Romantic relationship Study - Ambivalence

10 day daily diary study with 174 individuals in a romantic relationship. Includes intake and daily diary measurements

Relationship difficulties and “technoference” during the COVID-19 pandemic

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported by a grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) allocated to F. Righetti (No. VI.Vidi.195.010).The COVID-19 pandemic has touched many aspects of people’s lives around the world, including their romantic relationships. While media outlets have reported that the pandemic is difficult for couples, empirical evidence is needed to test these claims and understand why this may be. In two highly powered studies (N = 3271) using repeated measure and longitudinal approaches, we found that people who experienced COVID-19 related challenges (i.e., lockdown, reduced face-to-face interactions, boredom, or worry) also reported greater self and partner phone use (Study 1) and time spent on social media (Study 2), and subsequently experienced more conflict and less satisfaction in their romantic relationship. The findings provide insight into the struggles people faced in their relationships during the pandemic and suggest that the increase in screen time – a rising phenomenon due to the migration of many parts of life online – may be a challenge for couples.Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) VI.Vidi.195.01

Method and measures

With this research study, we aim to capture people’s lived experiences of their social relationships during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The study includes a survey asking about people's personality, social relationships, work, and various questions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants will be asked to complete a survey every two weeks for the duration of the pandemic and then will be asked to complete follow-up surveys in the weeks and months after the pandemic is over

A nice surprise:Sacrifice expectations and partner appreciation in romantic relationships

Romantic partners regularly encounter conflicts of interests and sacrifice their self-interest for their partner or the relationship. But is this relationship maintenance behavior always appreciated by the partner receiving the sacrifice? We examined whether expectations of sacrifices (i.e., beliefs that sacrifices are necessary, normal, and expected in relationships) predict people’s appreciation for their partner and, ultimately, their relationship satisfaction. Utilizing a daily experience procedure among romantic couples in the Netherlands (N = 253 individuals), we found that when participants perceived a partner’s sacrifice, they experienced greater partner appreciation (i.e., gratitude and respect) and, in turn, felt more satisfied with their relationship when their sacrifice expectations were low, rather than high. In contrast, perceiving a partner’s sacrifice had no effect on appreciation and relationship satisfaction when the sacrifice recipient held strong sacrifice expectations. These findings illustrate the power that expectations have in influencing the receiver’s appreciation of their partner’s pro-social behavior

Love in the Time of COVID

Our goal is to determine how the COVID-19 outbreak is impacting people’s relationships. We are living in a challenging moment, with the COVID-19 pandemic affecting people and communities across the world. For many, this is a difficult and stressful period. Close personal relationships can be a great resource in these trying times, but the challenges faced can also put relationships under strain. Indeed, supportive relationships are linked with greater psychological and physical well-being and can act as a buffer to even life’s biggest stressors. At the same time, outside stressors can put pressure on even the most supportive, high-quality relationships, leading to more challenging relationship dynamics. We seek to assess how relationships, in addition to social factors and individual differences, influence people’s experiences during this stressful time (e.g., can these factors reduce social isolation and loneliness? What factors are most important in helping to buffer peoples well-being?). A large body of prior research has shown that social isolation negatively impacts individuals health and wellbeing (see Cacioppo & Hawkley, 2003 for review), but another large body of work demonstrates that social support and close relationship are an important resource that aid people’s health and wellbeing, particularly in times of acute stress (see Cohen & Cohen, 2003). Yet, little research has examined with how people cope with stress, social isolation, and potential health threats simoltaneously and the role of relationships in our ability to cope. Thus, although the specific aims of the current study are multifaceted, we have two broad goals. First, we seek to explore factors that may buffer or exacerbate the negative impact of social isolation on people’s well-being (including good/bad communication, social support, division of household responsibilities). Second, we are also interested in examining who is most vulnerable and more resilient during these trying times. To do so, we are including measures that will examine how people’s relationships, in addition to individual differences (e.g., attachment, personality, etc.), situational factors (e.g., quarantined, working from home, social isolation), and relational factors (e.g. responsiveness, self-expansion) influence people’s health and well-being over the course of the COVID-19 outbreak and how this can influence and at times buffer couples relationships over time. To learn more about this project, see our website: https://loveinthetimeofcovid.me

Recruitment

We seek to acquire as large of a sample as possible in order to account for attrition that may occur over time and to have diverse representations of peoples experiences during this time. Participants must be at least 18 years of age or older and be able to speak one of the languages in which the survey is available (English, French, Italian, Turkish, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Indonesian, Thai, Deutsch, Chinese). Participation in this study is completely voluntary, no compensation is provided