Rejection in romantic relationships: Does rejection sensitivity modulate emotional responses to perceptions of negative interactions?

BACKGROUND: Rejection is a highly stressful experience and individuals tend to avoid it whenever possible. In intimate relationships, experiences of rejection can shape the interaction dynamics between partners. Highly rejection sensitive people fear that their romantic partner will reject them and they overreact to any ambiguous cues that might indicate rejection. Furthermore, because they focus on the threat of rejection, they may have difficulty disengaging from rejection-related emotions, persevere in a rejection-focused state and have a reduced capacity to regulate their emotions. The prolonged experience of strong negative emotions, together with maladaptive attempts to respond to rejection, may undermine key relationship maintenance processes that contribute to relationship functioning and lead to negative reciprocity in interactions. The goal of the present study was to shed light on how individuals experience rejection-related emotions and determine whether, following perceptions of negative interactions, rejection sensitivity was associated with stronger negative responses and less efficient downregulation of negative emotions. In addition, we examined whether dyadic patterns of rejection sensitivity were associated with negative emotion dynamics following perceptions of negative interactions. METHODS: The participants (N = 298) were couples experiencing the transition to parenthood. A multilevel modelling approach was used to assess the associations between rejection sensitivity, perceptions of negative interactions and emotional states. The analyses included repeated daily reports for both rejection and emotions. RESULTS: The results suggest that rejection sensitive individuals do not report higher negative emotions when they perceive negative interactions. Moreover, rejection sensitive men and women did not remain longer in a negative emotional state after they perceived negative interactions with their partner. Finally, when both men and women partners reported higher levels of rejection sensitivity, neither reported having higher negative emotions after experiencing negative interaction perceptions. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide further insights into emotional dynamics and rejection sensitivity in romantic relationships. Our results do not provide evidence for a link between rejection sensitivity and higher negative emotions or slower recovery after reports of negative interactions. If individuals suppress their emotions, they may not benefit from regulation with their partner and instead may protect themselves over their relationships. However, in this context, rejection sensitivity might also not constitute a strong predictor of daily emotion fluctuations, but other variables- such as relationship satisfaction - might. Future research may investigate emotional responses in a sample with higher levels of rejection sensitivity and use more diverse measures of perceptions of negative interactions.

Attachment insecurities, emotion dynamics and stress in intimate relationships during the transition to parenthood.

BACKGROUND: In intimate relationships, which are characterized by emotional interdependence, partners act as attachment figures which serve emotion regulation functions. The experience of emotions as well as the strategies that partners use to regulate them and to respond to relational experiences, especially during stressful periods, differ greatly according to their attachment orientation. An important aspect in emotion dynamics is emotional inertia, which reflects the degree to which a person's current affective state is resistant to change on a moment-to-moment basis. Inertia has been related to maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, like suppression and rumination, preferentially used by highly anxious and avoidant individuals. The aim of this study is to examine associations between attachment orientations and reports on the experience of positive and negative affect, and their dynamics in daily life across the transition to parenthood. METHODS: Longitudinal data from a sample of 152 mixed-gender couples collected across the transition to parenthood was analyzed. We predicted that individuals with a more insecure attachment would report more negative and less positive affect, and that their emotional experience would be more resistant to change over time. We explored effects when participants reported feeling stressed. RESULTS: The data suggested that attachment anxiety was associated with less positive and more negative affect and that attachment avoidance was associated with more positive affect. Anxious individuals showed lower emotional inertia and not higher as we expected. Reported stress for anxious and avoidant individuals was significantly associated with more negative but not less positive affect. CONCLUSIONS: Results are discussed in the light of their impact on couples during stressful periods. Differences between anxiety and avoidance are found, emphasizing the importance of attachment insecurities on the experience of emotion. Furthermore, our findings on momentary fluctuating affect offer complementary insight into the emotional functioning of individuals with different attachment orientations.

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.

The Source of Power Matters: Positional Power as a Better Predictor of Sexual Interest Perceptions than Dispositional Power Among Men within a Military Context.

The current research examined the roles of positional power induced by one's hierarchical position in an organization and dispositional power (i.e., one's general feeling of power) in the perception of sexual interest in a military context. In two vignette-based experiments with men who were military members, positional power induced by military rank led to heightened sexual perceptions. Men estimated higher sexual interest from their interaction partner when interacting with a hypothetical woman of a lower military rank, compared to a woman of equal (Experiment 1; N = 144) or higher military rank (Experiment 2; N = 232). Being in a relatively higher rank induces feelings of power over the interaction partner and thus results in a higher perception of sexual interest. Furthermore, Experiment 2 revealed that positional power better predicted heightened perceived sexual interest than dispositional power.

Associations of conflict frequency and sexual satisfaction with weekly relationship satisfaction in Iranian couples.

Distressed couples report more conflicts, less sexual satisfaction, and lower relationship quality. The literature also suggests that frequent conflict is related to lower sexual satisfaction. While evidence for these associations has started to accumulate in recent years, the evidence is largely limited to Western samples. The present study aims at corroborating these findings based on a sample of couples from Iran. Based on prior findings, we hypothesized a mediation model, examining whether the association of conflict frequency with relationship satisfaction is mediated by declines in sexual satisfaction. Alternatively, we tested a model in which conflict frequency mediated the effects of sexual satisfaction on relationship satisfaction. We tested these models based on data from 179 Iranian couples. Both partners provided weekly reports on their relational experiences for 6 weeks. The results supported the alternative model with conflict frequency mediating a positive association between weekly sexual satisfaction and change in relationship satisfaction. These findings extend existing evidence for interconnections of conflict and sexual life from Western samples to a sample of non-Western couples in a predominantly Muslim society. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Comparing the effects of a mindfulness versus relaxation intervention on romantic relationship wellbeing.

There is increasing scientific interest in the potential association between mindfulness and romantic relationship wellbeing. To date, however, experimental studies using active control groups and testing dyadic effects (i.e. examining both actor and partner effects) are lacking. In the current study, romantically involved individuals engaged for 2 weeks daily in either guided mindfulness exercises, or guided relaxation exercises. Participants, and their partners, completed measures of relationship wellbeing at pre- and post-intervention, and at 1-month follow up. The mindfulness intervention significantly promoted relationship wellbeing, for both participants (i.e. actor effects) and their partners (i.e. partner effects). However, these findings did not significantly differ from changes in relationship wellbeing in the relaxation condition. Theoretical implications of these findings for understanding the association between mindfulness and romantic relationship wellbeing are discussed. Moreover, the findings are discussed in light of recent debates about the relative lack of proper control groups in mindfulness research.

Striatal reactivity to reward under threat-of-shock and working memory load in adults at increased familial risk for major depression: A preliminary study.

INTRODUCTION: Anhedonia, a core symptom of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), manifests as a lack or loss of motivation as reflected by decreased reward responsiveness, at both behavioral and neural (i.e., striatum) levels. Exposure to stressful life events is another important risk factor for MDD. However, the mechanisms linking reward-deficit and stress to MDD remain poorly understood. Here, we explore whether the effects of stress exposure on reward processing might differentiate between Healthy Vulnerable adults (HVul, i.e., positive familial MDD) from Healthy Controls (HCon). Furthermore, the well-described reduction in cognitive resources in MDD might facilitate the stress-induced decrease in reward responsiveness in HVul individuals. Accordingly, this study includes a manipulation of cognitive resources to address the latter possibility. METHODS: 16 HVul (12 females) and 16 gender- and age-matched HCon completed an fMRI study, during which they performed a working memory reward task. Three factors were manipulated: reward (reward, no-reward), cognitive resources (working memory at low and high load), and stress level (no-shock, unpredictable threat-of-shock). Only the reward anticipation phase was analyzed. Imaging analyses focused on striatal function. RESULTS: Compared to HCon, HVul showed lower activation in the caudate nucleus across all conditions. The HVul group also exhibited lower stress-related activation in the nucleus accumbens, but only in the low working memory (WM) load condition. Moreover, while stress potentiated putamen reactivity to reward cues in HVul when the task was more demanding (high WM load), stress blunted putamen reactivity in both groups when no reward was at stake. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that HVul might be at increased risk of developing anhedonic symptoms due to weaker encoding of reward value, higher difficulty to engage in goal-oriented behaviors and increased sensitivity to negative feedback, particularly in stressful contexts. These findings open new avenues for a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying how the complex interaction between the systems of stress and reward responsiveness contribute to the vulnerability to MDD, and how cognitive resources might modulate this interaction.

Increased Reward-Related Activation in the Ventral Striatum During Stress Exposure Associated With Positive Affect in the Daily Life of Young Adults With a Family History of Depression. Preliminary Findings.

Background: Being the offspring of a parent with major depression disorder (MDD) is a strong predictor for developing MDD. Blunted striatal responses to reward were identified in individuals with MDD and in asymptomatic individuals with family history of depression (FHD). Stress is a major etiological factor for MDD and was also reported to reduce the striatal responses to reward. The stress-reward interactions in FHD individuals has not been explored yet. Extending neuroimaging results into daily-life experience, self-reported ambulatory measures of positive affect (PA) were shown to be associated with striatal activation during reward processing. A reduction of self-reported PA in daily life is consistently reported in individuals with current MDD. Here, we aimed to test (1) whether increased family risk of depression is associated with blunted neural and self-reported reward responses. (2) the stress-reward interactions at the neural level. We expected a stronger reduction of reward-related striatal activation under stress in FHD individuals compared to HC. (3) the associations between fMRI and daily life self-reported data on reward and stress experiences, with a specific interest in the striatum as a crucial region for reward processing. Method: Participants were 16 asymptomatic young adults with FHD and 16 controls (HC). They performed the Fribourg Reward Task with and without stress induction, using event-related fMRI. We conducted whole-brain analyses comparing the two groups for the main effect of reward (rewarded > not-rewarded) during reward feedback in control (no-stress) and stress conditions. Beta weights extracted from significant activation in this contrast were correlated with self-reported PA and negative affect (NA) assessed over 1 week. Results: Under stress induction, the reward-related activation in the ventral striatum (VS) was higher in the FHD group than in the HC group. Unexpectedly, we did not find significant group differences in the self-reported daily life PA measures. During stress induction, VS reward-related activation correlated positively with PA in both groups and negatively with NA in the HC group. Conclusion: As expected, our results indicate that increased family risk of depression was associated with specific striatum reactivity to reward in a stress condition, and support previous findings that ventral striatal reward-related response is associated with PA. A new unexpected finding is the negative association between NA and reward-related ventral striatal activation in the HC group.

Emotion dynamics and responsiveness in intimate relationships.

Responding appropriately to an intimate partner's emotional signals and needs requires that one's emotional responses be reactive to significant interpersonal experiences. The adaptive function of emotions is likely compromised if an individual's emotional states are insufficiently attuned to interpersonal events. The present studies examine how individual differences in moment-to-moment emotion dynamics affect interpersonal responsiveness and relationship satisfaction. Study 1 examines associations between emotion dynamics and emotional reactivity to positive and negative relationship events. Emotion dynamics were operationalized using assessments of emotional inertia, which is defined as the degree to which emotions are resistant to change over time. Momentary assessments from 44 participants were collected four times per day over 4 weeks. Emotional inertia showed a curvilinear association with context-sensitive emotional responses to conflict, with individuals high or low in emotional inertia experiencing blunted emotional reactions to conflict. Study 2 assessed emotion dynamics based on four emotion reports per day over 10 days of both partners in a total of 103 couples. Associations of emotion dynamics with perceptions of partners' responsiveness and relationship satisfaction over 12 months were examined. Partners of individuals with high (inert) or low (erratic) emotional inertia perceived them to be less responsive, which then predicted steeper declines in their relationship satisfaction across 12 months. The results suggest that individuals with inert or erratic emotion dynamics exhibit less context-sensitive emotional responding to conflicts and are perceived by their partners to be less responsive which subsequently undermines the quality of their intimate relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

If You Shared My Happiness, You Are Part of Me: Capitalization and the Experience of Couple Identity.

The way in which individuals react to a partner's disclosure of positive news (capitalization response) is associated with relational well-being. Two studies analyzed the role of couple identity in explaining the association between perceived capitalization responses and relationship quality. A daily diary study (n = 90 couples) revealed that on days people perceived their partners' responses as active-constructive, they reported higher levels of couple identity. A longitudinal two-wave study (n = 169 couples) showed that couple identity mediated the link between active-constructive (for both women and men) and passive-destructive responses (only for men) and relationship quality. Overall, our findings suggest that the experience of the partner's involvement and support in good times contribute to a sense of couple identity, which over the long turn, is associated with partners' relational well-being.

Trajectories of perceived superiority across the transition to marriage.

Perceived superiority, the tendency to regard one's own relationship as better than other people's relationships, is a key relationship maintenance mechanism. Little is known about whether and how it changes during the transition to marriage, a pivotal moment in most couples' life cycle. In a longitudinal study following 97 couples for three waves across the transition, men presented stable perceived superiority, whereas women presented a curvilinear change in superiority perceptions, with a substantial increase in perceived superiority between T1 and T2 and a significantly reduced change between T2 and T3. In addition, trajectories differed according to partners' commitment level. More committed and less committed partners both showed a curvilinear change in perceived superiority, though following different patterns. Results point to the functional value of perceived superiority, which emerges as a strategy aimed at sustaining partners through the challenges deriving from the transition to marriage.

Striatal responsiveness to reward under threat-of-shock and working memory load: A preliminary study.

INTRODUCTION: Reward and stress are important determinants of motivated behaviors. Striatal regions play a crucial role in both motivation and hedonic processes. So far, little is known on how cognitive effort interacts with stress to modulate reward processes. This study examines how cognitive effort (load) interacts with an unpredictable acute stressor (threat-of-shock) to modulate motivational and hedonic processes in healthy adults. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A reward task, involving stress with unpredictable mild electric shocks, was conducted in 23 healthy adults aged 20-37 (mean age: 24.7 ± 0.9; 14 females) during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Manipulation included the use of (a) monetary reward for reinforcement, (b) threat-of-shock as the stressor, and (c) a spatial working memory task with two levels of difficulty (low and high load) for cognitive load. Reward-related activation was investigated in a priori three regions of interest, the nucleus accumbens (NAcc), caudate nucleus, and putamen. RESULTS: During anticipation, threat-of-shock or cognitive load did not affect striatal responsiveness to reward. Anticipated reward increased activation in the ventral and dorsal striatum. During feedback delivery, both threat-of-shock and cognitive effort modulated striatal activation. Higher working memory load blunted NAcc responsiveness to reward delivery, while stress strengthened caudate nucleus reactivity regardless reinforcement or load. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide initial evidence that both stress and cognitive load modulate striatal responsiveness during feedback delivery but not during anticipation in healthy adults. Of clinical importance, sustained stress exposure might go along with dysregulated arousal, increasing therefore the risk for the development of maladaptive incentive-triggered motivation. This study brings new insight that might help to build a framework to understand common stress-related disorders, given that these psychiatric disorders involve disturbances of the reward system, cognitive deficits, and abnormal stress reactivity.

The role of daily couple communication in the relationship between illness representation and fear of cancer recurrence in breast cancer survivors and their spouses.

OBJECTIVE: Previous studies have shown the significance of illness representation in maintaining of fear of cancer recurrence (FCR). The current study explored the association of illness representation and fear of cancer recurrence in daily life among breast cancer survivors and their spouses, considering the role of daily couple communication. METHODS: A total of 54 couples in which the wives were breast cancer survivors were recruited to complete Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire and to report their communication information and fear of cancer recurrence in daily life. RESULTS: At the between-person level, individuals with severer illness representation were likely to express more negative and less positive information in daily life, irrespective of whether they were patients or spouses. At the within-person level, perceptions of positive information acted as a mediator between disclosures of positive/negative information and changes in FCR. CONCLUSIONS: There were interactions of the relationship of illness representation to FCR between breast cancer survivors and their spouses. Daily couple communication played critical roles in the association between illness representation and FCR.

Explicit Stress Communication Facilitates Perceived Responsiveness in Dyadic Coping.

The present study was aimed at examining the role of explicit stress communication in the context of dyadic coping. The general aim of the present study was to test (a) whether explicit communication of daily stressful events predicted relationship satisfaction and (b) whether the perception of responsiveness in dyadic coping mediated the association between explicit stress communication and partners' satisfaction. We analyzed daily diary data from 55 married couples and multilevel analyses suggested that, although explicit stress communication was not associated with relationship satisfaction, it predicted both partners' responsiveness in dyadic coping behaviors. Finally, responsive dyadic coping behaviors mediated the relationship between explicit stress communication and relationship satisfaction. On the whole, our findings showed that perceived responsiveness in dyadic coping with daily stressors was facilitated by explicit stress communication and that this contributed to the effectiveness of dyadic coping behaviors in fostering partners' relationship satisfaction. We discussed how the current study contributes to the understanding of the dyadic coping process and its contribution to partners' satisfaction, underscoring the importance of communication skills.

How does mindfulness modulate daily stress response: evidences from ambulatory assessment.

OBJECTIVE: Mindfulness has been found to be associated with less adverse stress response. However, little is known about how mindfulness modulates stress response in the real daily life. The current study investigated the relation between daily stress and negative emotions, and explored a mediational link via perceived loss of control, and moderation by dispositional mindfulness, to better understand this association. DESIGN: A total of 95 college students were recruited to complete a questionnaire and to report on their stress, perceived loss of control and negative emotions in daily life. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) was used to assess dispositional mindfulness. Stress, perceived loss of control and negative emotions were assessed by ambulatory assessment. RESULTS: Stress was positively related with negative emotions at within-person level. Perceived loss of control mediated the relationship between stress and negative emotions. Furthermore, participants with higher levels of dispositional mindfulness showed an attenuated association between stress and anger, and also attenuated associations between perceived loss of control, and anger and fatigue at within-person level. CONCLUSION: These findings point to perceived loss of control as an important key factor in daily stress effects. Dispositional mindfulness appears to have beneficial effects in that it attenuates the impact of daily stressors on individuals' wellbeing. Clinical implications and limitations are discussed.

More Than Just Sex: Affection Mediates the Association Between Sexual Activity and Well-Being.

Positive interpersonal interactions such as affection are central to well-being. Sex is associated with greater individual well-being, but little is known about why this occurs. We predicted that experienced affection would account for the association between sex and well-being. Cross-sectional results indicated that affection mediated the association between sex and both life satisfaction (Study 1) and positive emotions (however, among men only in Study 2). In Study 3, an experience sampling study with 106 dual-earner couples with children, affection mediated the association between sex and increased positive affect in daily life. Cross-lagged analyses in Study 3 to 4 supported the predicted direction of the associations. Moreover, the strength of the daily association between sex and positive affect predicted both partners' relationship satisfaction 6 months later. Our findings underscore the importance of affection and positive affect for understanding how sex promotes well-being and has long-term relational benefits.

The difficulty of being a professional, a parent, and a spouse on the same day: Daily spillover of workplace interactions on parenting, and the role of spousal support.

Designing parenting interventions and preventions requires knowledge on the factors and processes that shape parenting behaviors. Using data collected over 10 days, during the last hour of work and before going to bed, this study examined the spillover of interpersonal work stresses into positive and negative parenting behaviors. Data were collected among 103 couples who had at least one child between the age of one and eight years. Of particular interest was the role of received emotional spousal support as a moderator of stress spillover. Dyadic variants of multilevel models were used to analyze the data. The results showed that on days on which mothers or fathers reported stressful interpersonal interactions in the workplace, they also reported less positive parenting behaviors. In addition, mothers reported more negative parenting behaviors on days characterized by these kinds of work experiences. Mothers and fathers were found to report more positive parenting behaviors, and mothers less negative parenting behaviors, on the days on which they received more spousal support. Received spousal support also moderated spillover of work stress into parenting behaviors and this finding was found to be gender-specific: for mothers, support enhanced spillover into positive behaviors, and for fathers, it enhanced spillover into negative parenting behaviors.

Protective Processes Underlying the Links between Marital Quality and Physical Health.

Although the links between marital quality and physical health are now well established, the psychological processes through which marriage impacts health remain unclear. Additionally, prior research on the links between marriage and health has focused mainly on how negative aspects of relationships (e.g., conflict, hostility) can be damaging to one's physical health. In this article, we describe the strength and strain model of marital quality and health, which provides a roadmap for studying protective factors underlying marriage-health links. We home in one relationship process-partner responsiveness-and one broad class of psychological mechanisms-affective processes-to illustrate core aspects of the model. Our review suggests that future research will profit from a greater integration of theory from the social psychology of close relationships into studies of relationships and health.

Satiety regulation in children with loss of control eating and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A test meal study.

Children with loss of control (LOC) eating and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at risk for excessive weight gain. However, it is unclear whether or not these children show disturbances in hunger and satiety regulation. The goal was to examine the food intake and sense of LOC over eating as well as LOC eating-related characteristics during test meal in children with LOC eating and ADHD. Children aged 8-13 y with LOC eating (n = 33), ADHD (n = 32), and matched healthy controls (n = 33), consumed a test meal consisting of their chosen lunch food, with the instruction to eat until feeling full. Sense of LOC over eating, desire to eat, feelings of hunger, and liking of food were repeatedly assessed during test meal. Children with LOC eating and ADHD did not show a higher food intake at maximum satiety compared to control children. Sense of LOC over eating was significantly higher in children with LOC eating compared to children with ADHD and matched controls. Secondary analyses revealed that children with LOC eating ate marginally faster than control children. Both children with LOC eating and ADHD reported greater desire to eat, feelings of hunger, and liking of food during test meal than control children. Even though the results did not reveal statistical evidence to support the assumption of a disturbed food intake in children with LOC eating and ADHD, LOC eating related characteristics were significantly higher in these children compared to the control children. Sense of LOC over eating was confirmed as a specific characteristic of LOC eating. The examination of behavioral indicators of hunger and satiety dysregulation should be complemented with physiological indicators in future research.