Marital Status at First Intercourse in Married Christian Women: Relationships with Guilt, Sanctification of Sexuality, and Marital Satisfaction

Previous research has demonstrated that women experience higher levels of guilt compared with men at first sexual intercourse. Research also indicates that guilt is related to religiosity and to level of relational commitment. However, there has been no research on the correlates of sexual debut in a Christian population. This study compares the experiences of married Christian women who had first intercourse before or after marriage on guilt, sanctification of sex, and marital satisfaction. A total of 210 married Christian women were administered a survey containing measures of guilt at first intercourse, sanctification of sexuality, and marital satisfaction. The results indicate that the premarital group reported significantly higher levels of guilt at first intercourse and significantly lower levels of theistic sanctification and marital satisfaction than the marital group. In addition, there was no significant correlation between relational commitment and guilt for the premarital debut group, suggesting that those who were in a committed relationship at sexual debut experienced similar levels of guilt to those who were not in a committed relationship at debut. This study has meaningful implications for the way sexuality is discussed in Christian culture.

The use of Facebook in romantic relationships: An actor-partner interdependence mediation model predicting relationship visibility

The purpose of this paper was to document the use of social media in romantic relationships. More specifically, we examined whether the information that people desired to share (i.e., desired relationship visibility) and shared in practice (i.e., actual relationship visibility) about their romantic relationships on Facebook was predicted by their level of relational commitment. A sample of 139 couples, users of Facebook, aged 17 to 30 years, participated in the study. Participants completed questionnaires and used the Friendship application on Facebook (which gathered data directly from their Facebook accounts). The mediating role of desired relationship visibility in the link between relational commitment and actual relationship visibility on Facebook (i.e., declared relationship status and transient relationship visibility) was investigated using path analyses for dyadic data. Results of actor-partner interdependence mediation model analyses confirmed that women’s relational commitment was positively associated with their desired relationship visibility on Facebook. Men’s and women’s desired relationship visibility were, in turn, associated with their own and their partner’s declared relationship status and their own transient relationship visibility on Facebook. Our results provided evidence of the dyadic nature of Facebook self-presentations of coupledom.

“It is you, me on the team together, and my child”: Attending, resident, and patient family perspectives on patient ownership

Introduction Patient ownership is an important element of physicians’ professional responsibility, but important gaps remain in our understanding of this concept. We sought to develop a theory of patient ownership by studying it in continuity clinics from the perspective of residents, attending physicians, and patients. Methods Using constructivist grounded theory, we conducted 27 semi-structured interviews of attending physicians, residents, and patient families within two pediatric continuity clinics to examine definitions, expectations, and experiences of patient ownership from March–August 2019. We constructed themes using constant comparative analysis and developed a theory describing patient ownership that takes into account a diversity of perspectives. Results Patient ownership was described as a bi-directional, relational commitment between patient/family and physician that includes affective and behavioral components. The experience of patient ownership was promoted by continuity of care and constrained by logistical and other systems-based factors. The physician was seen as part of a medical care team that included clinic staff and patient families. Physicians adjusted expectations surrounding patient ownership for residents based on scheduling limitations. Discussion Our theory of patient ownership portrays the patient/family as an active participant in the patient–physician relationship, rather than a passive recipient of care. While specific expectations and tasks will vary based on the practice setting, our findings reframe the way in which patient ownership can be viewed and studied in the future by attending to a diversity of perspectives.

Beauty lived towards shalom. The Christian Life as Aesthetic-Ethical Existence

The apparent irrelevance of beauty to questions of justice reflects a problematic schism between aesthetic and ethical existence. While a theological aesthetics focused on the transcendent nature of beauty offers an important contribution, such an understanding of the place of beauty in human existence is incomplete without a complementary understanding of it as this-worldly: beauty as lived, as a relational category impelled by visceral desire and fuelled by the embodied imagination. By rightly ordering the appreciation and cultivation of beauty in everyday life, its relationship to works of justice is immediately apparent, as both modes of relating mutually serve as fitting shalom. In this light, fittingness becomes a measure of not only aesthetic but also ethical excellence, the two modes of existence being inextricably intertwined. Cultivating beauty-and-justice, as an expression of shalom, is a following after Christ’s being-for-the-other. It is a relational commitment, a life of discipleship that founds beauty in love.

Building the First Business Relationships: Incubatees in University Business Incubators (UBIs)

University Business Incubators (UBIs) are ideal spaces for supporting and developing novice entrepreneurs and their businesses. In the current study, we explore whether such incubators can also be considered an ideal space for building dyadic relationships between incubatees based on trust and knowledge exchange, and whether this can encourage commitment in the relationship. To this end, we propose that the perception of shared values from the academic world may foster such trust. Furthermore, perceiving there may be supplementary and complementary resources encourages the exchange of knowledge, the specific resource on which UBI businesses are based. At the same time, empathy between academic incubatees leads to relational commitment being reinforced.

Employee experience and customer loyalty: Perceived authenticity and relational commitment as serial mediators

We investigated the impact of employee experience on customer loyalty in the hospitality industry, focusing in particular on the serial mediating effects of perceived authenticity and relational commitment, and the moderating role of customer age. To test the proposed conceptual model, we conducted an online survey with 649 participants who had used restaurant services in the past month. Results showed that employee experience exerted a positive impact on customer loyalty. In addition, the relationship between employee experience and customer loyalty was sequentially mediated by perceived authenticity and relational commitment, and the older the customer age, the stronger were the serial mediating effects. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, and suggestions provided for improving hospitality services.