Using Virtual Reality to Improve the Quality of Life of Older Adults with Cognitive Impairments and their Family Members who Live at a Distance.

This study examines whether using virtual reality (VR) with older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or mild to moderate dementia with a family member who lives at a distance can improve the quality of life of the older adult and the family member. Twenty-one older adults in a senior living community and a family member (who participated in the VR with the older adult from a distance) engaged in a baseline telephone call, followed by three weekly VR sessions. The VR was associated with improvements in older adults' affect and stress, relationship with their family member, and overall quality of life, compared to baseline. Family members' negative affect, depressive symptoms, and caregiver burden also decreased and their mental health improved after using the VR, compared to baseline. Using the VR, however, did not change their relationship with the older adult. In addition, older adults and family members who experienced the VR sessions as more socially engaging reported better psychological and relational well-being, with older adults also experiencing greater improvements in overall quality of life. Finally, preliminary results suggest that older adults with dementia and their family members might benefit even more from using the VR than older adults with MCI and their family members.

Relationship Maintenance among Military Couples.

A burgeoning body of research on the relationship maintenance of military couples over the past two decades suggests the time is right to organize, assimilate, and critique the literature. We conducted a systematic review informed by the integrative model of relationship maintenance (Ogolsky et al., 2017) that considered issues of intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1991). Our literature search identified 81 relevant journal articles representing 62 unique samples. With respect to theory, 59.3% of the journal articles employed one or more formal theoretical frameworks. In terms of research design, 88.7% of the studies focused on the U.S. military, 83.9% of the studies recruited convenience samples, 54.8% of the studies utilized quantitative methods, and 30.6% of the studies collected longitudinal data. Among the studies reporting sample demographics, 96.8% of participants were married, 77.2% of participants identified as non-Hispanic White, and only one same-sex relationship was represented. Our narrative synthesis integrated findings about relationship maintenance from studies examining (a) relationship maintenance overtly, (b) communicating to stay connected across the deployment cycle, (c) disclosure and protective buffering, (d) support from a partner, (e) dyadic coping, and (f) caregiving and accommodating a partner's symptoms. We interpret our results with an eye toward advancing theory, research, and practice.

Shared Time Scarcity and the Pursuit of Extraordinary Experiences.

This work documents a relationship-maintenance strategy that individuals use when they perceive their time with a partner as scarce (vs. abundant): choosing to share extraordinary experiences (i.e., those characterized by uniqueness and superiority; pilot study N = 57). Study 1 first tested this notion in a social media experiment (N = 35,848 ad impressions on 25,148 adults). Study 2 (N = 393 adults) suggested that individuals choose extraordinary experiences as a way of sustaining the focal relationship, which leads them to prioritize extraordinariness over other attributes, such as quantity (Study 3: N = 100 adults) and convenience (Study 4: N = 799 adults). Consistent with the relationship-maintenance account, results showed that this prioritization of extraordinary experiences when facing shared time scarcity occurs only when individuals have a strong relationship-maintenance goal (Study 4). Taken together, these studies advance our understanding of the antecedents of experiential choices in close relationships.

Sexual Desire Mediates the Relationship-Promoting Effects of Perceived Partner Mate Value.

Although sexual desire for one's partner is theorized to serve as a gut-level indicator of partner mate value that motivates investment in valued partners, there is scant empirical evidence to support this hypothesis. Five studies addressed this possibility, examining whether experiencing sexual desire encouraged the enactment of relationship-promoting behaviors and whether perceptions of partner mate value motivated this proposed process. In a pilot study and Study 1, participants relived an activity they experienced with their partner, which was either sexual or non-sexual. Then, participants rated their desire to engage in sex and other non-sexual relationship-promoting activities with their partner (pilot study) and their partner's responsiveness to personal disclosures. Participants' enacted responsiveness was also evaluated by judges (Study 1). Results showed that experiences of desire enhanced relationship-promoting tendencies. Using experimental, daily experiences, and longitudinal methods, Studies 2-4 extended these findings, indicating that both manipulated and perceived partner mate value predicted desire, which, in turn, was associated with engagement in relationship-promoting behaviors. These findings demonstrate that sexual desire functions as a mechanism encouraging investment in partners who are perceived to be worth pursuing and retaining.

Parenting costs time: Changes in pair bond maintenance across pregnancy and infant rearing in a monogamous primate (Plecturocebus cupreus).

Relationships support social animals' health, but maintaining relationships is challenging. When transitioning to parenthood, new parents balance pair-bond maintenance with infant care. We studied pair-bond maintenance via affiliation in 22 adult titi monkey pairs (Plecturocebus cupreus) for 16 months centered around their first offspring's birth. Pair affiliation peaked during pregnancy, decreased across the postpartum period, and rose after reaching minimum affiliation 32.6 weeks postpartum. Pairs in which fathers carry infants more than average had lower affiliation at the infant's birth and return to an increase in affiliation sooner. Parents of infants who were slow to independence had higher rates of affiliation. Titi monkey infants actively prefer their fathers; mothers may avoid their infant-carrying mate, suggesting infants play an active role in parental affiliative decline. Our data supports previous findings that affiliation between partners declines following an infant's birth, but demonstrates new knowledge about the extent and duration of affiliative decline.

Walk the Line: How Successful Are Efforts to Maintain Monogamy in Intimate Relationships?

Monogamy, typically defined as sexual and romantic exclusivity to one partner, is a near-universal expectation in committed intimate relationships in Western societies. Attractive alternative partners are a common threat to monogamous relationships. However, little is known about how individuals strive to protect their relationships from tempting alternatives, particularly those embedded in one's social network. The current exploratory study was guided by the Investment Model, which states that satisfaction, investments, and perceived alternatives to a relationship predict commitment, which in turn predicts relationship longevity. The study aimed to identify relationship and extradyadic attraction characteristics associated with monogamy maintenance efforts, specifically relationship commitment, as predicted by the Investment Model. The efficacy of monogamy maintenance efforts was assessed via sexual and emotional infidelity measures at a 2-month follow-up. U.S. adults in heterosexual intimate relationships (N = 287; 50.2% male; M age = 34.5 years; M relationship length = 87 months) were recruited online to complete the survey study. Through structural equation modelling, the Investment Model structure was replicated, and relationship commitment predicted use of relationship-enhancing efforts as well as self-monitoring/derogation efforts. Individuals who experienced reciprocated attraction used significantly more avoidance and self-monitoring/derogation efforts than did those who experienced unreciprocated attraction. Ultimately, monogamy maintenance efforts did not significantly predict success in maintaining monogamy at follow-up. These findings have important research, educational, and clinical implications relating to relationship longevity.

The reciprocal relations between facebook relationship maintenance behaviors and adolescents' closeness to friends.

INTRODUCTION: Scholars suggest that social networking sites such as Facebook offer adolescents an ideal setting for engaging in relationship maintenance behaviors. Despite these suggestions, it remains an open question whether adolescents' online relationship maintenance behaviors can improve aspects of positive friendship quality, such as feelings of closeness. Additionally, it is unclear whether adolescents' feelings of closeness can motivate them to engage in online relationship maintenance behaviors. The aim of this two-wave longitudinal panel study was to investigate the reciprocal relations between Facebook relationship maintenance behaviors (FRMB) and adolescents' closeness to friends. METHOD: A sample of 12- to 18-year-old Flemish adolescents (NTime1 = 1840) filled out a paper-and-pencil survey twice within a six month-interval. We estimated cross-lagged structural equation models in AMOS to test the reciprocal relations between FRMB, closeness to friends, and receiving positive Facebook reactions. To test whether the hypothesized relations were moderated by gender and/or age, we conducted multiple group comparison tests. RESULTS: Findings revealed that FRMB and adolescents' closeness to friends were reciprocally related over time: FRMB positively predicted adolescents' closeness to friends and closeness to friends positively predicted FRMB. In addition, receiving positive Facebook reactions mediated these reciprocal relations. CONCLUSION: By revealing that receiving positive Facebook reactions mediates the reciprocal relationships between FRMB and adolescents' closeness to friends, we now better understand how FRMB can increase adolescents' closeness to friends and how increased closeness to friends can enhance adolescents' FRMB. The discussion focuses on the understanding of these findings, directions for future research, and key limitations.

Relational Motives Reduce Attentional Adhesion to Attractive Alternatives in Heterosexual University Students in China.

In heterosexual individuals, attention is automatically captured by physically attractive members of the opposite sex. Although helpful for selecting new mates, attention to attractive relationship alternatives can threaten satisfaction with and commitment to an existing romantic relationship. The current study tested the hypothesis that although a mating prime would increase selective attention to attractive opposite-sex targets (relative to less attractive targets) among single participants, this effect would be reduced among people already committed to a long-term romantic partner. Consistent with hypotheses, whereas single participants responded to a mating prime with greater attentional adhesion to physically attractive opposite-sex targets (relative to less attractive targets), participants in a committed romantic relationship showed no such effect. These findings extend previous research suggesting the presence of relationship maintenance mechanisms that operate at early stages of social cognition.

The role of emotional dysregulation in the association between family-of-origin conflict and romantic relationship maintenance.

Family-of-origin systems are consequential for the emotional well-being of offspring. These influences are likely to last into adulthood, affecting adult children's romantic relationships. The mechanisms by which family-of-origin environments influence adult romantic relationships are not fully understood. In a sample of 118 different-sex couples, we tested the effects of negative family-of-origin conflict on adult offspring's provision of relationship maintenance to their romantic partner using structural equation modeling. We evaluated emotional dysregulation as a mediator of this effect, using two measures of emotional dysregulation. Results from structural models demonstrated a negative effect of family-of-origin conflict on the provision of relationship maintenance via higher levels of emotional dysregulation. Our results highlight emotional self-regulation as a valuable intervention point for couple therapists.

Does Facebook Use Provide Social Benefits to Adults with Traumatic Brain Injury?

Drawing on the social compensation hypothesis, this study investigates whether Facebook use facilitates social connectedness for individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI), a common and debilitating medical condition that often results in social isolation. In a survey (N = 104 participants; n = 53 with TBI, n = 51 without TBI), individuals with TBI reported greater preference for self-disclosure on Facebook (vs. face-to-face) compared to noninjured individuals. For noninjured participants, a preference for Facebook self-disclosure was associated with the enactment of relational maintenance behaviors on Facebook, which was then associated with greater closeness with Facebook friends. However, no such benefits emerged for individuals with TBI, whose preference for Facebook self-disclosure was not associated with relationship maintenance behaviors on Facebook, and did not lead to greater closeness with Facebook friends. These findings show that the social compensation hypothesis has partial utility in the novel context of TBI, and suggest the need for developing technological supports to assist this vulnerable population on social media platforms.

Maintenance in relationships, satisfaction, jealousy, and violence in young couples: a network analysis.

BACKGROUND: The study explores the associations among Relationship Maintenance, Satisfaction, Jealousy, and Violence in young Peruvian couples, particularly in a post-pandemic context, using a network analysis. METHODS: Eight hundred thirty-two participants aged 18-30 (M = 20.94, SD = 2.29), with 645 females (77.50%) and 187 males (22.50%), were involved. The study aimed to discern relationships among network nodes, emphasizing the link between Relationship Maintenance dimensions and Jealousy and Violence. The research also sought the central node in the network and examined gender-specific node connections, using the SMOTE algorithm for gender data balance. RESULTS: Findings revealed a direct connection between Complementarity and Jealousy, implying intense shared interests can lead to unhealthy dependence. An inverse relationship was seen between Companionship and Violence. Satisfaction was pivotal, showcasing its importance in romantic relationship success. Additionally, the study shows men prioritize Companionship and Sharing, possibly due to cultural norms, while women focus on the Companionship-Complementarity bond, indicating mutual support. CONCLUSIONS: The research emphasizes the critical role of maintenance variables in determining Satisfaction, Jealousy, and Violence in relationships. The pandemic's influence on romantic dynamics is evident, emphasizing the importance of Satisfaction. Future studies should focus on gender equity and further explore these relationships.

The Impact of Social Network Site Use on Young Adult Development: Extending the Research Beyond Time Use and Considering the Role of Self-Disclosure Motivations.

Young adults spend a good deal of time using social network sites (SNSs), and the consequences of this activity have come under considerable scrutiny in research. There is some evidence that SNSs offer a context for young adults to engage in self-disclosure, and that such behavior may contribute to their development. In the current study, self-disclosure motivations were explored as a moderator of the relationship between SNS time use and indicators of adjustment. It was hypothesized that the relationships between SNS time use and three indicators of young adult adjustment (belonging, self-concept clarity, and flourishing) would be moderated by self-disclosure motivations. Data were collected using a cross-sectional survey of 524 young adults aged 17-25 years (Mean age = 19.75; SD = 2.16) who used at least one social network site daily (Mean hours of daily use = 3.25; SD = 1.67). The relationships between SNS time use and both belonging and flourishing were moderated by self-disclosure motivations. Specifically, when participants were low or moderately motivated to self-disclose (for relationship maintenance or self-presentation purposes) SNS time use was negatively related to belonging and flourishing. Whereas when participants were highly motivated to self-disclose there was no significant relationship between SNS time use and belonging and SNS time use and flourishing. Additionally, there was no significant moderation of the relationship between SNS time use and self-concept clarity. Based on these findings, we recommend that in order for young adults to reap potential benefits of spending time online they should endeavor to use SNSs for purposes that promote positive self and relational development.

Compassionate Goals, Facebook Use, and Subjective Well-Being: Examining the Roles of Relationship Maintenance and Connectedness.

Past research found that compassionate goals were associated with more responsive behaviors on Facebook, which in turn were associated with greater social capital. The current study aimed to examine whether compassionate goals were associated with greater well-being, through greater efforts to visibly attend to Facebook friends and feeling more connected to Facebook friends. We predicted that there would be an indirect effect of compassionate goals on satisfaction with life through Facebook relationship maintenance behaviors and Facebook social connectedness. Two hundred sixty-two adult Facebook users completed an online questionnaire containing measures of compassionate goals, Facebook relationship maintenance behaviors, Facebook social connectedness, satisfaction with life, and various control variables (Big Five personality traits, self-image goals, frequency and duration of Facebook use, number of Facebook friends, age, and gender). A serial mediation analysis revealed a significant indirect effect of compassionate goals on satisfaction with life through Facebook relationship maintenance behaviors and Facebook social connectedness. Higher levels of compassionate goals predicted more Facebook relationship maintenance behaviors, more Facebook relationship maintenance behaviors predicted greater Facebook social connectedness, and greater Facebook social connectedness predicted higher satisfaction with life. The indirect effect was significant with and without controlling for other aspects of Facebook use, self-image goals, Big Five personality traits, gender, age, and recruitment method. These findings replicate and extend past research by establishing new pathways and outcomes associated with compassionate goals. Overall, this study contributes important insights into supportive and beneficial ways of using social media.

How relationship-maintenance strategies influence athlete burnout: Mediating roles of coach-athlete relationship and basic psychological needs satisfaction.

Introduction: Athlete burnout has many potential negative effects on athletes' sporting performance and careers. Maintaining and promoting the coach-athlete relationship to meet athletes' basic psychological needs is one way to reduce burnout. Existing studies of the correlation between coach-athlete relationships and athlete burnout have mainly focused on the coaches' leadership style, with little attention given to relationship-maintenance strategies and the mechanism of athlete burnout from the athletes' perspective. Methods: Using an online survey of 256 adolescent athletes, we explore the relationship between relationship-maintenance strategies and athlete burnout, including the potential mediating effects of the coach-athlete relationship and basic psychological needs satisfaction. Results: (1) Athletes' relationship-maintenance strategies negatively predicted athlete burnout. (2) Besides the direct effect, we found evidence to support three mediation paths: (a) the coach-athlete relationship, (b) basic psychological needs satisfaction, and (c) both as serial mediators. Discussion: These findings enhance understanding of the mechanism of athlete burnout, demonstrating the influence of factors beyond the coach's role. The study also provides a theoretical basis for practical intervention by coaches, athletes, and sports organizations to reduce athlete burnout by focusing on athletes' perspectives.

Unrequited love: The role of prior commitment, motivation to remain friends, and friendship maintenance.

This study tested a moderated mediation model that commitment prior to an unrequited love episode will be related to higher levels of friendship maintenance behaviors after the episode and that this relationship will be mediated by the individual's motivations to remain friends with the rejecter. We predicted that rejection distress would weaken the mediational model among those reporting high distress. Participants wrote about an unrequited love experience as a pursuer and completed measures of pre-unrequited love commitment, rejection distress, motivations to remain friends, and friendship maintenance behaviors. Our results confirmed the moderated mediation model when the motivations to remain friends measure overall score, the interpersonal connection motivation, or the social connections motivation was the mediator. When covariates were added, only the model with the overall motivations score as mediator was supported. These data can help laypersons and mental health professionals understand and potentially repair friendships following an unrequited love episode.

An association between biased impression updating and relationship facilitation: A behavioral and fMRI investigation.

Is ingroup bias associated with any benefit for maintaining close relationships? We examined the link between biased impression updating for ingroup members (i.e., friends) and relationship maintenance, as measured by the number of friends participants reported having (Studies 1 and 2). We also investigated the underlying neural basis of this possible effect, focusing on activity in the right temporo-parietal junction (RTPJ), a region of the social brain involved in moral updating (Study 2). Specifically, we tested whether selectively discounting negative information about close others, manifested in reduced impression updating, and indexed by reduced RTPJ activity, is related to maintaining close relationships. In Study 1, after imagining a friend and a stranger performing different positive and negative behaviors, participants who were reluctant to update how close they felt to their friend (friend-closeness) reported having more friends in real life. In Study 2, participants were led to believe that a friend and a stranger gave money to them or took money away from them, while they were in the scanner. Participants who engaged in less negative updating of friends versus strangers reported having more friends. Participants who engaged in less friend-closeness updating also showed reduced RTPJ activity when their friend took money from them, and this neural pattern was associated with reports of having more friends. Together, these findings suggest that selectively discounting close others' negative behavior is linked to maintaining close relationships, indicating a potential social benefit of ingroup bias.

Communicating Commitment: A Relationship-Protection Account of Dyadic Displays on Social Media.

People often make their romantic relationships visible to others through dyadic displays (DDs). Yet, their reasons for doing so are not well-understood. We proposed and tested a relationship-protection account of DD use, focusing on a social media environment. We predicted that relationship-protection motivation would predict DDs and that DDs would serve a relationship-protective function. In Study 1, a correlational study of romantically involved Facebook users, relationship-protection motivation positively predicted DD use on Facebook even when controlling for feelings of interconnectedness. Relationship-protection motivation also mediated effects of relationship satisfaction and commitment on DD use. In Study 2, participants perceived a target whose Facebook profile we experimentally manipulated to include DDs (vs. not) as more likely to be in a high-quality relationship and less receptive to romantic advances from others, with implications for participants' interest in affiliating with the target. Our findings support a relationship-protection account of DD use on social media.

Inattention and Hyperactivity-Impulsivity: Their Detrimental Effect on Romantic Relationship Maintenance.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to understand how ADHD symptoms correlate with romantic relationship maintenance and test theoretical pathways by which symptoms of ADHD lead to relationship difficulties. METHOD: This study involved two phases of data collection, which were identical except for the population. Phase 1 ( n = 172) was a nonclinical sample of romantically involved young adults. Phase 2 ( n = 39) was a clinical sample of romantically involved young adults with ADHD. Participants in both phases reported on their levels of inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity, their relationship maintenance activities, and their relationship quality. RESULTS: ADHD symptoms were associated with greater relationship difficulties. In both samples, inattentive symptoms were associated with greater interest in relational alternatives and less constructive responses to partner's bad behaviors, whereas hyperactive-impulsive symptoms were associated with negative responses to bad behavior. CONCLUSION: The results of this study have implications for developing cognitive-behavioral therapy interventions targeting relationship difficulties in young adults with ADHD.

Romantic Love and Attentional Biases Toward Attractive Alternatives and Rivals: Long-Term Relationship Maintenance Among Female Chinese College Students.

Studies about heterosexual individuals' long-term relationship maintenance have indicated that committed individuals possess evolved psychological mechanisms that help protect their ongoing romantic relationships against threats from attractive others during early stage attentional processing when mating-related motivation is activated. In this study, two experiments tested the relationship maintenance mechanism among committed female college students in the Chinese cultural context under different love priming conditions. Committed Chinese women displayed inattention to attractive alternatives in positive love-scenario priming (Study 1: 114 female undergraduates, age range = 18-26 years), subliminal semantic love priming (Study 2: 110 female undergraduates, age range = 18-25 years), and baseline conditions (Studies 1 and 2). Those with high levels of chronic jealousy showed significantly increased attention to and difficulty disengaging attention from attractive rivals when subliminally primed with love. This provides further evidence, from an Eastern cultural context, for the existence of attentional biases toward attractive alternatives and rivals in early stage attentional processes for relationship maintenance. This research also illustrates the important role of romantic love in maintaining long-term romantic relationships.

Automatic Inattention to Attractive Alternative Partners Helps Male Heterosexual Chinese College Students Maintain Romantic Relationships.

Heterosexual individuals may possess evolved psychological mechanisms that help protect their ongoing romantic relationships against external threats from other attractive individuals. The current study used love priming and a dot-probe task to examine the attentional bias associated with long-term relationship maintenance by comparing between 52 single heterosexual men and 57 heterosexual men in exclusive romantic relationships, in the Chinese context. The results showed that single men responded to love priming with greatly increased attention to and difficulty disengaging from attractive women, whereas committed men were largely inattentive to attractive alternatives irrespective of the situation. The present findings provide evidence on the domain of relationship maintenance from a Chinese cultural context, and suggest that Chinese men protect an ongoing relationship by being automatically inattentive in early-stage attentional processing to attractive women who could serve as attractive alternatives.