scholarly journals Impermanence in relationships: Trait mindfulness attenuates the negative personal consequences of everyday dips in relationship satisfaction

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (8-9) ◽  
pp. 2419-2437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian P. Don ◽  
Sara B. Algoe

Satisfying intimate relationships are crucial to human health and well-being. Yet even the best relationships include good days and bad ones, and when people experience bad days in terms of relationship satisfaction, it tends to undermine personal well-being. What can reduce the extent to which bad relational days spill over into personal well-being? Based on the Buddhist concept of impermanence, as well as modern theory and research examining mindfulness, we argue trait mindfulness renders people more aware and accepting of all forms of change, including to changes in their relationships. As such, we hypothesized that people with greater trait mindfulness would be less likely to experience decrements in personal well-being on days in which they experienced dips in relationship satisfaction. In a daily study of 80 couples across 14 days ( N = 1,798 observations), people experienced lower life satisfaction, greater negative emotions, and fewer positive emotions on days when they reported lower than their average relationship satisfaction, but this association was attenuated for people high in mindfulness. These results suggest trait mindfulness partially buffers the negative consequences of daily dips in relationship satisfaction.

Author(s):  
Shelly L. Gable ◽  
Natalya C. Maisel

Although psychologists have learned a great deal about negative and harmful processes in relationships, they have focused less on understanding the positive and beneficial processes in relationships. Of course, almost every close relationship offers the promise of both meaningful rewards and substantial risks, such as support, intimacy, companionship, conflict, rejection, and criticism. In this chapter, we attempt to highlight the complexities involved in relationships and emphasize the positive processes, with the goal of creating a picture that represents the dynamic reality of the social world. We first discuss the important role that intimate relationships play in human life and their strong links with health and well-being. We then highlight research on the positive processes in relationships, such as positive emotions, intimacy, growth of the self-concept, and the benefits of sharing positive events. This work complements previous literature, which has tended to focus on the potential pitfalls in relationships. Inherent in our position is that a lack of negatives in a relationship is not equivalent to a positive relationship; just as an absence of psychopathology is not equivalent to flourishing. We end with outlining future directions in the positive psychology of relationships, such as a greater focus on biology and health and the need for examining moderating conditions.


Author(s):  
Richard Bränström ◽  
John E. Pachankis

Abstract Purpose Discriminatory laws, policies, and population attitudes, surrounding transgender people vary greatly across countries, from equal protection under the law and full acceptance to lack of legal recognition and open bias. The consequences of this substantial between-country variation on transgender people’s health and well-being is poorly understood. We therefore examined the association between structural stigma and transgender people’s life satisfaction across 28 countries. Methods Data from transgender participants (n = 6771) in the 2012 EU-LGBT-survey regarding identity concealment, day-to-day discrimination, and life satisfaction were assessed. Structural stigma was measured using publicly available data regarding each country’s discriminatory laws, policies, and population attitudes towards transgender people. Results Multilevel models showed that country-level structural stigma was associated with lower life satisfaction, an association largely explained by higher levels of identity concealment in higher-structural-stigma countries. Yet identity concealment was also associated with lower day-to-day discrimination and therefore protected against even lower life satisfaction. Conclusion The results emphasize the importance of changing discriminatory legislation and negative population attitudes to improve transgender people’s life satisfaction, and also highlight targets for intervention at interpersonal and individual levels.


Author(s):  
Ieva Ančevska

The article examines the depiction of gratitude and related events in Latvian folklore through comparative evaluation. Gratitude is considered in a psychological context, comparing the attitude expressed in folklore with the findings of modern scientific research. Gratitude is a concept that is usually associated with a relationship or a benefit, it is most often aimed outwards, dedicated to someone else, but at the same time, it creates a pleasant feeling within the person. In modern psychology, gratitude is receiving more and more attention from researchers because its manifestations stimulate the formation of positive emotions and contribute to the improvement of the person’s overall well-being. Research and clinical studies in psychotherapy confirm that gratitude plays an important role in improving mental health and reducing depressive, destructive feelings. In turn, neuroscience research shows the potential of a grateful and positive attitude in strengthening psycho-emotional health and well-being in general. In Latvian folklore, gratitude is depicted as an important part of ritual events, which helps to ensure a positive, balanced connection with the forces of nature, gods, and society. In folklore, the importance of gratitude is emphasised more when building family relationships or accepting various situations and occurrences in life. In both psychological research and the practice of systemic therapy, as well as in folklore, gratitude appears as one of the most important values of interpersonal connection, which promotes the formation of harmonious relationships. Similar to the opinions of psychology, the folk world views emphasise the motivational role of gratitude in improving the quality of human life and health in general.


2004 ◽  
Vol 359 (1449) ◽  
pp. 1367-1377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara L. Fredrickson

The broaden–and–build theory describes the form and function of a subset of positive emotions, including joy, interest, contentment and love. A key proposition is that these positive emotions broaden an individual's momentary thought–action repertoire: joy sparks the urge to play, interest sparks the urge to explore, contentment sparks the urge to savour and integrate, and love sparks a recurring cycle of each of these urges within safe, close relationships. The broadened mindsets arising from these positive emotions are contrasted to the narrowed mindsets sparked by many negative emotions (i.e. specific action tendencies, such as attack or flee). A second key proposition concerns the consequences of these broadened mindsets: by broadening an individual's momentary thought–action repertoire—whether through play, exploration or similar activities—positive emotions promote discovery of novel and creative actions, ideas and social bonds, which in turn build that individual's personal resources; ranging from physical and intellectual resources, to social and psychological resources. Importantly, these resources function as reserves that can be drawn on later to improve the odds of successful coping and survival. This chapter reviews the latest empirical evidence supporting the broaden–and–build theory and draws out implications the theory holds for optimizing health and well–being.


2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 577-599 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah A. Vannier ◽  
Kaitlyn E. Adare ◽  
Natalie O. Rosen

Most first-time mothers experience a decline in both their sexual and relationship satisfaction from prepregnancy, which has negative consequences for the couple and their family. Prior studies have begun to identify risk and protective factors (e.g., empathy) for postpartum sexual and relationship satisfaction. Causal attributions for postpartum sexual concerns may be important because a specific cause can be difficult to pinpoint given the wide range of postpartum sexual problems among first-time parents. In the current study, 120 first-time mothers (3–12 months postpartum) completed validated measures assessing attributions for postpartum sexual concerns, sexual satisfaction, and relationship satisfaction. Attributions were measured on four dimensions: internal/external (i.e., is the sexual concern due to the self or the situation), stable/unstable (i.e., will the cause of the concern occur again in the future), global/specific (i.e., will the cause of the concern affect other situations), and partner responsibility (i.e., is the partner the cause). When new mothers reported more stable and partner attributions for postpartum sexual concerns, they were less sexually satisfied, and when they attributed greater responsibility for sexual concerns to their partners, they were less satisfied with their overall relationship. These associations remained significant after controlling for potential challenges that may also impact sexual and relationship satisfaction during this period (i.e., breastfeeding, sexual frequency, depressive symptoms, fatigue, sexual functioning). As postpartum sexual concerns are common, attributions for these changes may be a valuable target for interventions aimed at strengthening the intimate relationships of women making the transition to parenthood.


2017 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp Hessel ◽  
Solveig Christiansen ◽  
Vegard Skirbekk

ObjectiveThis study aimed to quantify the extent to which health characteristics of workers are related to the potential risk of experiencing job displacement due to automation.MethodsLinking the 2015 Norwegian Statistics on Income and Living Conditions survey (n=6393) with predicted probabilities of automation by occupation, we used Kruskal-Wallis tests and multivariate generalised linear models to assess the association between long-standing illnesses and risk of job automation.ResultsIndividuals with long-standing illnesses face substantially greater risks of losing their job due to automation. Whereas the average risk of job automation is 57% for men and 49% for women with long-standing illnesses, the risk is only 50% for men and 44% for women with limitations (p<0.001). Controlling for age, having a long-standing illness significantly increases the relative risk of facing job automation among men (risk ratio (RR) 1.13, 95% CI 1.09 to 1.19), as well as women (RR 1.11, 95% CI 1.05 to 1.17). While, among men, the association between long-standing illness and risk of job automation remains significant when controlling for education and income, it becomes insignificant among women.ConclusionsIndividuals with poor health are likely to carry the highest burden of technological change in terms of worsening employment prospects because of working in occupations disproportionally more likely to be automated. Although the extent of technology-related job displacement will depend on several factors, given the far-reaching negative consequences of job loss on health and well-being, this process represents a significant challenge for public health and social equity.


Author(s):  
Adeline Nyamathi ◽  
Suzanne Wenzel ◽  
Colleen Keenan ◽  
Barbara Leake ◽  
Lillian Gelberg

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
Jasmin Tahmaseb McConatha ◽  
Jasmin Tahmaseb McConatha ◽  
Frauke Schnell

Being an immigrant in the contemporary U.S. is stressful. During the pandemic of 2020, these stressors are amplified for all populations. At the same time, Latinx immigrants are also disproportionately affected by the pandemic. They are more vulnerable, face greater economic challenges, and are more likely to die from the virus. In addition to these difficult realities, regardless of status, Latinx immigrants are often perceived as illegal and subjected to discriminatory treatment [1]. Type 2 diabetes is also an illness that disproportionately affects minorities and immigrant populations. In 2018, there were almost 60 million Latinos-18% of the U.S. population (more than one in six)-living in the United States [2]. In addition to the myriad of stressors that immigrants, particularly older immigrants experience, the stigma and vulnerability associated with the pandemic of 2020 are likely to have serious negative consequences on their health and well-being. This paper addresses some of the challenges Latinx immigrants face as they struggle to manage Type 2 diabetes during a pandemic.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 194-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara L. Fredrickson ◽  
Thomas Joiner

We reflect on our 2002 article and the impact this research report has had both within and beyond psychological science. This article was both one of the first publications to provide empirical support for hypotheses based on the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions and a product of the genesis of positive psychology. We highlight empirical and theoretical advancements in the scientific understanding of upward spiral dynamics associated with positive emotions, with particular focus on the new upward spiral theory of lifestyle change. We conclude by encouraging deeper and more rigorous tests of the prospective and reciprocal relations associated with positive emotions. Such progress is needed to better inform translations and applications to improve people’s health and well-being.


Author(s):  
Isabel Moreira ◽  
Maria Fernandes ◽  
Armando Silva ◽  
Cristina Veríssimo ◽  
Maria Leitão ◽  
...  

Adolescence is a period of great changes and the assumption of risk behaviours at the level of sexuality may have implications for health and well-being. Nowadays, adolescents live free from constraints and prioritise freedom, using their own terminology to label their relationships, it becoming in turn important to conceptualise intimacy relationships from their perspective. Therefore, a qualitative, descriptive, and exploratory study was performed. Participants included 109 adolescents aged 14 and 18 years old from public schools in central Portugal. Data were collected using 12 focus groups and a content analysis was undertaken. These terms attributed to intimate relationships by adolescents are, for the most part, mutual for both genders: crush, friendzone, friends with benefits, making out, dating, and similar in terms of meaning. In an intimate relationship, adolescents give priority to factors such as respect, trust, and love. The fear of loneliness, obsession, and low self-esteem are reasons pointed out by adolescents for maintaining an unhealthy intimate relationship. Adolescents’ knowledge of language about their intimate relationships is essential to establish effective communication and to build intervention programs in the healthy intimacy relationships field.


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