Love, Sex, and Satisfaction in On-Again/Off-Again Relationships: Exploring What Might Make These Relationships Alluring

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
René M. Dailey ◽  
Alexander Powell

The current study explored positive relational qualities — love, need satisfaction, sexual satisfaction— to better understand what might be alluring to on-again/off-again (cyclical) partners given that they typically report lower relational quality and functioning than non-cyclical partners (i.e., those who have not broken up and renewed). A sample of 558 young adults in current romantic relationships (27.6% in cyclical relationships) reported on Sternberg's (1997) three love components (intimacy, passion, and commitment), relationship need satisfaction (e.g., companionship, emotional involvement), and their sexual satisfaction. Results supported the bulk of research showing cyclical partners report lower relational quality — cyclical partners reported less love, need satisfaction, and sexual satisfaction. A pattern of findings regarding passion and need satisfaction regarding sexual and physical intimacy, however, suggests that cyclical partners might value the physical component of relationships more, and further, that passion might be more strongly related to global satisfaction as compared to non-cyclical partners. Overall, the value of this study is not in what differences were found but in ruling out certain explanations of what perpetuates cycling in young adult relationships. The current findings suggest the reasons individuals return to less satisfying relationships is complex and might require novel theoretical models.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rhonda Nicole Balzarini ◽  
SHaRe Lab ◽  
Kiersten Dobson ◽  
Taylor Kohut ◽  
Stephanie Raposo ◽  
...  

Despite the importance of sex for the maintenance of satisfying romantic relationships, our understanding of a person’s sexual ideals—the traits and attributes a person desires in a sexual partner or experience—and what might buffer against lower satisfaction associated with unmet sexual ideals, is limited. Across four studies including cross-sectional, dyadic, longitudinal, and experimental methods (N = 1,532), we draw on the Ideal Standards Model and theories of communal motivation to examine whether unmet sexual ideals are associated with lower sexual satisfaction and relationship quality and test whether higher sexual communal strength—the motivation to meet a partner's sexual needs—buffered these effects. Across studies, when individuals perceived their partner to fall short in meeting their sexual ideals, they reported poorer sexual and relationship quality. People with partners low in sexual communal strength reported poorer sexual satisfaction and relationship quality when their sexual ideals were unmet, but these associations were attenuated among people with partners who were high in sexual communal strength. Perceived partner responsiveness—both in general (Study 2) and to a partner’s sexual needs specifically (Study 3)—was one reason why people with partners high in sexual communal strength were buffered against the lower sexual and relational quality associated with unmet ideals. Please note this manuscript has received provisional acceptance in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.


Author(s):  
Daniel T. L. Shek ◽  
Diya Dou

To understand how family environment and functioning change over time during adolescence, this study examined the developmental trajectories of perceived parent-child subsystem qualities indexed by parental control and parent-child relational qualities, and the related perceived differences between fathers and mothers. Longitudinal data were collected from 2023 students in 28 high schools in Hong Kong. Among the 28 schools, five schools were in Hong Kong Island, seven in Kowloon district, and 16 in New Territories. Students were invited to respond to measures of perceived parent-child subsystem qualities in six consecutive high school years from the 2009/10 academic year. Individual Growth Curve analyses and paired t-tests were used to explore the developmental trajectories of research variables and the differences between fathers and mothers. While parental behavioral control and psychological control generally declined throughout the high school years, parent-child relational quality showed a U-shaped trajectory. Parent gender significantly predicted the initial levels of all measures and changes in behavioral control and parent-child relational quality. Mothers showed higher levels of parental control and parent-child relational quality than did fathers at each time point. However, mothers showed a faster decrease in these measures than did fathers.


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 201-211
Author(s):  
René M. Dailey ◽  
Lingzi Zhong ◽  
Rudy Pett ◽  
Darby Scott ◽  
Colton Krawietz

The current study explored whether individuals with certain relationship dispositions were more likely to be involved in on-again/off-again (on-off) relationships. A sample of 211 currently dating participants in either on-off or non-cyclical relationships completed an online survey about relationship dispositions (e.g., attachment, implicit beliefs) and positive and negative aspects of relational quality (e.g., satisfaction, commitment, disillusionment). Participants in on-off relationships did not differ from those in non-cyclical relationships with regard to relationship dispositions. Relationship type, however, moderated certain associations between relationship dispositions and relationship qualities showing that the dispositions played a weaker role in relational quality for on-off partners (e.g., the association between growth belief and disillusionment was strong and negative for non-cyclical partners but nonsignificant for on-off partners). Although it was theoretically and practically important to investigate individual differences, interaction dynamics within dyads could be a more prominent factor in explaining on-off relationships.


Author(s):  
P. S. Sklad

Over the past several years, it has become increasingly evident that materials for proposed advanced energy systems will be required to operate at high temperatures and in aggressive environments. These constraints make structural ceramics attractive materials for these systems. However it is well known that the condition of the specimen surface of ceramic materials is often critical in controlling properties such as fracture toughness, oxidation resistance, and wear resistance. Ion implantation techniques offer the potential of overcoming some of the surface related limitations.While the effects of implantation on surface sensitive properties may be measured indpendently, it is important to understand the microstructural evolution leading to these changes. Analytical electron microscopy provides a useful tool for characterizing the microstructures produced in terms of solute concentration profiles, second phase formation, lattice damage, crystallinity of the implanted layer, and annealing behavior. Such analyses allow correlations to be made with theoretical models, property measurements, and results of complimentary techniques.


2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 487-498
Author(s):  
Puisan Wong ◽  
Man Wai Cheng

Purpose Theoretical models and substantial research have proposed that general auditory sensitivity is a developmental foundation for speech perception and language acquisition. Nonetheless, controversies exist about the effectiveness of general auditory training in improving speech and language skills. This research investigated the relationships among general auditory sensitivity, phonemic speech perception, and word-level speech perception via the examination of pitch and lexical tone perception in children. Method Forty-eight typically developing 4- to 6-year-old Cantonese-speaking children were tested on the discrimination of the pitch patterns of lexical tones in synthetic stimuli, discrimination of naturally produced lexical tones, and identification of lexical tone in familiar words. Results The findings revealed that accurate lexical tone discrimination and identification did not necessarily entail the accurate discrimination of nonlinguistic stimuli that followed the pitch levels and pitch shapes of lexical tones. Although pitch discrimination and tone discrimination abilities were strongly correlated, accuracy in pitch discrimination was lower than that in tone discrimination, and nonspeech pitch discrimination ability did not precede linguistic tone discrimination in the developmental trajectory. Conclusions Contradicting the theoretical models, the findings of this study suggest that general auditory sensitivity and speech perception may not be causally or hierarchically related. The finding that accuracy in pitch discrimination is lower than that in tone discrimination suggests that comparable nonlinguistic auditory perceptual ability may not be necessary for accurate speech perception and language learning. The results cast doubt on the use of nonlinguistic auditory perceptual training to improve children's speech, language, and literacy abilities.


1999 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moniek M. Ter Kuile ◽  
Jacques J.D.M. Van Lankveld ◽  
Peggy Kalkhoven ◽  
Marjan Van Egmond

2015 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Wang

Emotional arousal induced after learning has been shown to modulate memory consolidation. However, it is unclear whether the effect of postlearning arousal can extend to different aspects of memory. This study examined the effect of postlearning positive arousal on both item memory and source memory. Participants learned a list of neutral words and took an immediate memory test. Then they watched a positive or a neutral videoclip and took delayed memory tests after either 25 minutes or 1 week had elapsed after the learning phase. In both delay conditions, positive arousal enhanced consolidation of item memory as measured by overall recognition. Furthermore, positive arousal enhanced consolidation of familiarity but not recollection. However, positive arousal appeared to have no effect on consolidation of source memory. These findings have implications for building theoretical models of the effect of emotional arousal on consolidation of episodic memory and for applying postlearning emotional arousal as a technique of memory intervention.


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