Older adults' support seeking from their adult children: The Support-Seeking Strategy Scale.

Due to the unavailability of assessment tools focused on support recipients, the aged-care literature has not been able to document the support seeking that occurs within familial support contexts. Therefore, we developed and validated a Support-Seeking Strategy Scale in a large sample of aging parents receiving care from their adult children. A pool of items was developed by an expert panel and administered to 389 older adults (over 60 years of age), all of whom were receiving support from an adult child. Participants were recruited on Amazon mTurk and Prolific. The online survey included self-report measures assessing parents' perceptions of support received from their adult children. The Support-Seeking Strategies Scale was best represented by 12 items across three factors-one factor representing the directness with which support is sought (direct) and two factors regarding the intensity with which support is sought (hyperactivated and deactivated). Direct support seeking was associated with more positive perceptions of received support from an adult child, whereas hyperactivated and deactivated support seeking were associated with more negative perceptions of received support. Older parents use three distinct support-seeking strategies: direct, hyperactivated, and deactivated with their adult child. The results suggest that direct seeking of support is a more adaptive strategy, whereas persistent and intense seeking of support (i.e., hyperactivated support seeking) or suppressing the need for support (i.e., deactivated support seeking) are more maladaptive strategies. Future research using this scale will help us better understand support seeking within the familial aged-care context and beyond. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Does it Matter Who You Feel Sexually Aroused By? Associations Between Sexual Arousal, Relationship Quality, and Sexual Satisfaction.

BACKGROUND: Despite its integral role in normative sexual functioning, there is a dearth of research into the role of subjective sexual arousal within romantic relationships. AIM: The current proof-of-concept study addresses this gap by investigating the associations between partner-induced sexual arousal, sexual arousal induced by others, and sexual satisfaction and relationship quality. METHODS: One hundred and sixteen heterosexual couples who had been together for an average of three and a half years completed an online survey. An Actor-Partner Interdependence Modelling framework was applied to analyze the dyadic data. OUTCOMES: Participants completed the Perceived Relationship Quality Components (PRQC) Inventory and a single item global measure of sexual satisfaction derived for the current study. RESULTS: Feeling sexually aroused by one's romantic partner was positively associated with one's own sexual satisfaction and relationship quality. However, feeling sexually aroused by people other than one's romantic partner was negatively associated with one's own sexual satisfaction and relationship quality. These associations were found for both men and women. CLINICAL TRANSLATION: Therapists and practitioners may need to place an emphasis on using strategies and techniques that specifically facilitate or heighten partner-induced sexual arousal, whilst helping couples to move away from those behaviors and situations which typically lead to sexual arousal induced by those other than their partner. STRENGTHS & LIMITATIONS: This proof-of-concept study provides novel findings that address the absence of research investigating the associations between sexual arousal and outcomes in romantic relationships. The well-powered dyadic study design enabled a rigorous test of the hypotheses. However, the study was cross-sectional in nature, the sample was somewhat homogenous, and assessments included brief measures of sexual arousal and sexual satisfaction. CONCLUSION: The findings offer the first evidence to suggest that partner-induced sexual arousal and non-partner-induced sexual arousal have differential effects in terms of sexual satisfaction and relationship quality. This not only has a raft of clinical implications, but it provides the basis for several important avenues of future research on the role of subjective sexual arousal in romantic relationships. Lawless NJ, Karantzas GC, Mullins ER, et al. Does it Matter Who You Feel Sexually Aroused By? Associations Between Sexual Arousal, Relationship Quality, and Sexual Satisfaction. Sex Med 2022;10:100523.

Carer burden and dyadic attachment orientations in adult children-older parent dyads.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This study takes an interpersonal approach to the study of carer burden in families where adult children care for older parents. The aim of the study was to determine whether different pairings of attachment insecurity in older parent-adult child dyads are predictive of carer burden. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Seventy dyads whereby adult children provided weekly care to their older parents completed self-report measures of attachment. Adult children also completed a measure of carer burden. RESULTS: Anxious-avoidant attachment insecurity pairings in parent-child dyads were associated with increases in carer burden. However, anxious-anxious and avoidant-avoidant attachment insecurity pairings were not associated with burden. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: The attachment insecurity of the care-recipient was found to moderate the association between a carer's attachment insecurity and burden, but only when the care-recipient's attachment insecurity differed to that of the carer's. These findings have implications for research, policy, and practice in aged care. The findings highlight the importance of focusing on attachment insecurity in aging families as well as taking a dyadic perspective when studying caregiving outcomes such as carer burden. The findings suggest that carers who may require the greatest support are those whose parents demonstrate contrasting orientations of attachment insecurity.

The Development and Validation of a Dehumanization Measure Within Romantic Relationships.

Despite the emergence of research into interpersonal dehumanization, there has been little by way of empirical investigation of the phenomenon within the context of romantic relationships. To address this, we introduce and validate the Dehumanization in Romantic Relationships Scale (DIRRS), a self-report measure of dehumanization perpetration and targeting within close relationships. In Study 1 (N = 1251, M age = 25.35, SD = 6.03), confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the dimensionality of interpersonal dehumanization may be more nuanced than first thought. Specifically, a four factor first-order structure [comprised of factors that relate to denials of human uniqueness (i.e., immature and unrefined) and human nature (i.e., exploitable and emotionless) was found to be the best fit to the data]. These results were replicated on a different sample in Study 2 (N = 847, M age = 23.40, SD = 6.43)-in addition to the assessment of criterion-related validity. Study 3 (N = 328, M age = 23.40, SD = 6.43) cross-validated the criterion-related validity reported in Study 2, and in addition, highlights that dehumanization is also associated with emotional and physical abuse. This research extends theory on interpersonal dehumanization and provides an empirically validated measure to reliably assess the occurrence of dehumanization within romantic relationships.

Attachment Style and Less Severe Forms of Sexual Coercion: A Systematic Review.

Few studies have examined how attachment insecurity (i.e., attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance) is associated with the more subtle and less severe forms of sexual coercion, such as verbal threats and partner manipulation. This is despite the fact that past research has indicated some of the relationship behaviors exhibited by insecurely attached individuals represent behaviors indicative of either the perpetration or victimization of less severe forms of sexual coercion. The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review on the association between attachment style and less severe forms of sexual coercion. Our search, which included published journal papers, book chapters, and theses published between January 1970 and October 2014, yielded 1091 records. Examination of these records against exclusion criteria yielded 11 studies that focused on the associations between attachment orientation and perpetration of sexual coercion (n = 3), sexual coercion victimization (n = 3), or both perpetration and victimization (n = 5). Findings revealed that attachment anxiety appeared to be more consistently associated with being the victim of sexual coercion than attachment avoidance. In terms of perpetration, attachment avoidance was more consistently associated with sexual coercion. These findings were observed when examining the association between attachment dimensions and motives for sexual coercion. The findings also revealed gender to be a moderator for victimization. This review provides insights into how attachment style may influence the perpetration and victimization of sexual coercion.