It's complicated: The good and bad of ambivalence in romantic relationships

People often feel mixed and conflicting feelings (i.e., ambivalence) toward their romantic partner. So far, research has primarily shown that ambivalence is linked to negative outcomes in relationships, but is this always true? Building off the affect, behavior, cognition model of ambivalence, the present work tests the idea that, when ambivalent, individuals can experience both positive and negative cognitive and behavioral responses toward their partner. This idea was tested in three different studies with people in romantic relationships: a cross-sectional international study (n = 665), a 10-day daily diary study (n = 171), and a 12-day daily diary study with two follow-ups (n = 176 couples and nine individuals). Across studies, when people experienced greater subjective ambivalence (i.e., explicitly reported feeling mixed and conflicted) toward their partner, they spent more time thinking about the difficulties they faced in their relationship but also about ways in which they can make it better and, in turn, engaged in both constructive (e.g., wanting to spend more time with the partner) and destructive (e.g., ignoring or criticizing the partner) behaviors toward their partner. Ambivalence was also associated with greater fluctuations in both constructive and destructive behaviors daily and over time. This work advances the current knowledge about ambivalence in romantic relationships and further demonstrates that individuals can experience both positive and negative cognitions and behaviors toward a partner when ambivalent. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Fifteen Years of Iodine Prophylaxis in Italy: Results of a Nationwide Surveillance (Period 2015-2019)

CONTEXT

In 2005, a nationwide program of iodine prophylaxis on a voluntary basis was implemented in Italy by law. However, recent data on iodine status are lacking.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to evaluate efficiency, effectiveness, and possible adverse effects (increased occurrence of thyroid autoimmunity and hyperthyroidism) of the Italian iodine prophylaxis program.

METHODS

From 2015 to 2019, a nationwide survey was performed. The use of iodized salt was evaluated in a sample of 164 593 adults and in 998 school canteens. A sample of 4233 schoolchildren (aged 11-13 years) was recruited to assess urinary iodine concentration, prevalence of goiter, and thyroid hypoechogenicity on ultrasound, with the latter being an indirect indicator of thyroid autoimmunity. Neonatal TSH values of 197 677 infants screened in regions representative of Northern, Central, and Southern Italy were analyzed to investigate the percentage of TSH values >5.0 mIU/L. Data on methimazole prescriptions were analyzed as indirect indicators of new cases of hyperthyroidism.

RESULTS

The prevalence of the use of iodized salt was 71.5% in adult population and 78% in school canteens. A median urinary iodine concentration of 124 μg/L, a prevalence of goiter of 2.2%, and a prevalence of thyroid hypoechogenicity of 5.7% were observed in schoolchildren. The percentage of neonatal TSH values >5.0 mIU/L resulted still higher (5.1%) than the World Health Organization threshold of 3.0%, whereas the prescriptions of methimazole showed a reduction of 13.5%.

CONCLUSION

Fifteen years of iodine prophylaxis have led to iodine sufficiency in Italy, although there still is concern about iodine nutritional status during pregnancy.

Objective Evaluation of Active Interactions between the Operator and Display Screen Equipment Using an Innovative Acquisition System

The occupational risk of operators using display screen equipment (DSE) is usually evaluated according to the extent of time spent in active operator-DSE interactions. Risk assessment is based on activity data collected through questionnaires. We evaluated an original and innovative system that can objectively assess active operator-DSE interactions by collecting electrical impulses generated by the activation of mouse, keyboard and a camera that collects attentive eye-screen fixation. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the system's performance on an employee sample involved in the task of active reading and copying at a DSE workstation connected to the system. In the context of mandatory health surveillance at work, we enrolled 38 DSE operators with normal neuropsychological and eye assessments who were required to complete two predefined reading and writing tasks. The obtained results show that the system is able to collect activity data derived from operator-DSE interactions through screen fixation, keyboard tapping and mouse handling. In the copying task, the session duration as recorded by the system was highly related to the screen fixation time. In the copying task, mouse and keyboard activities were more strongly related to session duration than screen fixation. For the copying task, it was also possible to obtain individual profiles of operator-DSE interactions while performing the same standardized tasks. Collected data can allow an objective evaluation of active time spent by DSE operators at their workstations, thus allowing a more accurate occupational health risk assessment and management. Prospective analysis of individual operator-DSE interaction profiles can favor the setup of targeted preventive and organizational interventions from an of even wider worker wellbeing perspective.

Feeling loved as a strong link in relationship interactions: Partners who feel loved may buffer destructive behavior by actors who feel unloved

Feeling loved (loved, cared for, accepted, valued, understood) is inherently dyadic, yet most prior theoretical perspectives and investigations have focused on how actors feeling (un)loved shapes actors' outcomes. Adopting a dyadic perspective, the present research tested whether the established links between actors feeling unloved and destructive (critical, hostile) behavior depended on partners' feelings of being loved. Does feeling loved need to be mutual to reduce destructive behavior, or can partners feeling loved compensate for actors feeling unloved? In five dyadic observational studies, couples were recorded discussing conflicts, diverging preferences or relationship strengths, or interacting with their child (total N = 842 couples; 1,965 interactions). Participants reported how much they felt loved during each interaction and independent coders rated how much each person exhibited destructive behavior. Significant Actors' × Partners' Felt-Loved interactions revealed a strong-link/mutual felt-unloved pattern: partners' high felt-loved buffered the damaging effect of actors' low felt-loved on destructive behavior, resulting in actors' destructive behavior mostly occurring when both actors' and partners' felt-loved was low. This dyadic pattern also emerged in three supplemental daily sampling studies. Providing directional support for the strong-link/mutual felt-unloved pattern, in Studies 4 and 5 involving two or more sequential interactions, Actors' × Partners' Felt-Loved in one interaction predicted actors' destructive behavior within couples' subsequent conflict interactions. The results illustrate the dyadic nature of feeling loved: Partners feeling loved can protect against actors feeling unloved in challenging interactions. Assessing Actor × Partner effects should be equally valuable for advancing understanding of other fundamentally dyadic relationship processes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Cystathionine Beta-Synthase Deficiency: Three Consecutive Cases Detected in 40 Days by Newborn Screening in Emilia Romagna (Italy) and a Comprehensive Review of the Literature

Cysthiatonine beta-synthase (CBS) deficiency (CBSD) is an autosomal recessive rare disorder caused by variations on CBS that leads to impaired conversion of homocysteine (Hcy) to cystathionine. Marked hyperhomocysteinemia is the hallmark of the disease. The administration of pyridoxine, the natural cofactor of CBS, may reduce total plasma Hcy. Patient phenotype is classified on pyridoxine responsivity in two groups: pyridoxine-responsive and non-responsive patients. Ectopia lentis, bone deformities, developmental delay, and thromboembolism are the classic signs and symptoms of the disease. Early diagnosis and treatment impact patients' natural history. Therapy aims to lower promptly and maintain Hcy concentrations below 100 μmol/L. Depending on the patient's phenotype, the treatment goals could be obtained by the administration of pyridoxine and/or betaine associated with a methionine-restricted diet. CBSD could be diagnosed in the early days of life by expanded newborn screening (ENS), however, the risk of false negative results is not negligible. In Emilia-Romagna (Italy), during the first 10 years of screening experience, only three cases of CBSD identified have been diagnosed, all in the last two years (incidence 1:118,000 live births). We present the cases and a comprehensive review of the literature to emphasize the role of ENS for early diagnosis of CBSD and its potential pitfalls, reiterating the need for a more effective method to screen for CBSD.

Relationship difficulties and "technoference" during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has touched many aspects of people's lives around the world, including their romantic relationships. While media outlets have reported that the pandemic is difficult for couples, empirical evidence is needed to test these claims and understand why this may be. In two highly powered studies (N = 3271) using repeated measure and longitudinal approaches, we found that people who experienced COVID-19 related challenges (i.e., lockdown, reduced face-to-face interactions, boredom, or worry) also reported greater self and partner phone use (Study 1) and time spent on social media (Study 2), and subsequently experienced more conflict and less satisfaction in their romantic relationship. The findings provide insight into the struggles people faced in their relationships during the pandemic and suggest that the increase in screen time - a rising phenomenon due to the migration of many parts of life online - may be a challenge for couples.

Expanded Newborn Screening in Italy Using Tandem Mass Spectrometry: Two Years of National Experience

Newborn screening (NBS) for inborn errors of metabolism is one of the most advanced tools for secondary prevention in medicine, as it allows early diagnosis and prompt treatment initiation. The expanded newborn screening was introduced in Italy between 2016 and 2017 (Law 167/2016; DM 13 October 2016; DPCM 12-1-2017). A total of 1,586,578 infants born in Italy were screened between January 2017 and December 2020. For this survey, we collected data from 15 Italian screening laboratories, focusing on the metabolic disorders identified by tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) based analysis between January 2019 and December 2020. Aminoacidemias were the most common inborn errors in Italy, and an equal percentage was observed in detecting organic acidemias and mitochondrial fatty acids beta-oxidation defects. Second-tier tests are widely used in most laboratories to reduce false positives. For example, second-tier tests for methylmalonic acid and homocysteine considerably improved the screening of CblC without increasing unnecessary recalls. Finally, the newborn screening allowed us to identify conditions that are mainly secondary to a maternal deficiency. We describe the goals reached since the introduction of the screening in Italy by exchanging knowledge and experiences among the laboratories.

How do implicit and explicit partner evaluations update in daily life? Evidence from the lab and the field

Evidence suggesting that implicit partner evaluations (IPEs), but not explicit evaluations (EPEs), can predict later changes in satisfaction and relationship status has led researchers to postulate that IPEs must be especially sensitive to relational reward and costs. However, supporting evidence for this assumption remains scarce, and very little is known regarding how IPEs versus EPEs actually update in everyday life. Two studies (one in-lab dyadic interaction study, N = 255, and one 14-day dyadic diary study, N = 348) investigated updating in IPEs and EPEs in the context of real-life relationship experiences. Study 1 revealed that the level of positive and negative experiences that a couple encountered while discussing a divergence of interests in their relationship predicted pre-to-post changes in EPEs, but not in IPEs. Study 2 revealed that IPEs showed less sensitivity to everyday relationship experiences across multiple metrics over the course of 14 days. Specifically, compared with EPEs, IPEs fluctuated less at the within- (vs. between-) person level, showed less-abrupt changes from day-to-day, and had a substantially weaker relationship with same-day positive and negative experiences. Rather than covarying with same-day experiences, IPEs appeared sensitive to relationship experiences aggregated across multiple prior days as well as to highly diagnostic relationship experiences, such as breakup. Consistent with recent advances in social-cognitive research, these findings support a modified account of IPE sensitivity, according to which IPEs show only gradual shifts under everyday circumstances, but more-dramatic shifts under highly diagnostic circumstances. Implications of these findings for close relationships and implicit social cognition research are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Mixed and conflicted: The role of ambivalence in romantic relationships in light of attractive alternatives

People in romantic relationships tend to have positive feelings toward their partner and want their relationship to last. However, maintaining a romantic relationship over time is challenging, and people can often experience mixed and conflicting feelings (i.e., ambivalence) toward their significant other. While research has identified the serious consequences that ambivalence can have for personal and relational well-being, very little is known about the factors that can lead people to experience ambivalence in relationships. The present work examines how extradyadic desire (i.e., desire for someone other than the partner), a common difficulty people face in the context of monogamy, is a situation in which people feel more ambivalent toward their partner. In three studies (N = 1,178) using experimental, daily diary, and longitudinal approaches, we find that feelings of desire for an attractive alternative increase ambivalence toward the current partner, above and beyond how much people actually value their partner, and that this has short- and long-term negative consequences for personal and relational well-being. Furthermore, while most people could identify an attractive alternative in their life, desire for the alternative-rather than just their presence-seems to play a stronger role in increasing ambivalence. This work highlights the emotional processes through which attractive alternatives pose a threat to romantic relationships and the role that ambivalence plays in daily life and over time. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Lightening the load: Perceived partner responsiveness fosters more positive appraisals of relational sacrifices

Romantic partners regularly sacrifice their own self-interest when partners' needs and preferences diverge. The present work examines the role of perceived partner responsiveness (PPR)-impressions that one's partner is understanding, caring, and validating-in positively shaping people's appraisals of their relational sacrifices. In Study 1, a preregistered experiment of romantically involved individuals (N = 548), we manipulated PPR (high, low, or control) in a hypothetical sacrifice scenario. In Study 2, we tracked romantic couples' (N = 126) in-lab conversations about a sacrifice (Study 2a), and their sacrifices in daily life (Study 2b). In Study 3, romantic couples (N = 111) engaged in lab conversations about a sacrifice that entailed making a change that one partner desired from the other, and reported on their progress 2 weeks later. In Study 4, we surveyed romantically involved individuals (N = 230) who recently made a life-changing sacrifice by relocating to a new city or country to support their partner's career. Across studies, results showed that higher PPR fostered more positive sacrifice appraisals (i.e., lower costs and viewing the act as less of a sacrifice, greater satisfaction, greater personal and relational benefits, lower regret) and greater sacrifice behavior (Study 3)-in part due to greater closeness with and lower negative affect toward the partner. Additionally, Study 4 suggested that PPR partly originated from the partner's efforts to fulfill fundamental psychological needs (i.e., autonomy, competence, relatedness). Thus, PPR can play a critical role in lightening the load of daily and even life-changing sacrifices. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Gossip and reputation in everyday life

Gossip-a sender communicating to a receiver about an absent third party-is hypothesized to impact reputation formation, partner selection, and cooperation. Laboratory experiments have found that people gossip about others' cooperativeness and that they use gossip to condition their cooperation. Here, we move beyond the laboratory and test several predictions from theories of indirect reciprocity and reputation-based partner selection about the content of everyday gossip and how people use it to update the reputation of others in their social network. In a Dutch community sample (N = 309), we sampled daily events in which people either sent or received gossip about a target over 10 days (ngossip = 5284). Gossip senders frequently shared information about targets' cooperativeness and did so in ways that minimize potential retaliation from targets. Receivers overwhelmingly believed gossip to be true and updated their evaluation of targets based on gossip. In turn, a positive shift in the evaluation of a target was associated with higher intentions to help them in future interactions, and with lower intentions to avoid them in the future. Thus, gossip is used in daily life to impact and update reputations in a way that enables partner selection and indirect reciprocity. This article is part of the theme issue 'The language of cooperation: reputation and honest signalling'.

Sacrifices: Costly prosocial behaviors in romantic relationships

Although previous research has found that prosocial behavior increases personal and relationship well-being, a particularly costly type of prosocial behavior - sacrifice - can sometimes have aversive effects and is the focus of the current review. We consider effects for both the individual who enacts the sacrifice and the recipient. Sacrifice, can take a toll on the giver's well-being, is a mixed blessing for the recipient (when they perceive the sacrifice), and may have some harmful consequences for relationships in the long-run. We discuss the importance of finding the right strategies (e.g. alternative solutions, comparison of costs and rewards between partners, reappraisals) to navigate these complex interpersonal situations in which partners' goals and preferences conflict.

How Power Affects Emotional Communication During Relationship Conflicts: The Role of Perceived Partner Responsiveness

Prior research indicated that lack of power leads to emotional suppression and low emotional expression during conflicts among strangers. However, little is known about how power affects emotional inhibition in close relationships, where partners are highly interdependent, and achieving one’s goals greatly depends on their partner’s cooperation. In three studies among romantic couples (total N = 994), we examined whether (a) power is related to emotional inhibition during conflicts, (b) perceived partner responsiveness moderates this effect and, (c) which conflict-resolution responses are subsequently enacted. Findings consistently showed that powerless individuals were more likely to inhibit their emotions and consequently to use passive responses during conflicts. However, this only occurred when they perceived lack of responsiveness from their partner. If the partner was perceived as responsive (i.e., showed care, validation, and understanding), power was not related to emotional inhibition and passive resolutions. The importance of partner’s responses in relation to power asymmetry is discussed.

The Case for Studying Implicit Social Cognition in Close Relationships

This review offers close relationships as a fruitful avenue to address long-lasting questions and current controversies in implicit social cognition research. Close relationships provide a unique opportunity to study strong attitudes that are formed and updated through ongoing contact with significant others and appear to have important downstream consequences. Therefore, close relationship contexts enable researchers to apply fine-grained, dyadic, longitudinal methodologies to provide unique insights regarding whether and how automatic attitudes relate to personal experience, change meaningfully and reliably over time, and predict consequential judgments and behaviors. Further, given that close relationships are critical to people's well-being and health, applying implicit social cognition theories to close relationships may also offer practical benefits regarding real-world issues related to relationship decay. In this regard, we provide guidance for future research by highlighting how continuing to refine our understanding of implicit social cognition in close relationships can inform interventions and reliably benefit society

Do people realize how their partners make them feel? Relationship enhancement motives and stress determine the link between implicitly assessed partner attitudes and relationship satisfaction

Do people realize the evaluative feelings that are spontaneously activated by their partner? If so, do they use those evaluations when judging their romantic relationships? To answer these questions, we investigated the association between automatic partner attitudes and judgments of relationship satisfaction in 7 studies. Study 1 was a meta-analysis of 86 correlations that revealed a very weak association between implicitly and explicitly assessed relationship evaluations, and Studies 2a-2c revealed that people failed to accurately report their automatic partner attitudes even when specifically asked to do so. Consistent with the idea that such inaccuracy emerged in part because motivational factors led people to override their automatic attitudes, Studies 3 and 4 demonstrated that automatic partner attitudes better aligned with relationship judgments when people were incentivized with money (Study 3) and had dissolved their relationship (Study 4). Nevertheless, consistent with the idea that overriding automatic attitudes requires the opportunity to deliberate, Studies 4 and 5 demonstrated that automatic partner attitudes better aligned with relationship judgments when people experienced more stress at the daily level (Study 4) and yearly for two years (Study 5). In Study 5, the interaction between stress and automatic attitudes emerged controlling indicators of negativity and was further moderated by relationship enhancing motivations among wives. These studies (a) help explain why automatic partner attitudes predict self-reported relationship satisfaction over time and (b) provide support for theories of social cognition suggesting that people have access to implicitly assessed attitudes that is obscured by motivations and opportunities to deliberate. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The link between sacrifice and relational and personal well-being: A meta-analysis

Prosocial behavior is often thought to bring benefits to individuals and relationships. Do such benefits exist when prosocial behavior is costly for the individual, such as when people are sacrificing for their partner or relationship? Although different theoretical accounts would predict that sacrifice is either positively or negatively associated with personal and relational well-being, empirical work in this regard has been inconclusive. We conducted a meta-analytic synthesis of 82 data sets and 9,547 effect sizes (N = 32,053) to test the link between sacrifice and both personal and relationship well-being for both the individual who performs the sacrifice and their romantic partner. We examined four different facets of sacrifice (i.e., willingness to sacrifice, behavioral sacrifice, satisfaction with sacrifice, and costs of sacrifice). Results revealed that these facets were differently associated with well-being. Specifically, an individual's willingness to sacrifice was positively associated with their own personal and relationship well-being and with their partner's relationship well-being (.09 < rs < .27). However, behavioral sacrifice was negatively associated with own personal well-being (r = -.07). Satisfaction with sacrifice was positively associated with individual and partner well-being (.11 < rs < .43). Costs of sacrifice were negatively related to one's own personal and relationship well-being and to the partner's relationship well-being (-.10 < rs < -.26). Some moderators were also identified. We discuss the implications of these findings for research on prosocial behavior and relationships, address the implications of the methodologies used to study prosocial behavior, and suggest directions for future research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

When and for Whom Implicit Partner Evaluations Predict Forgiveness

Recent work suggests that implicit partner evaluations have long-term implications for relationship success. However, little evidence shows whether and under which conditions implicit partner evaluations affect relationship maintenance processes in daily life, especially those exhibited in situations that may be highly decisive for the fate of the relationship, such as when partners hurt each other. Drawing upon dual-process theories, we predicted that, when executive control is limited—either as a trait or a state—people’s implicit partner evaluations influence forgiveness toward their partner. Results revealed that when temporarily impairing people’s executive control with an experimental manipulation (Study 1), or for people with lower trait executive control (Study 2), more positive implicit partner evaluations were associated with more forgiveness, both in laboratory settings and in an 8-day diary. These findings highlight the importance of implicit partner evaluations under specific, yet common, conditions for promoting reparatory responses that are key to relationship success.

Taking Stock of Reality: Biased Perceptions of the Costs of Romantic Partners’ Sacrifices

When romantic partners sacrifice their own self-interest to benefit the relationship, the sacrificer or recipient may—for various reasons—be biased in how they perceive the costs that the sacrificer incurs. In Study 1, romantic couples ( N = 125) rated their own and their partner’s costs after a conversation about a sacrifice in the laboratory, followed by extensive experience sampling in their natural environment. In Study 2, a preregistered experiment, individuals ( N = 775) imagined a scenario in which they, their partner, or an unknown person sacrificed and rated the associated costs and benefits. Both studies demonstrated a consistent discrepancy between perceptions of own and partner sacrifice, driven primarily by people underestimating their own sacrifice costs and overestimating the benefits (Study 2). Results across studies showed that this underestimation bias helps people to feel better and feel more satisfied in the relationship when giving up their own goals and preferences for the relationship.

How reproductive hormonal changes affect relationship dynamics for women and men: A 15-day diary study

Research suggests that women's sexual psychology and behavior change across the ovulatory cycle, but very little is known about how fluctuations in estradiol and progesterone - two hormones that systematically vary across the ovulatory cycle - affect romantic relationship dynamics. We present the first dyadic study to assess daily hormonal fluctuations and personal and relationship well-being from both partners' perspectives. Specifically, we recruited women who were not using hormonal contraception and their partners for a 15-day diary study. Participants collected daily urine samples to assess estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone, and they responded to daily questions about their relationship. Results revealed that increases in estradiol negatively affected women's relationship evaluations. Men perceived these changes, which in turn, affected men's well-being. The present findings highlight the importance of women's hormonal fluctuations in shaping relationship dynamics and provide, for the first time, information about how such fluctuations affect male partners.

How Anticipated Emotions Guide Self-Control Judgments

When considering whether to enact or not to enact a tempting option, people often anticipate how their choices will make them feel, typically resulting in a “mixed bag” of conflicting emotions. Building on earlier work, we propose an integrative theoretical model of this judgment process and empirically test its main propositions using a novel procedure to capture and integrate both the intensity and duration of anticipated emotions. We identify and theoretically integrate four highly relevant key emotions, pleasure, frustration, guilt, and pride. Whereas the former two (basic hedonic) emotions are anticipated to dissipate relatively quickly, the latter two (self-conscious) emotions are anticipated to be more long-lived. Regarding the relative weighting of emotions, we obtained evidence for a relative guilt bias and pride neglect under default conditions. Furthermore, we identify situational influences on this judgment process and find that rendering self-conscious emotions more situationally salient positively impacts self-control decision-making. We discuss how these findings build on an integrative theory of self-control and how they are useful for the design of choice environments and interventions.

Speech Is Silver, Nonverbal Behavior Is Gold: How Implicit Partner Evaluations Affect Dyadic Interactions in Close Relationships

Growing evidence suggests that the seeds of relationship decay can be detected via implicit partner evaluations even when explicit evaluations fail to do so. However, little is known about the concrete daily relational processes that explain why these gut feelings are such important determinants of relationships’ long-term outcomes. The present integrative multimethod research yielded a novel finding: that participants with more positive implicit partner evaluations exhibited more constructive nonverbal (but not verbal) behavior toward their partner in a videotaped dyadic interaction. In turn, this behavior was associated with greater satisfaction with the conversation and with the relationship in the following 8-day diary portion of the study. These findings represent a significant step forward in understanding the crucial role of automatic processes in romantic relationships. Together, they provide novel evidence that relationship success appears to be highly dependent on how people spontaneously behave in their relationship, which may be ultimately rooted in their implicit partner evaluations.

I Gave Too Much

Low self-esteem is often related to interpersonal difficulties. In fact, low self-esteem people fear rejection and tend to adopt self-protection goals. In the present work, we tested the idea that when low self-esteem individuals decide to sacrifice personal preferences for their relationship, they come to regret those actions, with further consequences for their well-being. We conducted a study with 130 couples, using experience sampling, daily diary, and a 1-year follow-up assessment. Results showed that low self-esteem is related to greater regret of past sacrifices, which, in turn, affects negative mood, stress, and life satisfaction. Furthermore, mediation analyses revealed that low self-esteem individuals feel less supported by the partner after they sacrifice, which helps explaining why they come to regret their sacrifices.

The Road to Bribery and Corruption

Major forms of corruption constitute a strong threat to the functioning of societies. The most frequent explanation of how severe corruption emerges is the slippery-slope metaphor-the notion that corruption occurs gradually. While having widespread theoretical and intuitive appeal, this notion has barely been tested empirically. We used a recently developed paradigm to test whether severely corrupt acts happen gradually or abruptly. The results of four experimental studies revealed a higher likelihood of severe corruption when participants were directly given the opportunity to engage in it (abrupt) compared with when they had previously engaged in minor forms of corruption (gradual). Neither the size of the payoffs, which we kept constant, nor evaluations of the actions could account for these differences. Contrary to widely shared beliefs, sometimes the route to corruption leads over a steep cliff rather than a slippery slope.

Erratum to: 36th International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine: Brussels, Belgium. 15-18 March 2016

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s13054-016-1208-6.].

Me or Us? Self-Control Promotes a Healthy Balance Between Personal and Relationship Concerns

Although romantic partners strive to achieve an optimal balance in fulfilling both personal and relational concerns, they are inevitably challenged by how much time and effort they can dedicate to both concerns. In the present work, we examined the role of self-control in successfully maintaining personal–relational balance through promoting balance and preventing personal and relational imbalance (overdedication to personal or relational concerns, respectively). We conducted two studies among romantic couples (total N = 555), using questionnaires and diary procedures to assess everyday experiences of personal-relational balance and imbalance. Both studies consistently showed that self-control promotes personal–relational balance. Moreover, findings partly supported our hypothesis that self-control prevents personal and relational imbalance (Study 2). Finally, findings also revealed that maintaining personal–relational balance is one of the mechanisms by which self-control can promote personal and relationship well-being. Implications of the present findings and avenues for future research are discussed.

Prospection in Individual and Interpersonal Corruption Dilemmas

Corruption represents 1 of the main societal challenges of our time. At present, there is no theoretical framework distinguishing the prospective decision-making processes involved in different acts of corruption. We differentiate between 2 broad categories of corrupt acts that have different implications for prospective cognition: individual corrupt acts, which refer to a power holder individually abusing entrusted power; and interpersonal corrupt acts, which refer to a power holder abusing entrusted power in collaboration with other corrupt agents. We model the decision structure as 2 inherently different social dilemmas: individual corruption requires a power holder to prospect own and collective consequences, whereas interpersonal corruption requires a prospection of self-interest, the interest of corrupt partner(s) conflict and collective interests (nested social dilemma). Individual and interpersonal corruption rest on different prospective decision-making processes, which we illustrate along intrapersonal factors (prospection of costs and benefits, self-control, guilt) and interpersonal factors (social norms, trust). We explore the advantages of this novel distinction for theory development, experimental corruption research, as well as anticorruption efforts.

The Prosocial Versus Proself Power Holder

Romantic partners often have to sacrifice their interests to benefit their partner or to maintain the relationship. In the present work, we investigated whether relative power within the relationship plays an important role in determining the extent to which partners are likely to sacrifice. Drawing from both classic theories and recent research on power, we tested two competing predictions on the relationship between power and sacrifice in romantic relationships. We tested whether (a) power is negatively related to sacrifice and (b) power is positively related to sacrifice. Furthermore, we also explored whether the association between power and sacrifice is moderated by commitment and inclusion of the other in the self. To test our hypotheses, we used different methodologies, including questionnaires, diary studies, and videotaped interactions. Results across the five studies ( N = 1,088) consistently supported the hypothesis that power is negatively related to tendencies to sacrifice in close relationships.

Goal Difficulty and Openness to Interpersonal Goal Support

When people pursue important goals, they are often surrounded by close others who could provide help and support for the achievement of these goals. The present work investigated whether people are more likely to be open to such interpersonal goal support from a romantic partner when they perceive their goals as being easy versus difficult. Using a multiple methods approach, three studies revealed that, compared with the pursuit of easy goals, when people pursue difficult goals, they are less likely to seek out and be open to support from their romantic partner. Studies 2 and 3 revealed that the effect of goal difficulty on openness to support was partially mediated by loss in self-efficacy. Finally, Study 3 revealed that lack of openness to support can have detrimental long-term consequences for the relationship, as it undermines relationship well-being.

Low Self-Control Promotes the Willingness to Sacrifice in Close Relationships

Although previous theories and research have suggested that human behavior is automatically driven by selfish impulses (e.g., vengeance rather than forgiveness), the present research tested the hypothesis that in close relationships, people’s impulsive inclination is to be prosocial and to sacrifice for their partner—to pursue the interests of the partner or of the relationship at some costs for the self. Results from four studies demonstrated that people with low self-control, relative to those with high self-control, reported greater willingness to sacrifice for their close others. Furthermore, Study 4 demonstrated that communal orientation was more strongly associated with sacrifice among participants with low self-control than participants with high self-control. This moderational pattern supports the hypothesis that communal orientation functions as a default approach to sacrifice in the context of close relationships. Taken together, these findings suggest that under certain crucial conditions in close relationships, gut-level impulses are more likely than deliberative considerations to promote prorelationship behavior.

[The effect of intradialytic parenteral nutrition (IDPN) on the amino acid pool, a kinetic study]

BACKGROUND

Malnutrition in dialysis patients could be offset by intradialytic parenteral nutrition (IDPN), provided it is possible to demonstrate that this technique improves the aminoacid (AA) pool, despite clearance during dialysis.

METHODS

A kinetic study was conducted in 10 malnourished patients, undergoing thrice- weekly low-flux HD, 240 mins/session (Bologna Malpighi and Trento Hospitals, Italy). After an HD session without IDPN (baseline), the patients received an IDPN solution with 16 AAs (all-in-one bag,NutriSpecialipid: 625 ml, Prot 35.9 gr) over a one-month period. At baseline, after 2 and 4 weeks, pre- and post-HD plasma and dialysate AA concentrations were measured.

RESULTS

Even with a low-flux dialyzer and in the absence of IDPN infusion, AA loss in the dialysate occurred, increasing with the addition of IDPN infusion (3.9+0.3 gr/session with no IDPN compared to 7.7+0.5 with IDPN, p=0.00043), accounting foralmost 26% of the infused AA mass. Nevertheless, the AA mass balance was positive in the patients studied (+21.06+0.95 gr AA/session). After a one-month period with IDPN, the pre-dialysis concentration of each AA infused had indeed increased when compared with baseline concentrations, with a mean overall increase of 36.8%. No severe glucose imbalance was reported.

CONCLUSION

After a one-month period, overall increase in the plasma concentration of all the infused AAs was observed, supporting the hypothesis that the use of IDPN for longer periods may result in increased protein synthesis.

Uterine artery Doppler and biochemical markers (PAPP-A, PIGF, sFlt-1, P-selectin, NGAL) at 11 + 0 to 13 + 6 weeks in the prediction of late (> 34 weeks) pre-eclampsia

OBJECTIVE

To determine the performance of screening for late pre-eclampsia (PE) by maternal characteristics, uterine artery Doppler and a set of biochemical markers at 11 + 0 to 13 + 6 weeks' gestation.

METHODS

Prospectively enrolled women at 11 + 0 to 13 + 6 weeks. Maternal characteristics, highest UtA pulsatility index and serum placental biomarkers including pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A, placental growth factor, soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1, P-selectin and neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin were recorded.

RESULTS

The rate of PE was 2.5% (13/528). Four (0.8%) had severe PE. A combined screening model that included placental growth factor, soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 and neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin could detect 77% of PE at a 10% false-positive rate. Mean risk for mild PE was 8.8% ± 6.4, mean risk for severe PE was 38.6% ± 4.3. Mean risk for controls was 2% ± 4.1.

CONCLUSION

This combination of maternal biochemical variables in the first trimester can detect a consistent number of late PE. Further studies on a new and independent series of data could confirm the presented results.