The Roles of Family Factors and Relationship Dynamics on Dating Violence Victimization and Perpetration among College Men and Women in Emerging Adulthood

Using data from the International Dating Violence Study, this study examined the roles of early socialization, family social structure, and relationship dynamics factors on physical aggression in dating among U.S. college students in emerging adulthood. 

The interaction effects between these three domains of interest (early socialization, family social structure, and relationship dynamics) were explored to understand the underlying mechanisms that influenced victimization and perpetration in dating. 

In general, we found that family and relational variables associated with dating victimization and perpetration were fairly similar. Among the early socialization variables, experience of childhood neglect and having witnessed domestic violence were significantly related to victimization and perpetration. Living in a two-parent household appeared to exert a protective effect, although associations with parental education were not statistically significant. 

Furthermore, the participants were more likely to experience victimization or impose aggression in dating relationships which were characterized by conflicts, distress, dominance, or psychological aggression. Overall, for the participants who came from a two-parent household, dominance in dating was linked to less violence. 

When the participants faced higher levels of psychological aggression, adverse early socialization factors were associated with higher levels of dating violence victimization and perpetration. Research and practice implications were discussed.

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By:  Paat YF1, Markham C2.

• 1The University of Texas at El Paso, USA ypaat@utep.edu.
• 2University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, USA. 
• J Interpers Violence. 2016 Mar 27. pii: 0886260516640544

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Upset Over Sexual versus Emotional Infidelity among Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Heterosexual Adults

One hypothesis derived from evolutionary perspectives is that men are more upset than women by sexual infidelity and women are more upset than men by emotional infidelity. The proposed explanation is that men, in contrast to women, face the risk of unwittingly investing in genetically unrelated offspring. Most studies, however, have relied on small college or community samples of heterosexual participants. 

We examined upset over sexual versus emotional jealousy among 63,894 gay, lesbian, bisexual, and heterosexual participants. Participants imagined which would upset them more: their partners having sex with someone else (but not falling in love with them) or their partners falling in love with someone else (but not having sex with them). 

Consistent with this evolutionary perspective, heterosexual men were more likely than heterosexual women to be upset by sexual infidelity (54 vs. 35 %) and less likely than heterosexual women to be upset by emotional infidelity (46 vs. 65 %). This gender difference emerged across age groups, income levels, history of being cheated on, history of being unfaithful, relationship type, and length. 

The gender difference, however, was limited to heterosexual participants. Bisexual men and women did not differ significantly from each other in upset over sexual infidelity (30 vs. 27 %), regardless of whether they were currently dating a man (35 vs. 29 %) or woman (28 vs. 20 %). Gay men and lesbian women also did not differ (32 vs. 34 %). 

The findings present strong evidence that a gender difference exists in a broad sample of U.S. adults, but only among heterosexuals.

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By:  Frederick DA1, Fales MR2.

• 1Department of Psychology, Crean School of Health & Life Sciences, Chapman University, One University Drive, Orange, CA, 92866, USA. enderflies1@aol.com.
• 2Psychology Department, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
• Arch Sex Behav. 2016 Jan;45(1):175-91. doi: 10.1007/s10508-014-0409-9. Epub 2014 Dec 18. 

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It’s (Not) Over: Relationship Instability and Recovery Between Victims and Detained Domestic Abusers

We used an innovative data set involving audio-recorded conversations between abusers and victims to explore the interactional patterns that occur within violent relationships, following severe violence and the abuser’s detainment. 

Using micro-level conversational data, our analysis sequenced the hopes/desires that victims and abusers expressed around their expectations for continuing or discontinuing a connection with each other. Conversations commonly included an expressed statement to end the relationship. Although it was common for both victims and abusers to express hope of ending the relationship, victims were most likely to initiate this desire. 

In response, abusers used multiple strategies to regain connection, including 

1. challenging the victim, 
2. declaring love or a desire to continue the relationship, 
3. appealing for sympathy or help from the victim, and 
4. mirroring or accepting the victim’s desire to end the relationship (when other strategies were unsuccessful). 

Abusers’ responses served to cultivate additional conflict in the relationship while at the same time maintained communication and facilitated relationship recovery following threats of dissolution. 

These findings contribute to an increased theoretical understanding of the dynamics of domestic violence in the sensitive period involving the couple’s physical separation.

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By:  Christin L. Carotta1, Amy E. Bonomi1, Meghan A. Lee2, Lynsey A. Terrell3

1. ¹Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA
2. ²Arizona State University, Tempe, USA
3. ³Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA

1. Christin L. Carotta, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Michigan State University, 522 W. Circle Drive, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA. Emailcarotta@msu.edu

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Topography of Social Touching Depends on Emotional Bonds Between Humans

Touch is a powerful tool for communicating positive emotions. However, it has remained unknown to what extent social touch would maintain and establish social bonds. We asked a total of 1,368 people from five countries to reveal, using an Internet-based topographical self-reporting tool, those parts of their body that they would allow relatives, friends, and strangers to touch. These body regions formed relationship-specific maps in which the total area was directly related to the strength of the emotional bond between the participant and the touching person. Cultural influences were minor. We suggest that these relation-specific bodily patterns of social touch constitute an important mechanism supporting the maintenance of human social bonds.

…In all tested cultures, the higher the emotional bond, the larger the bodily area available for touching, with no statistically significant differences in the slopes of the regression lines between cultures. TAM-based social networks were concordant, and the social network members clustered consistently across different cultures, which further corroborates the relative consistency of social touch across the studied cultures. However, because of Internet-based data acquisition, the sample comprised relatively young well-educated participants and more female than male subjects. As the connection between emotional bond and TI was similar in the United Kingdom (with equal proportion of male and female subjects with a wide age range) and other countries (with more female subjects and a restricted age range), we contend that our results are not, in general, confounded by sampling bias.

Altogether, the present findings point toward universality and biological basis of the touch-driven bonding behavior, which is, however, modulated by cultural factors: Whereas the primary mechanism for maintaining closeness of social bonds via regulating the spatial patterns of touch (i.e., association with TI and emotional bond) seems biologically determined and minimally influenced by culture, our data suggest that cultural conventions may up- or down-regulate the average magnitude of social touching (15, 16). However, it must be noted that, even though the studied countries reside thousands of kilometers apart and vary significantly with respect to majority languages and cultural conventions, they can still be considered as primarily Western cultures. The present data cannot thus confirm whether the association between touching and social bonding would hold in all possible cultures.

Female, rather than opposite-sex, touch was, in general, evaluated as more pleasant, and it was consequently allowed on larger bodily areas. It is known that females allow themselves to be touched on a larger bodily area than males (see also ref. 35) and that female same-sex touch is allowed without discomfort on most of the body surface. Our findings agree with a number of early behavioral studies outlining females as touching and being touched more often (meta-analysis in ref. 36). The reason for this sex difference remains unclear. Primate studies indicate that female grooming relationships are fairly stable (2) and that relationship quality, serviced by grooming behavior, and longevity in female baboons do not correlate (37). Together, these findings support social touching, as a human equivalent of grooming, as a predominantly feminine-appropriate behavior (38)…

Below:   Relationship-specific TAMs across all studied countries (N = 1,368 individuals). The blue-outlined black areas highlight the taboo zones, where a person with that relationship is not allowed to touch. The data are thresholded at P < 0.05, FDR-corrected. Color bar indicates the t statistic range. Blue and red labels signify male and female subjects, respectively.

Below:  Associations between touchability and social network layer (Left), emotional bond (Middle), and lapse since last meeting a person (Right). The data are thresholded at P < 0.05, FDR corrected. Color bar indicates the r statistic range.

Below:  Sex differences of TI for male (Left) and female (Right) subjects. Red and blue bars indicate female and male touchers, respectively.

Below:  Relationship-dependent SD maps for touching allowances (Left; from experiment 2) and t-maps for hedonic (A), tactile (B), and nociceptive (C) sensitivity from experiment 3. The r values show correlations between the relationship-dependent touching-allowance map and each of the sensitivity maps.

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/Mb6zqk

By:  Juulia T. Suvilehto,a,1 Enrico Glerean,a Robin I. M. Dunbar,b,c Riitta Hari,a,1 and Lauri Nummenmaaa,d

^aDepartment of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, School of Science, Aalto University, 00076 Espoo, Finland;

^bDepartment of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Ox1 3UD Oxford, United Kingdom;

^cDepartment of Computer Science, Aalto University, 00076 Espoo, Finland;

^dTurku PET Centre, and Department of Psychology, University of Turku, 20014 Turku, Finland

¹To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: if.otlaa@othelivus.ailuuj or ; Email: if.otlaa@irah.attiir.

Contributed by Riitta Hari, September 29, 2015 (sent for review April 28, 2015; reviewed by Jon H. Kaas, Håkan Olausson, and Gabriele Schino)

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Is High Sexual Desire a Risk for Women’s Relationship and Sexual Well-Being?

Historically, women’s sexual desire has been deemed socially problematic. The growing popularity of the concept of hypersexuality—which lists high sexual desire among its core components—poses a risk of re-pathologizing female sexual desire. 

Data from a 2014 online survey of 2,599 Croatian women aged 18–60 years was used to examine whether high sexual desire is detrimental to women’s relationship and sexual well-being. Based on the highest scores on an indicator of sexual desire, 178 women were classified in the high sexual desire (HSD) group; women who scored higher than one standard deviation above the Hypersexual Disorder Screening Inventory mean were categorized in the hypersexuality (HYP) group (n = 239). 

Fifty-seven women met the classification criteria for both groups (HYP&HSD). Compared to other groups, the HSD was the most sexually active group. Compared to controls, the HYP and HYP & HSD groups—but not the HSD group—reported significantly more negative consequences associated with their sexuality. Compared to the HYP group, women with HSD reported better sexual function, higher sexual satisfaction, and lower odds of negative behavioral consequences. 

The findings suggest that, at least among women, hypersexuality should not be conflated with high sexual desire and frequent sexual activity.

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By:  Aleksandar Štulhofer^a*, Sophie Bergeron^b & Tanja Jurin^c

^a Department of Sociology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb

^b Department of Psychology, University of Montreal

^c Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb

 

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Drawing the Line: The Development of a Comprehensive Assessment of Infidelity Judgments

Infidelity is a leading cause of relationship discord and dissolution, and couples generally report expectations to maintain monogamy. However, a majority of men and women report engaging in some form of infidelity at least once in their lives. 

Research assessing judgments of the behaviors that constitute infidelity is lacking. The three studies reported here advanced the literature by developing and validating the Definitions of Infidelity Questionnaire (DIQ), a comprehensive measure examining infidelity judgments. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicated four factors to the scale: sexual/explicit behaviors, technology/online behaviors, emotional/affectionate behaviors, and solitary behaviors. Investigation of the psychometric properties demonstrated the DIQ to be reliable and valid. 

Participants agreed that sexual/explicit behaviors comprised infidelity to the largest extent, whereas other types of behaviors (technology/online behaviors, emotional/affectionate behaviors, and solitary behaviors) were judged as comprising infidelity to a lesser extent. Men reported more permissive judgments than did women. 

This study provides insights regarding operationalizing infidelity and identifying areas of ambiguity and consensus. Implications of the findings for educators and practitioners working with individuals in intimate relationships are discussed.

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By:  Ashley E. Thompson^a* & Lucia F. O’Sullivan^a

• ^a Department of Psychology, University of New Brunswick

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Re-Search: The Missing Pieces in Investigating African-American Relationship Dynamics and Implications for HIV Risk

African-Americans account for roughly 14% of the population, yet comprise 44% of new HIV/AIDS infections in the United States (Centers for Disease Control, 2013). 

These numbers represent a grave health disparity where African-Americans bear a disproportionate brunt of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. While much of the funding for research in HIV prevention among African-Americans remains focused on the MSM (men who have sex with men) population, heterosexual African-Americans have been left with little direction for effectively confronting this epidemic. 

Furthermore, most prevention messaging is focused at the individual-level, encouraging mutual monogamy and consistent condom use ( Nydegger, Keeler, Hood, Siegel & Stacy, 2013). However, placing onus solely on the individual is problematic as Prado, Lightfoot, & Brown , 2013; there are structural and community-level factors that complicate an individual's ability to substantially reduce their risk. 

Here, we make a call for conducting studies that more comprehensively examine the historical, societal, structural, and community-level factors that affect African-American heterosexual relationships, perpetuating increased risk for HIV/AIDS infection in this group.

Full article at:  http://goo.gl/xAxdXf

By:  Valerie Newsome, Zupenda Davis, and Jessica Dinac

National Development and Research Institutes

 

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