Sexual Disclosures: Connections to Relational Satisfaction and Closeness

This study examines sexual communication by describing the content of sexual disclosures within marital relationships and assessing the association between sexual disclosures and relational outcomes, specifically relational satisfaction and closeness. A survey administered to 293 married individuals (58% female) who had an average age of 40 years (range = 20–73), 13.7 years of marriage (range = 1 month to 54 years), and who reported high levels of relational satisfaction assessed the relation between the content of sexual disclosures and satisfaction and closeness. While sexual disclosures are made infrequently, positive affect and sexual preferences are disclosed more than negative topics and disclosing sexual information is positively related to relationship satisfaction, rρ(280) =.26, p rs(280) =.475,

And this relationship is just right : normative romantic relationship development

The current five studies address an unanswered question in the romantic relationships literature: what do couples’ friends and family members observe about couples’ romances that brings those network members to (dis)approve of those relationships? I hypothesized that the extent to which couples follow an average, or normative, relationship trajectory—a just right, ‘Goldilocks’ relationship progression—increases network member relationship approval and support and, ultimately, influences couples’ relationship quality and outcomes. In Study 1, newlyweds generated a timeline of significant courtship events by indicating when each event occurred in their histories together. Spouses whose courtship timelines progressed in a more normative sequence reported greater marital satisfaction, and this association was mediated by more positive perceived relationships with friends and family members. In Studies 2a-c, and 3a, participants exhibited greater approval for a friend’s relationship to the degree that that relationship was perceived to have developed normatively. In Studies 3a and 3b, the associations between perceived normative relationship development, perceived network relationship approval, and relationship quality were replicated in engaged, recently-married, and long-married couples. Further, additional analyses suggest that social network relationship approval and support mediate the link between normative relationship development and subsequent relationship quality. In Studies 4a-b, the effect of normative relationship development on concurrent relationship quality was not replicated in dating couples, indicating that it may be too early in couples’ relationships to experience the benefits of normativity. Finally, Studies 5b and 5c (based on a qualitative pilot study) tested whether experiencing a more normative relationship development in fledgling relationships was associated with relationship quality, romantic interest, and relationship dissolution. Relationship normativity predicted higher peak romantic interest in both long-term and short-term relationships in Studies 5b, and higher average romantic interest and peak romantic interest, but only in long-term relationships, in Study 5c. There were no differences in deviations from a normative relationship progression, for short-term or long-term relationships, in whether or not those relationships had ended or were ongoing. Across studies, more normative relationship progressions were generally associated with greater relationship approval and support from couples’ social networks, and more average, ‘Goldilocks’ relationships thrived.Human Development and Family Science

Understanding the decision to marry versus cohabit: the role of interpersonal dedication and constraints and the impact on life satisfaction

The current study explored men's and women's reasons for choosing to marry rather than to cohabit using a national data set (n = 786) of adults who were currently married or had been married previously. Using commitment theory participant's open-ended reasons for choosing to marry were coded into categories of either interpersonal dedication or constraint commitment. A variety of demographic, attitudinal, and relationship history variables were then used to predict commitment type. The influence of commitment type during the decision to marry on life satisfaction was also explored. Results indicate that current marital status (being married vs. being divorced or separated) and cohabiting before marriage were the strongest predictors of interpersonal dedication reasons for marriage for both men and women. Level of conventionality and parents' marital status also emerged as significant predictors of constraint commitment. Finally, marrying for reasons related to interpersonal dedication significantly predicted higher life satisfaction for men but not for women

The Many Faces of Sexual Consent

Returning from time to time to the Califia short story, this Article explores the role of sexual consent in American law. I first examine the many faces law finds for consent or its opposite; these many faces reveal the impossibility of divorcing consent from context and social policy. For this reason, the very meaning of consent has changed markedly in the last generation in response to women\u27s increased power. My thesis is that the law of consent ought to and probably will change in other ways now that gay power joins and sometimes stands in opposition to women\u27s power. Jessie illustrates one cutting edge-sadomasochism (S&M)-that serrates traditional liberalism, modern feminism, and gaylaw

The Register, 2000-02-04

https://digital.library.ncat.edu/atregister/2231/thumbnail.jp

The Western Mistic, January 23, 1953

https://red.mnstate.edu/western-mistic/1591/thumbnail.jp

The Western Mistic, January 23, 1953

https://red.mnstate.edu/western-mistic/1591/thumbnail.jp

Premarital Marriage Counselling for Teenagers: One Year\u27s Experience in California

This is a revised version of an article which appeared in CONCILIATION CT. REV. Dec. 1971, at 1