. This mo…
A Sense of Security: Touch Promotes State Attachment Security
Adults can be made to experience state attachment security (e.g., feel calm, cared for, and trusting) when they recall experiences, in which others were accepting and responsive. In two experiments, we tested whether receiving affectionate touch in the context of a close relationship naturally promotes state attachment security. As hypothesized, participants who imagined receiving touch had greater accessibility of secure words on a memory task (…
Keep in touch: The effects of imagined touch support on stress and exploration
Daily goal progress is facilitated by spousal support and promotes psychological, physical, and relational well-being throughout adulthood
In 2 daily diary studies, we tested the consequences and precursors of daily goal progress throughout the adult life span. Attachment theory posits that exploration-including the pursuit of autonomous goals-promotes well-being across the life span and is facilitated by support from close others. For both young-adult newlyweds (Study 1) and married couples in late adulthood (Study 2), daily independent goal progress predicted same-day and next-day…
Affectionate Touch to Promote Relational, Psychological, and Physical Well-Being in Adulthood: A Theoretical Model and Review of the Research
Throughout the life span, individuals engage in affectionate touch with close others. Touch receipt promotes well-being in infancy, but the impacts of touch in adult close relationships have been largely unexplored. In this article, we propose that affectionate touch receipt promotes relational, psychological, and physical well-being in adulthood, and we present a theoretical mechanistic model to explain why affectionate touch may promote these o…
Apprehensive about retirement: Women, life transitions, and relationships
Understanding women's attitudes toward retirement is crucial for being able to help women adjust to this transition. The present study uses interviews and questionnaires to understand retirement ambivalence and the role that close relationships play in women's retirement experiences. Findings indicate that women have mixed feelings about retirement; they are both excited and fearful. They particularly enjoy the freedom and control this transition…
What will I tell you about my marriage? The relationship between attachment and autobiographical memory of married life
The relationship between attachment orientation and the emotional and thematic content of autobiographical memory about marriage in later life was investigated. A total of 242 older married adults received a quick recall interview to retrieve as many events as one could of what happened in his or her marital life. Each event was rated by the participant on its emotional valence, and its thematic content was coded by two raters according to three …
Interpersonal touch as a resource to facilitate positive personal and relational outcomes during stress discussions
This investigation examined the extent to which receiving touch during discussions of stressors predicts subsequent personal and relational well-being. Married couples were unobtrusively videotaped as couple-members took turns discussing their personal stressors with one another. We assessed the degree to which couple-members received touch from their spouses during the discussions and investigated whether touch receipt predicted beneficial perso…
Touch reduces romantic jealousy in the anxiously attached
Feelings of jealousy are usually detrimental to relationships, often resulting in negative outcomes ranging from conflict to violence and relationship dissolution. Anxiously attached individuals are especially prone to jealousy in their relationships and are therefore especially likely to experience negative outcomes of jealousy. In this research, we examined the effectiveness of both touch and a traditional security prime as a potential means of…
Psychology (34 works) · Developmental psychology (32 works) · Social Psychology (31 works) · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics (30 works) · Family Dynamics and Relationships (13 works) · Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior (12 works) · Social Psychology (12 works) · Attachment theory (10 works) · Clinical Psychology (10 works) · Clinical Psychology (9 works)