RESUMEN
The height of the COVID-19 pandemic was an exceptionally stressful time for families that offered a unique opportunity to understand how stressful experiences occurring outside the relationship shape behavior occurring inside the relationship. Given the social distancing requirements of the pandemic, however, most research addressing this issue has relied on self-reports of behavior, which are susceptible to bias. In the summer of 2020, we asked a sample of married individuals living in the United States, Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom to complete online questionnaires assessing neuroticism and attachment insecurity, their levels of chronic stress, and their levels of acute stress due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We then asked participants to submit a 10-min video of themselves and their spouse attempting to solve an important marital problem that they recorded on their smartphone or other device and uploaded to a secure server. Coders were able to reliably code the behavior of both partners using an established coding system, and the distribution of codes was similar to prior research. Consistent with predictions, participants' COVID-19 stress interacted with their neuroticism and attachment avoidance to predict their levels of oppositional behavior, controlling for their levels of chronic stress and their partner's behavior; neuroticism and attachment avoidance were associated with behaving in a more oppositional manner among participants who reported high but not low COVID-19 stress. Attachment anxiety trended toward predicting more oppositional behavior regardless of stress. These results shed light on how stress affects behavior and introduce a novel way to observe family behavior remotely. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
Asunto(s)
COVID-19 , Humanos , Estados Unidos , Teléfono Inteligente , Pandemias , Matrimonio/psicología , ComunicaciónRESUMEN
Prior research provides mixed evidence regarding the direction of the association between sexual and marital satisfaction. Whereas some studies suggest a bidirectional association, other studies fail to document one direction or the other. The current investigation used a 12-day diary study of 287 married individuals to clarify the nature of this association. Results from time-lagged mixed modeling revealed a significant positive bidirectional association. Both higher global sexual satisfaction one day and satisfaction with sex that occurred that day predicted higher marital satisfaction the next day; likewise, higher marital satisfaction one day significantly predicted higher global sexual satisfaction the next day and higher satisfaction with sex that occurred the next day. Both associations remained significant after controlling for participant's gender/sex, neuroticism, attachment insecurity, self-esteem, stress, perceived childhood unpredictability and harshness, age of first intercourse, construal level, age, and length of marriage. We also explored whether these covariates moderated either direction of the association. Daily stress was the most reliable moderator, with three of the four interactions tested remaining significant after Bonferroni corrections. The bidirectional association between global sexual and marital satisfaction and the positive association between satisfaction with sex that occurred that day and marital satisfaction the next day were significantly stronger when individuals experienced high versus low stress. Although the exploratory nature of all moderation analyses suggests they should be replicated before drawing strong conclusions, these findings highlight the importance of sexual satisfaction to marital satisfaction and vice versa and point to the power of stress in strengthening these associations.
Asunto(s)
Satisfacción Personal , Conducta Sexual , Humanos , Niño , Matrimonio , Esposos , OrgasmoRESUMEN
The behavioral immune system is an evolved adaptation comprised of automatic behavioral, cognitive, and affective reactions that has allowed humans throughout evolutionary history to avoid situations that risk infection by pathogens (e.g., physical proximity to sick people). Although behavioral immune system activation may be functional by helping people avoid such situations, experiencing these automatic reactions during sexual interactions may undermine people's evaluations of those interactions because sex requires close physical contact. We examined whether two sources of behavioral immune system activation (daily concern over contracting COVID-19 and individual differences in infection concern) undermined satisfaction with sex among 318 partnered adults in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants reported individual differences in perceived infectability and then, every night for two weeks, reported their (a) daily concern about contracting COVID-19, (b) daily stress, (c) whether they had sex with their partner, and (d) their satisfaction with sex when it occurred. People's perceived infectability moderated the association between their daily concern about contracting COVID-19 and the extent to which they enjoyed sex when it occurred, such that people higher, but not lower, in perceived infectability enjoyed sex less on days that they were more worried about contracting COVID-19 than usual. This effect was not moderated by biological sex and remained significant when controlling for biological sex, age, relationship length, and frequency of sex. Results highlight the importance of the behavioral immune system to sexual functioning and suggest a novel avenue through which the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted relationships.
Asunto(s)
COVID-19 , Adulto , Humanos , Pandemias , Satisfacción Personal , SARS-CoV-2 , Conducta SexualRESUMEN
Automatic partner attitudes can be conceptualized as associations stored in memory between a partner and one's evaluation of that partner that are spontaneously activated upon thoughts of or encounters with the partner. Although more negative automatic partner attitudes have been shown to predict worse relationship outcomes over extended periods of time, it is less clear how such attitudes are related to personal and relationship well-being on a daily basis. Using a sample of newlywed couples, we assessed automatic partner attitudes implicitly and then assessed relationship evaluations, positive mood, and negative mood every day for 14 days. On average, more negative automatic partner attitudes were associated with more negative and less positive daily mood but unrelated to daily relationship evaluations. Nevertheless, the association between automatic partner attitudes and daily relationship evaluations was moderated by relationship length, such that more negative automatic partner attitudes were associated with more negative daily relationship evaluations among people in longer relationships, but with more positive daily relationship evaluations among people in shorter relationships. These findings suggest that people experience evaluative feelings activated by their partners as mood on a daily basis and, as the relationship lengthens, they may learn to use this affect to evaluate their relationships. The latter possibility may help explain why automatic partner attitudes predict relationship outcomes over time and suggests that effectively maintaining positive relationship evaluations requires cognitive and behavioral strategies that minimize negative associations involving the partner. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).