Perceptions of partners’ problematic alcohol use affect relationship outcomes beyond partner self-reported drinking: Alcohol use in committed romantic relationships.

Alcohol use is prevalent among college students, including those who are in committed romantic relationships. Individuals’ perceptions of their partner’s alcohol use may have significant effects on how they view both their partner and their relationship. The current study examines the effect of one’s perception of one’s romantic partner’s drinking as problematic on one’s relationship satisfaction and commitment, and whether this varies as a function of one’s partner’s drinking. Both partners in romantic heterosexual relationships (N 78 dyads) completed an online survey assessing alcohol use and problems, relationship satisfaction and commitment, and the perception that their partner’s drinking was problematic. Analyses using Actor-Partner Interdependence Models (APIMs) revealed a partner-moderated actor interaction, such that partner self-reported drinking significantly moderated the association between the actor’s perception of their partner’s drinking as problematic and actor relationship outcomes. Results indicated that when partners drank at higher levels, perceiving their drinking as problematic did not have an effect. These individuals were less satisfied regardless of their perceptions. However, when partners drank at lower levels, perceiving their drinking as problematic was negatively associated with relationship outcomes. Furthermore, for alcohol consumption, three-way interactions with gender emerged, indicating that this effect was stronger for males. Results extend the literature on drinking in relationships and on interpersonal perception. Implications and future directions are discussed

Past and present, day by day: Communication with former romantic partners, relationship-contingent self-esteem, and current relationship outcomes.

In an effort to illuminate factors delineating when communication with former romantic partners can be beneficial versus detrimental, this work examines how communication affects both the current and former relationships, and whether these associations vary as a function of one’s self-worth being tied to the relationship (i.e., relationship-contingent self-esteem, RCSE). Over three weeks, undergraduates in relationships who regularly communicated with a former partner (N = 46) completed nightly measures of former partner communication and satisfaction with current and former relationships. Results indicated that among those higher in RCSE, communication with former partners undermined current relationship satisfaction and bolstered former relationship satisfaction, patterns not evident among those lower in RCSE. For some, communication with former partners can be problematic for the current relationship

The cost of distrust: Trust, anxious attachment, jealousy, and partner abuse.

Trust is critical in the development of healthy, secure, and satisfying relationships. However, anxiously attached individuals may be more prone to trust issues as well as experiencing jealousy within their romantic relationship. Further, feelings of lower trust and higher jealousy may have potential downstream effects on physical and psychological abuse. Participants (N=261) completed self-report measures of attachment, trust, jealousy and IPV perpetration. Mediated moderation results from participants in committed relationships supported our hypotheses: Attachment anxiety moderated the association between trust and jealousy; anxious individuals experienced higher levels of cognitive and behavioral jealousy when reporting lower trust. Moreover, among anxiously attached individuals, behavioral jealousy mediated the association between trust and both types of abuse. Findings illustrate the importance of trust in relationships and suggest that lacking trust has cascading effects, particularly for anxiously attached individuals

I do what I want! So you see who I am: IPV perpetration, dominance and the association with self-presentation.

Self-presentation is a ubiquitous interpersonal behavior used to influence how others see the self. Such interpersonal behaviors may be used to convey a variety of images, including that of someone who is dominant. Perpetrators of intimate partner violence (IPV) tend to seek dominance in their interpersonal relationships; therefore, they may use self-presentation as a means of expressing this dominance. We expected that IPV perpetration would be positively associated with dominance motives and that dominance motives would be significantly associated with self-presentation. Participants (N = 172) completed self-report measures on self-presentation, dominance and perpetration of IPV. Mediational analyses supported our hypotheses; dominance motives was a significant mediator of the association between IPV perpetration and self-presentation. These results have the potential to contribute to the growing body of literature dedicated to better understanding the personality of the perpetrator, as well as the dynamics between perpetrator and victim