Browsing by Subject "Dating (Social customs)"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Intimate relationships : adult attachment, emotion regulation, gender roles, and infidelity
    (2008-08) Amidon, Amy Danielle, 1977-; Sherry, Alissa René
    This study explored individual differences in rates of infidelity by examining the associations among attachment styles, gender roles, emotion regulation strategies, and experiences of infidelity. While both indirect and direct support has been found between several of these variables when assessed separately, no known studies have examined emotion regulation as a partial mediator between attachment styles and infidelity and between gender roles and infidelity. Moreover, infidelity is still a relatively newly studied construct. The current study examined four types of infidelity and is the first known study to examine the construct of anonymous infidelity. Four hundred and six participants were recruited through the Educational Psychology subject pool, Facebook, and local newspaper ads, resulting in a predominantly college student population. A mixed methods approach was utilized and included the collection of quantitative data via a secure, online questionnaire, as well as a qualitative component examining open-ended responses from 50 participants to offer a more complete understanding of the different forms of infidelity. As predicted, path analyses revealed that individuals higher in certain attachment styles engaged in higher levels of infidelity, including emotional, combined, and anonymous infidelity. Femininity was also found to be linked to lower rates of combined infidelity. As predicted, secure attachment, preoccupied attachment, and femininity were negatively linked to the use of suppression, while fearful attachment was positively linked to the use of suppression. Surprisingly, masculinity was negatively linked with the use of suppression. Furthermore, the use of suppression was linked to higher incidents of combined infidelity. However, contrary to predictions, there was no support for emotion regulation serving as a mediator between either attachment styles or gender roles and infidelity. The qualitative analysis uncovered salient themes related to the definition and experience of infidelity, as well as conditions potentially conducive to experiences of infidelity and consequences of infidelity. Anonymous infidelity emerged as an interesting construct within the college culture of dating. These findings are discussed in the context of attachment theory and theories of gender identity, and the implications of the findings for prevention and intervention efforts within clinical practice are described.
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    The measurement and prediction of commitment in dating relationships: a full model
    (2003) Cottle, Nathan Roger; Surra, Catherine A.
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    Social anxiety in dating initiation: an experimental investigation of an evolved mating-specific anxiety mechanism
    (2002) Kugeares, Susana Lucia; Telch, Michael Joseph.; Buss, David M.
    A theoretical debate is currently ongoing about whether human emotional states were molded by evolutionary pressures to serve particular functions. Social anxiety has entered this debate. Non-evolutionary and evolutionarily adaptive functional accounts of social anxiety have suggested that it serves as a ready-made excuse for poor social performance, as a signal of submissiveness to prevent hostility from dominant social partners, or as a cognitive interruption of a “serious social blunder” that would lead to group expulsion. The evolutionary accounts are domain-general, in that they attempt to explain the adaptive value of social anxiety with a single function for all social contexts. The aim of the present study was to test a domain-specific account of social anxiety, limiting investigation to the mating domain. This study proposed that mating anxiety helps solve the adaptive problem of the costliness of being rejected by a potential mate. To accomplish this, the mating anxiety mechanism was hypothesized to estimate the likelihood of rejection by a potential mate by calculating the discrepancy between their respective levels of desirability (Mate Value Discrepancy). Gender differences in mating anxiety were also expected based on documented sex differences in preference for physical attractiveness (PA) and social status/financial resources (S/R) in a mate. A fictitious dating service was created in which participants viewed mate profiles of four types: high PA-high S/R, high PA-low S/R, low PAhigh S/R, and low PA-low S/R. A 2 (Profile PA) x 2 (Profile S/R) x 3 (Replicates for each mate type) x 2 (Participant Gender) design, with 2 covariates (self-rated PA and self-rated S/R) was used to test the effects of profile and participant characteristics on Anxiety, Likelihood of Rejection (LR), and Likelihood of Asking the individual for a date (LA). Hierarchical Linear Modeling was used to test the predictions about mate value discrepancy (MVD) and LR on Anxiety. MVD had a highly significant effect on Anxiety and on LR. LR had a significant effect on Anxiety as predicted, but did not mediate the effect of MVD on Anxiety. A gender differences in anxiety were found in the effect of profile status/resources on anxiety, but not for other profile or participant characteristics as expected. The implications of an unexpected sex difference (men having greater anxiety than women) are discussed. The results suggest strong support a domain-specific approach and the position that human emotions serve adaptive functions.