Intimacy maturity and its correlates in young married couples

Relational Competence in Emerging Adult Adoptees: Conceptualizing Competence in Close Relationships

Little research has focused on the positive adjustment of emerging adult adoptees (Palacios & Brodzinsky, 2010). Given the developmental context of emerging adulthood (Arnett, 2000), it is important to select an indicator of adjustment that reflects the associated ambiguity. The present study aims to provide empirical support for the construct of relational competence, or competence in one's closest relationship regardless of relationship type (i.e., romantic vs. nonromantic) among emerging adult adoptees. Participants included 162 adoptees who had been adopted before the age of one in the United States through private domestic adoption in to same-race families. Relational competence was measured by adapting a measure of romantic competence in emerging adulthood (Shulman, Davila, & Shachar-Shapira, 2011). Indicators of relational competence were coded from interviews in which participants discussed their self-identified closest relationship (White, Speisman, Jackson, Bartis & Costos, 1986). Confirmatory factor analyses showed that the proposed model of relational competence was a good fit to the data and was invariant across relationship type and gender. No differences in relational competence scores were found by relationship type or by gender (all p's >. 552). Relational competence was positively associated with adaptive functioning (β = .325, p = .006) and negatively associated with internalizing (β = -.246, p = .035) and externalizing behavior (β = -.347, p = .003).

Understanding Cognitive Changes in Intimacy in Long-Term Romantic Relationships

Individuals in Western societies generally look to their romantic partner to meet most of their intimacy needs. However, the level and the nature of the intimacy that partners share varies over the years and over the significant events they experience. Drawing from the literature, this is a review that integrates two approaches to understanding the cognitive changes in intimacy that occur over the course of long-term romantic relationships. It may be helpful for practitioners to teach partners how to identify their relationship-related cognitions and how to translate this greater awareness into the acquisition of new behavioral skills.

Marital Satisfaction and Sex-Roles in a New York Metropolitan Sample

145 married men and 143 married women completed Snyder's 1981 Marital Satisfaction Inventory and the Bern Sex-role Inventory (Short Version). Analyses showed that scores on femininity correlated with more marital satisfaction indices than did scores on masculinity. Masculinity correlated with more marital satisfaction indices for men than for women. Finances showed no relationship with the Bern indices. All of the statistically significant correlations were negative, indicating that sex-role attributes are associated with diminished marital dissatisfaction. Despite the low magnitude of the correlations, their statistical significance points to congruence between sex-roles and marital satisfaction.

Gender Differences in Relationship Awareness and Marital Satisfaction among Young Married Couples

Relationship awareness is defined here as thinking about interaction patterns, comparisons, or contrasts between oneself and one's partner in a relationship. This concept provides a frame-work for examining the effects of spouses' thinking and talking about their own relationships on marital satisfaction and contentment with life. During interviews conducted with 42 married couples, wives talked more about their relationships than their husbands did. Wives' marital satisfaction was positively associated with the husbands' degree of relationship talk during the interview. The association between husbands' relationship talk and wives' marital well-being was strongest for wives who talked very little about their relationship. Husbands' marital satisfaction was not related to either spouse's relationship talk. A similar pattern of results was found for contentment with life. Findings are discussed in light of previous research that focuses on gender differences in relationships, in the sense of self and interpersonal communication.

Developmental and ethnic issues experienced by emerging adult African American women related to developing a mature love relationship

This qualitative study explored perspectives of emerging adult African American women on the development of mature love relationships. Inductive analysis of focus group interviews, conducted with a purposive sample of 31 African American women, yielded themes related to relationship goals and characteristics, and interpersonal and societal challenges to finding the right partner and developing a mature love relationship. Core categories that emerged from analysis of the discussions were (1) age and relationship goal differences within the emerging adult group, (2) mature love relationship goals and characteristics, (3) interpersonal obstacles to finding the right partner, and (4) societal obstacles to finding the right partner. Two approaches-black womanist/feminist thought (Collins, 2000 ; Walker, 1983 ) and relationship maturity theory (Paul & White, 1990 )-were then combined to explain the influence of historic and contemporary interpersonal and societal factors on developmental and ethnic issues that challenge positive gender identity formation, hasten intimacy maturity, and hinder the development of mature love relationships among emerging adult African American women. For these women, premature responsibility, especially early caregiver burden, was related to the early development of intimacy capacity and the desire for a mature love relationship, to be protected, and to have someone to help carry the load. Interracial dating, negative stereotypic images of African American women, and even positive images of enduring black love relationships posed difficult challenges to positive identity formation and intimacy maturity. A primary challenge was to counteract negative stereotypic images, so that they could develop their own self-identities as women and as relationship partners.

Sensual and sexual marital contentment in parents of small children--a follow-up study when the first child is four years old

This follow-up study explored parents' (N=452) intimate relationships when their firstborn child was 6 months old and then 4 years later. The measurement used was a modified version of the Dyadic Adjustment Scale, DAS. The present results show that most parents responding were content sensually at 6 months postpartum in 2002 and 4 years later, in 2006. More parents had changed from being sensually content in 2002 to discontent in 2006, than the contrary, however, and the sexual contentment remained low. The average sexual frequency was low both at 6 months and at 4 years for both parents with and without additional children. Experiencing tiredness as a hindrance to having sex was perceived as a greater problem among those parents without additional children. Prospective regression analyses indicated that sexuality was significantly related to both sensual and sexual contentment 4 years later. Sexuality was also one of the most significant covariates in the cross-sectional regression analysis for sensual contentment. Since sexuality plays a central role in partner well-being, it may be an important target for helping parents with small children.

Perceived equity and intimacy in marriage

The extent to which perceived inequity is related to perceived marital intimacy was examined. Sixty-six couples married five years or less were randomly selected from marriage license records in a western rural community. Equity/inequity was assessed using the Walster global measure of equity. Levels of overall intimacy, conflict resolution, affection, cohesion, sexuality, identity, compatibility, autonomy, and expressiveness were measured using the Waring Intimacy Questionnaire (WIQ). Inequity was associated with lower levels of overall intimacy, compatibility, identity, and expressiveness among the wives. Among the husbands, inequity was not associated with any types of intimacy. When comparing husbands in inequitable relationships to wives in inequitable relationships, the wives reported lower scores for only one kind of intimacy--identity. Explanations and implications for marriage therapy are discussed.

Resolving the sexual intimacy paradox: a developmental model for the treatment of sexual desire disorders

Although relationship factors are an important component in the evaluation and treatment of hypoactive sexual desire (HSD) disorders, a sexual intimacy paradox often occurs wherein many couples increase the intimacy in their relationship while their sexual desire continues to decline. To resolve the apparent paradox and to further our understanding of the relationship between intimacy and eroticism, we offer a developmental model of sexual intimacy as a guide to treating the interpersonal aspects of HSD and other sexual dysfunctions. This model expands Erikson's developmental phase of intimacy into five elements: conflagration, merger, fusion, differentiation, and integration. The model is described and case examples are presented as illustrations of the therapeutic issues and resolutions within each element.

The Sexual Interaction System Scale: a new inventory for assessing sexual dysfunction and sexual distress

This paper reports on the development, reliability, and validity of a new self-report instrument: the Sexual Interaction System Scale (SISS). Initial research on 143 couples supports reliability as measured by the internal consistency of the five factors. Validity is supported by several tests: the SISS differentiated between a nonclinical group and couples in therapy for sex dysfunction and also between two clinical groups--couples with sex dysfunction and couples with other problems. It also correlated strongly with a measure of sexual satisfaction and with the Affection subscale and overall score of the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. Discussion focuses on interpretation of results via case examples and on the utility of the SISS in research and clinical practice.

A concept analysis of intimacy

This concept analysis examines how the concept of intimacy has been defined in the scholarly literature in order to determine what characteristics or necessary conditions exist that differentiate this phenomenon from all other phenomena. The objective of this concept analysis is to derive a theoretical definition of intimacy that can then be used to operationalize the concept for research. Intimacy is of significance to psychiatric nursing theory because (a) intimacy has been identified as being important to the psychosocial development of adults; (b) intimacy plays a developmental role in identity formation, through the consensual validation of personal worth by providing individuals with the opportunity to feel understood and accepted as they are, within the relationship; (c) research indicates that married couples reporting a deficiency or an absence of intimacy have a significantly higher proportion of symptoms of a nonpsychotic emotional illness; (d) failure to develop intimacy in relationships has been identified as one of the most common factors for seeking outpatient psychotherapy; and (e) intimacy has been identified as a key component in individuals' satisfaction with their social support. The theoretical definition for intimacy is this: a quality of a relationship in which the individuals must have reciprocal feelings of trust and emotional closeness toward each other and are able to openly communicate thoughts and feelings with each other. The conditions that must be met for intimacy to occur include reciprocity of trust, emotional closeness, and self-disclosure. As the literature does not uniformly incorporate physical intimacy as a necessary condition for the concept of intimacy, physical closeness was not incorporated into the definition.

Marital conflict and adjustment: speech nonfluencies in intimate disclosure

Speech nonfluency in response to questions about the marital relationship was used to assess anxiety. Subjects were 31 husbands and 31 wives, all white, college educated, from middle- to lower-middle-class families, and ranging from 20 to 30 years of age. Three types of nonfluencies were coded: filled pauses, unfilled pauses, and repetitions. Speech-disturbance ratios were computed by dividing the sum of speech nonfluencies by the total words spoken. The results support the notion that some issues within marriage are more sensitive and/or problematic than others, and that, in an interview situation, gender interacts with question content in the production of nonfluencies.

Psychoanalysis, marital therapy, and object-relations theory

This paper attempts to indicate why psychoanalysts should be interested in marital therapy. It discusses the clinical advantages and disadvantages of marital therapy as compared to psychoanalysis, describes the contributions of the classical psychoanalytic viewpoint to marital therapy, and finally, attempts to complement the classical psychoanalytic viewpoint with an object-relations viewpoint which can illuminate marital dynamics and provide interpretive content during the course of marital therapy.