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.

Support-Seeking and Active Coping Mitigate the Association Between Posttrauma Symptom Severity and Attachment Insecurity in a Community Sample of Trauma Survivors.

There is an established association between posttrauma symptom severity (PTSS) and attachment insecurity (anxiety and avoidance). However, few studies have examined this association among community samples of trauma-exposed individuals and identified factors that might moderate these associations. We sought to (a) replicate existing associations between PTSS and attachment insecurity in a community sample of trauma survivors and (b) determine the potential moderating role of support-seeking and coping behaviors. Our sample included 824 trauma-exposed individuals (MPCL-5 = 31.6, SD = 20.0; Mage = 37.4, SD = 13.2; 69.3% female; 79.1% White; 77.2% heterosexual). Participants completed an online survey via Amazon Mechanical Turk. Linear regression and moderation analyses tested the association between PTSS and attachment insecurity and whether support-seeking and coping behaviors moderated these associations. PTSS was positively associated with global attachment anxiety (ß = .48, 95% confidence interval [.42, .54]) and global attachment avoidance (ß = .06, [.15, .29]). The association between PTSS and attachment avoidance was weaker for people who reported greater instrumental and emotional support-seeking or greater active coping. This study provides evidence for the association between PTSS and attachment insecurity. Findings underscore the need to understand causal mechanisms underlying this association and critically evaluate how existing and future interventions can buffer attachment insecurity in trauma-exposed individuals.

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).

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.

Communal Coping and Adjustment to Chronic Illness: Theory Update and Evidence.

We present a theory of communal coping that describes an optimal pathway to patient adjustment among couples in which one person faces a chronic illness. Communal coping consists of a shared illness appraisal (i.e., person perceives illness as a joint rather than individual problem) and collaboration with a partner to manage the illness. We present a model of the communal coping process that links patient and partner shared illness appraisals to collaboration and a set of supportive interactions that might be reframed as collaboration in the presence of shared illness appraisals. We then outline a model that identifies potential antecedents of communal coping and mechanisms that link communal coping to patient illness adjustment (i.e., enhanced psychological well-being, improved health behaviors, better physical health) and partner psychological well-being. We review the empirical evidence for this model and conclude by identifying several moderator variables, noting potential limitations, and outlining future research directions.

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.

Changing me to keep you: state jealousy promotes perceiving similarity between the self and a romantic rival.

Individuals sometimes alter their self-views to be more similar to others--traditionally romantic partners--because they are motivated to do so. A common motivating force is the desire to affiliate with a partner. The current research examined whether a different motivation--romantic jealousy--might promote individuals to alter their self-views to be more similar to a romantic rival, rather than a partner. Romantic jealousy occurs when individuals perceive a rival as a threat to their relationship and motivates individuals to defend their relationship. We proposed that one novel way that individuals might defend their relationship is by seeing themselves as more similar to a perceived romantic rival. We predicted individuals would alter their self-views to be more similar to a rival that they believed their partner found attractive. Importantly, we predicted that state romantic jealousy would motivate these self-alterations. Three studies confirmed these hypotheses.