Love and affectionate touch toward romantic partners all over the world

Touch is the primary way people communicate intimacy in romantic relationships, and affectionate touch behaviors such as stroking, hugging and kissing are universally observed in partnerships all over the world. Here, we explored the association of love and affectionate touch behaviors in romantic partnerships in two studies comprising 7880 participants. In the first study, we used a cross-cultural survey conducted in 37 countries to test whether love was universally associated with affectionate touch behaviors. In the second study, using a more fine-tuned touch behavior scale, we tested whether the frequency of affectionate touch behaviors was related to love in romantic partnerships. As hypothesized, love was significantly and positively associated with affectionate touch behaviors in both studies and this result was replicated regardless of the inclusion of potentially relevant factors as controls. Altogether, our data strongly suggest that affectionate touch is a relatively stable characteristic of human romantic relationships that is robustly and reliably related to the degree of reported love between partners.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Reasons for facebook usage: Data from 46 countries

Seventy-nine percent of internet users use Facebook, and on average they access Facebook eight times a day (Greenwood et al., 2016). To put these numbers into perspective, according to Clement (2019), around 30% of the world\u2019s population uses this Online Social Network (OSN) site. Despite the constantly growing body of academic research on Facebook (Chou et al., 2009; Back et al., 2010; Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010; McAndrew and Jeong, 2012; Wilson et al., 2012; Krasnova et al., 2017), there remains limited research regarding the motivation behind Facebook use across different cultures. Our main goal was to collect data from a large cross-cultural sample of Facebook users to examine the roles of sex, age, and, most importantly, cultural differences underlying Facebook use

Affective interpersonal touch in close relationships: a cross-cultural perspective

Interpersonal touch behavior differs across cultures, yet no study to date has systematically tested for cultural variation in affective touch, nor examined the factors that might account for this variability. Here, over 14,000 individuals from 45 countries were asked whether they embraced, stroked, kissed, or hugged their partner, friends, and youngest child during the week preceding the study. We then examined a range of hypothesized individual-level factors (sex, age, parasitic history, conservatism, religiosity, and preferred interpersonal distance) and cultural-level factors (regional temperature, parasite stress, regional conservatism, collectivism, and religiosity) in predicting these affective-touching behaviors. Our results indicate that affective touch was most prevalent in relationships with partners and children, and its diversity was relatively higher in warmer, less conservative, and religious countries, and among younger, female, and liberal people. This research allows for a broad and integrated view of the bases of cross-cultural variability in affective touch

Sex differences in mate preferences across 45 countries: A large-scale replication

Considerable research has examined human mate preferences across cultures, finding universal sex differences in preferences for attractiveness and resources as well as sources of systematic cultural variation. Two competing perspectives—an evolutionary psychological perspective and a biosocial role perspective—offer alternative explanations for these findings. However, the original data on which each perspective relies are decades old, and the literature is fraught with conflicting methods, analyses, results, and conclusions. Using a new 45-country sample (N = 14,399), we attempted to replicate classic studies and test both the evolutionary and biosocial role perspectives. Support for universal sex differences in preferences remains robust: Men, more than women, prefer attractive, young mates, and women, more than men, prefer older mates with financial prospects. Cross-culturally, both sexes have mates closer to their own ages as gender equality increases. Beyond age of partner, neither pathogen prevalence nor gender equality robustly predicted sex differences or preferences across countries

Harsh or inept parenting, youth characteristics and later adjustment

Despite most parents’ good intentions to provide a warm, supportive environment in which the child can grow and develop socially appropriate behavior, they might occasionally act toward their child in a negative or even harsh way. Some do this more consistently than others. This dissertation examined the relationships between harsh or inept parenting and children’s characteristics in predicting various adjustment problems. The first aim of the dissertation was to examine if experienced harsh parental behavior is associated with adjustment problems for children from different cultures in a similar way. Study I showed that the effects of harsh parenting were very similar for children from different countries, but the magnitude of these effects differed. The second aim was to examine how parents and youths respond to each other over time. Studies II and III showed that youth characteristics influenced harsh or inept parenting and, to a lesser extent, parents’ behaviors could affect youth characteristics or behavior problems. The third aim of this dissertation concerns the role of child or youth characteristics in the link between harsh parenting and adjustment problems. Findings from Study II suggested that, youth characteristics might be responsible for both harsh parenting and problematic peer relationships, thus explaining the link between them. Studies IV and V showed that children’s early unmanageability increased the risk of having more adjustment problems later in life only for some children. The fourth aim was to examine how the early characteristics of children who experience physical punishment in the context of parenting behaviors that communicate negative emotions affect later adjustment. The findings from Studies IV and V suggest that only for some children, those who experience certain combinations of harsh parental behavior, is early unmanageability a risk factor for social adjustment problems. Overall, the studies in this dissertation provide insights into the roles of harsh or inept parenting and youth characteristics in the development of various adjustment problems. Even though parents’ negative behaviors may affect youth social adjustment, youth characteristics and behaviors can strongly contribute to their own adjustment and to harsh or inept parenting

A tailored Internet-delivered modular intervention based on cognitive behavioral therapy for depressed older adults : a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background: Depression is most common among the elderly and is associated with major impairment With limited accessible treatments available, remotely provided interventions are needed. Internet-based interventions have been proven effective for a number of mental and somatic health problems. However, the elderly population has received relatively limited attention in previous studies. This study aims to address this gap by investigating the effectiveness of a tailored Internet-delivered modular intervention based on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Methods: A minimum of 60 participants will be recruited and randomly assigned to groups in a two-armed parallel controlled trial with a waiting list. The intervention group will have access to an 8-week therapist-supported modular intervention. The waiting list group will be instructed to wait for 8 weeks and then granted access to the intervention for 8 weeks. Pre, post, and 3-, 12-, and 24-month follow-up assessments are planned for measuring changes in depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and psychological well-being using PHQ-9, GDS, GAD-7, and WHO-5. Primary outcomes of all the participants will be analyzed using the intention-to-treat principle, and withinand between-group effect sizes will be calculated. Discussion: Internet-based interventions could help address the existing treatment gap for depressed older adults. However, to date, the effectiveness of Internet-based CBT (ICBT) for depressed older adults has only been tested in a few studies. This trial will demonstrate if Internet-based CBT is effective for this population when compared to a waiting list control. Further analysis of secondary outcomes and participant behavior in the intervention will potentially reveal effectiveness moderating factors.Funding Agencies|Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT)Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT) [09.3.3-LMT-K-712-19-0192]</p

Universality of the triangular theory of love: Adaptation and psychometric properties of the triangular love scale in 25 countries

The Triangular Theory of Love (measured with Sternberg\u27s Triangular Love Scale - STLS) is a prominent theoretical concept in empirical research on love. To expand the culturally homogeneous body of previous psychometric research regarding the STLS, we conducted a large-scale cross-cultural study with the use of this scale. In total, we examined more than 11,000 respondents, but as a result of applied exclusion criteria, the final analyses were based on a sample of 7332 participants from 25 countries (from all inhabited continents). We tested configural invariance, metric invariance, and scalar invariance, all of which confirmed the cultural universality of the theoretical construct of love analyzed in our study. We also observed that levels of love components differ depending on relationship duration, following the dynamics suggested in the Triangular Theory of Love. Supplementary files with all our data, including results on love intensity across different countries along with STLS versions adapted in a few dozen languages, will further enable more extensive research on the Triangular Theory of Love