A narrative review of research linking non-sexual social touch to sleep quality.

This narrative review describes the current state of the literature that has examined associations between non-sexual social touch (i.e., affectionate touch, touch therapies, touch with animals and inanimate objects that mimic social touch) and sleep quality. It also highlights areas for future research to clarify the links and to identify underlying mechanisms. Most existing studies have focussed on and shown positive effects of touch therapies (e.g., massage, therapeutic touch) on sleep quality in clinical populations. Although there are fewer studies examining how other forms of social touch are linked with sleep quality, the existing research provides preliminary evidence supporting affectionate touch (e.g., hugging, skin-to-skin contact) and tactile contact with animals (e.g., dogs) and objects that mimic social touch (e.g., robots, weighted blankets) as predictors of better sleep quality, while touch deprivation and touch aversion are associated with worse sleep quality. Informed by the existing literature, we additionally reviewed potential relational-cognitive (e.g., felt-security) and neurobiological (e.g., oxytocin) mechanisms likely to underlie associations between social touch and sleep quality. Overall, current research supports associations between non-sexual social touch and sleep quality. However, future research is needed to establish these links for specific forms of social touch (and in various populations), to test explanatory mechanisms, and to identify boundary conditions. Understanding associations between non-sexual social touch and sleep quality can inform the development of touch-based interventions to improve sleep quality and health.

Attachment Orientation and Preferences for Partners' Emotional Responses in Stressful and Positive Situations.

Attachment theory proposes that close relationships help us to regulate our emotions in stressful and positive situations. However, no previous studies have examined preferences for a partner's emotional response to one's own stressful and positive situations or tested whether these preferences differ based on attachment orientation. This study examines the association of attachment orientation and preferences for partners' emotional responses relative to one's own emotional responses in stressful and positive contexts among 425 United States adults who were currently in a committed relationship of ≥6 months. Data were collected in 2020. Overall, participants preferred their partners to feel and express less distress, less worry, more calm, and more hope than themselves during stressful situations and for their partners to feel and express more excitement, pride, and hope than themselves during positive situations. Higher attachment anxiety predicted preferences for partners to feel and express more distress/worry in stressful situations, whereas higher attachment avoidance predicted preferences for partners to feel and express less hope in stressful situations. Statistical interactions of attachment anxiety × attachment avoidance indicated that the combination of low attachment anxiety and high attachment avoidance (dismissing avoidance) was associated with preferences for partners to feel and express less positive emotions in positive situations, whereas the combination of high attachment anxiety and high attachment avoidance (fearful avoidance) was associated with preferences for partners to feel and express more negative emotions in stressful situations and less positive emotions in positive situations. This investigation provides novel evidence for links between attachment orientation and preferences for partners' emotional responses in two theoretically important contexts, which has implications for the nature and function of emotion regulation in close relationships. Future research is needed to determine the generalizability of these findings to more collectivist cultural contexts.

Pet ownership and mental health in United States adults during COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with declines in mental health and increased interest in pet ownership. We aimed to extend past theories and research linking pet ownership and mental health by investigating whether pet ownership was associated with mental health during the initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic in a sample of American adults. We also tested whether the association of pet ownership and mental health was moderated by relationship status. Participants were 2,906 American adults who were recruited for an online survey study between May 2020 and May 2021. Pet ownership was assessed via dichotomous self-report (yes/no) and mental health was assessed using a 13-item questionnaire. The sample was 69.2% female with an average age of 46.0 years. 36.1% of the sample owned a pet and 68.5% of the sample was currently partnered. There was no overall association of pet ownership and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic (estimated mean difference (EMD) = 0.35, 95CI = -0.10, 0.80, p = 0.12). However, we found evidence for an association that was moderated by relationship status. Pet ownership was associated with better mental health among partnered individuals (EMD = 0.76, 95CI = 0.21, 1.30, p = 0.006). There was no association of pet ownership and mental health among unpartnered individuals (EMD = -0.41, 95CI = -1.20, 0.37, p = 0.30). Our findings suggest that relationship status may represent a critical moderator of the link between pet ownership and mental health. Future studies are needed to identify specific mechanisms of pet ownership that could explain its varied impact on the mental health of partnered and unpartnered individuals.

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 modeling revealed that husbands' higher negative partner interactions and lower positive partner interactions were indirectly associated with their own and their wives' decreased sleep quality that night via lower perceived partner responsiveness and increased negative affect. Moreover, decreased sleep quality was associated with participants' and their partners' increased negative partner interactions and participants' decreased positive partner interactions the next day, with no significant gender differences. This research provides a foundation for future research on cyclical associations between romantic relationship experiences and sleep quality, with implications for relationship-based interventions to improve sleep quality.

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 touch on one day predicted increases in shared positive activities concurrently and prospectively. In a pre-registered dyadic experiment (Study 2), a brief affectionate touch intervention increased self-reported (but not observer-rated) shared positive activities immediately and increased shared positive activities over the following week for people who do not typically engage in such activities. Participants assigned to touch (particularly those low in attachment anxiety) also perceived their partners more positively during shared activities. These results suggest that touch may facilitate positive relationship experiences broadly and supports a theoretical model of affectionate touch.

Activities of Daily Living Needs and Support in Adult Child-Parent Dyads.

This study examined whether changes in middle-aged children's perceptions of their parents' activities of daily living needs (ADL needs) were associated with changes in the mutuality of support in their relationship. A group of 366 middle-aged children in Waves 1 (2008) and 2 (2013) of the Family Exchanges Study self-reported providing and receiving tangible, emotional, and informational support to and from their n = 468 parents. Increased perceived parental ADL needs were associated with increased provision of tangible and informational support to parents but not with changes in support received. Increases in perceived parental ADL needs were associated with higher incongruence for all three support types (the child providing more support than they receive).

Responsive social support serves important functions in clinical communication: Translating perspectives from relationship science to improve cancer clinical interactions.

Patient-clinician interactions are critical to patient-centered care, including in cancer care contexts which are often defined by multiple patient-clinician interactions over an extended period. Research on these dyadic interactions has been guided by perspectives in clinical communication science, but the study of clinical communication has not been fully integrated with perspectives on interpersonal interactions from relationship science research. An overlapping concept in both fields is the concept of responsive socialsupport. In this article, we discuss responsiveness as a concept that offers opportunities for connections between these two disciplines. Next, we focus on how relationship science can be applied to research in clinical settings. We discuss how three areas of relationship science define responsiveness and have potential for extension to clinical communication: (1) (in)visibility of social support, (2) attachment orientations, and (3) shared meaning systems. We also discuss how social biases can impede responsiveness and suggest research avenues to develop ideas and understand potential challenges in connecting these two fields. Many opportunities exist for interdisciplinary theory development that can generate momentum in understanding interpersonal processes in cancer care.

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 (Study 2) adult couples using Actor-Partner Interdependence Models. We also tested mediating effects of relationship-specific security and negative affect. In both studies, participants completed surveys assessing their attachment orientation, sleep quality, and the proposed mediators. Both studies revealed that relationship-specific security and negative affect mediated the negative association between insecure attachment and one's own sleep quality. This research enhances our understanding of how attachment orientation affects sleep quality, provides a foundation for future research on relationship influences on sleep, and suggests avenues for improving sleep quality.

Physiological correlates of support for self-expansion and links to goal pursuit in retirement.

Partner support for self-expansion has been associated with long-term health and retirement satisfaction, yet the underlying physiological correlates are unknown. We predicted that partner support for self-expansion would be associated with short-term physiology and behavior as well as long-term goal pursuit. And 100 couples with at least one retiree within 2 years of retirement visited the laboratory and had a discussion of the retirees' future goals for retirement. We recorded behaviors and physiological responses during the discussion, assessed immediate feelings of capability afterwards, and then assessed goal pursuit one year later. Laboratory results indicated that partner support for self-expansion was linked to increased stroke volume reactivity in the support-recipient (suggesting a greater challenge response), which in turn predicted greater feelings of capability of accomplishing the goal, particularly for males. In addition, decreases in the support-provider's pre-ejection period reactivity (greater sympathetic arousal) during the discussion were associated with greater partner support for self-expansion in the lab, suggesting that support providers offer greater levels of support when they exhibit greater physiological signs of task engagement. Longitudinal follow-up results indicated that immediate feelings of capability of accomplishing the goal following a discussion about that goal predicted goal pursuit 1 year later. This research leverages a dyadic design and a multi-method approach (involving physiology, observed behavior, and perceptions) to show that couple members' physiology during goal discussions has long-term implications for a support-recipient's ability to accomplish goals.

Laughter and short-term blood pressure reactivity in middle-aged and older adult spousal support interactions.

OBJECTIVE: Theories suggest that laughter decreases negative affect and enhances social bonds; however, no studies have examined the benefits of laughter on stress biomarkers in dyads. This study examined the hypotheses that individual and shared laughter would be associated with lower blood pressure reactivity and decreased self-reported and perceived partner distress for the target and spouse in a social support interaction. METHOD: One hundred seventy-three middle-aged and older adult couples from a larger study were video-recorded, and their blood pressure was monitored continuously in the laboratory during a resting baseline, during a social support interaction in which they discussed a target's fear related to aging, and while playing a game (used as a comparison). Both partners self-reported their own and perceived partner distress after the support interaction. Laughter behavior was coded using the Facial Action Coding System criteria. RESULTS: According to Actor Partner Interdependence Models, during the support interaction, the more the target laughed, the lower the spouse's systolic blood pressure was (partner effect). Also, greater laughter was associated with less self-reported and perceived partner distress for targets and spouses (actor effects). There were no other significant associations between individual laughter, shared laughter, systolic or diastolic blood pressure, and distress. Models controlled for gender, marital satisfaction, baseline blood pressure, and the target's baseline distress rating of their fear. CONCLUSIONS: In social support interactions, targets' laughter may have short-term blood pressure benefits for caregiving spouses and distress reducing benefits for both spouses. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Growing into retirement: Longitudinal evidence for the importance of partner support for self-expansion.

Retirement can be a turbulent time of life in which people must navigate changes in their identity from ending a career and beginning a new phase of life. However, retirement can also provide opportunities for growth or self-expansion. We examined the benefits of partner support for self-expansion by using longitudinal evidence (at 3 time points) in a sample of 73 couples. We tested a theoretical model proposing that partner support for self-expansion at Time 1 would predict retirement satisfaction and overall health 1 year later and that these effects would be mediated by self-expansion at 6 months. Using structural equation modeling, we found significant indirect effects for both retirement satisfaction and health, supporting all hypotheses. These results suggest that during retirement, partners play an important role in encouraging opportunities for growth as an investment toward future retirement satisfaction and health. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

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-general or goal-related support receipt predicted increases in personal and relational well-being day-to-day. Further, direct comparison between visible and invisible support days revealed relative personal and relational benefits associated with visible support days. In contrast, reporting stress-related support receipt was related to decreases in personal well-being in both samples, despite increases in relational well-being. This relative personal benefit associated with invisible stress-related support is consistent with past work showing benefits of invisible support for people experiencing major stressors. The current research highlights the need for a nuanced approach to understanding support visibility. Although invisible support may be preferable to protect self-efficacy and prevent distress in some situations (high stress or stressor-related support contexts), its benefits may be less wide-ranging than originally thought. In nonstress contexts and for relational outcomes, visible support may instead prove advantageous. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

The importance of relational support for attachment and exploration needs.

In this article, we discuss theory and research on social support and caregiving processes in adult close relationships. We first outline key theoretical principles of attachment theory and of a theoretical perspective on thriving through relationships that builds on attachment theory. We then review empirical research that has tested key theoretical postulates regarding the importance of relational support for both attachment and exploration needs. The empirical review is divided into two components that reflect the two major functions of support/caregiving in close relationships, and that reflect the two different life contexts in which relational support/care is crucial (support in adversity and support for exploration and pursuit of opportunities). We conclude by emphasizing important directions for future research.

Hand-in-Hand Combat: Affectionate Touch Promotes Relational Well-Being and Buffers Stress During Conflict.

Relational conflict has a considerable impact on relational and personal well-being, but whether that impact is positive or negative depends on how the conflict is managed. Individuals struggle to have constructive conflicts that protect their relationships and avoid excess stress, which can lead to declines in relationship quality over time. The current set of experiments tested whether a brief touch intervention would promote relational well-being and prevent stress during couple conflict discussions. Results indicated that engaging in touch prior to and during conflict was effective to improve couple-members' conflict behavior and to buffer stress in real (Experiment 1) and imagined (Experiments 2a and 2b) contexts. The results of these experiments suggest that touch may be a simple yet effective intervention for improving couple conflict discussions. In addition, we provide initial evidence that enhanced state security and cognitive interdependence serve as mechanisms underlying these effects.

How Do I Narrate My Marriage: The Relationship Between Attachment Orientation and Quality of Autobiographical Memory.

Attachment orientations play important roles in the generation of emotional autobiographical memory (AM). However, little research has considered the quality of autographical narratives, which may reflect the structure and content of internal working models (IWMs) of attachment. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the relationship between attachment orientations and narrative quality of marriage-related autobiographical memories. Ninety-four married adults were asked to retrieve two episodes of emotional autobiographical memories. The coherence and vividness of their narratives were then coded. Results indicated that adults who were highly avoidant were more likely to present their memories in a less coherent way and to describe negative memories with more perceptual details. In contrast, attachment anxiety was associated with lower vividness of negative memories. The current findings suggest that an attachment schematic-processing strategy was used in narrating the attachment-related experiences.

Longitudinal Associations Between Cognitive Functioning and Depressive Symptoms Among Older Adult Spouses in the Cardiovascular Health Study.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the bidirectional associations between older adult spouses' cognitive functioning and depressive symptoms over time. DESIGN: Longitudinal, dyadic path analysis with the actor-partner interdependence model. SETTING: Data were from visit 5 (1992/1993), visit 8 (1995/1996), and visit 11 (1998/1999) of the Cardiovascular Health Study, a multisite, longitudinal, observational study of risk factors for cardiovascular disease in adults 65 years or older. Demographic information was from the 1989/1990 original and 1992/1993 African American cohort baseline visits. PARTICIPANTS: Husbands and wives from 1,028 community-dwelling married couples (N = 2,065). MEASUREMENTS: Cognitive functioning was measured with the Modified Mini-Mental State Exam. Depressive symptoms were measured using the 10-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Age, education, and disability (activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living) were included as covariates. RESULTS: Cross-partner associations (partner effects) revealed that one spouse's greater depressive symptoms predicted the other spouse's lower cognitive functioning, but a spouse's lower cognitive functioning did not predict the other spouse's greater depressive symptoms over time. Within-individual associations (actor effects) revealed that an individual's lower cognitive functioning predicted the individual's greater depressive symptoms over time, but greater depressive symptoms did not predict lower cognitive functioning over time. Effects did not differ for husbands and wives. CONCLUSION: Having a spouse who is depressed may increase one's risk of cognitive decline as well as one's risk of depression. Interventions for preventing cognitive decline and depression among older adults may be enhanced by considering the marital context.

Predicting the Pursuit and Support of Challenging Life Opportunities.

Deciding to embrace challenging opportunities may present one life context through which individuals may thrive, and these decisions may be influenced by one's significant relationships. Married couples were unobtrusively videotaped as one couple-member was presented with a challenging opportunity and decided whether to accept it. We assessed interpersonal predictors of the decision to accept or forgo the opportunity, predictors of the spouse's support during decision-making, and follow-up thriving outcomes 6 months later. Results indicated that specific support behaviors enacted by the spouse-relational catalyst (RC) support provision-encouraged decision-makers to accept the challenge and that this decision predicted long-term thriving outcomes for the decision-maker. Results also indicated that the spouse's support behavior was influenced by both chronic and experimentally manipulated motivations for providing support, and these motives provide pathways by which relationship satisfaction and attachment security predict the provision of RC support. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

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 outcomes. The model includes pathways through which touch could affect well-being by reducing stress and by promoting well-being independent of stress. Specifically, two immediate outcomes of affectionate touch receipt-relational-cognitive changes and neurobiological changes-are described as important mechanisms underlying the effects of affectionate touch on well-being. We also review and evaluate the existing research linking affectionate touch to well-being in adulthood and propose an agenda to advance research in this area. This theoretical perspective provides a foundation for future work on touch in adult close relationships.

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 brings but are also moderately fearful of retirement, especially about shifting relationships. A better-quality relationship correlates with greater satisfaction and less fear. Such insights can be used to help women prepare for this major transition.

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 improvements in psychological, physical, and relational well-being. Specifically, when participants made more progress on their goals than usual on one day, they reported increases in positive affect, sleep quality, and relationship quality, and decreased physical symptoms, the following day (as well as concurrently). Additionally, spousal support (i.e., availability, encouragement, and noninterference) enabled same-day and next-day goal progress. Mediational analyses showed indirect links between spousal support and well-being through goal progress. Some effects were moderated by attachment orientation in the newlywed sample; individuals with greater insecure attachment benefited most from goal progress, and spousal support enabled goal progress most strongly for individuals with less anxious attachment. Overall, these results support and extend attachment theoretical propositions regarding the importance of the exploration system across the adult life span. They contribute to existing literature by demonstrating wide-ranging consequences of successful exploration for well-being and by providing evidence for the importance of both exploration and support for exploration into late adulthood. (PsycINFO Database Record