Do episodic self- and partner-uncertainty mediate the association between attachment orientations and emotional responses to relationship-threatening events in dating couples?

This study examined relational-uncertainty perceptions (a form of cognitive appraisal) to investigate how partners in 272 heterosexual couples responded emotionally to a relationship-challenging event. Participants rated themselves on attachment anxiety and avoidance. Then, after listing a challenging event, they rated how uncertain it made them about their own and their partner's continued involvement in the relationship. Participants also rated how angry and fearful the event made them. An Actor-Partner Interdependence Model yielded three sets of results. First, actor effects from insecure attachment orientations to episodic relational uncertainty emerged. Second, proposed mediation between attachment orientations and emotional reactions by uncertainty was partially supported (perceived partner-uncertainty partially mediated the positive association of anxious attachment and fear, and self-uncertainty partially mediated the positive relation between avoidant attachment and anger). Finally, a partner effect was found between one couple member's avoidant attachment and the other's perceived partner uncertainty. Men and women exhibited similar findings.

Young adult drinking partnerships: alcohol-related consequences and relationship problems six years later.

OBJECTIVE: This study examines the association between young adult drinking partnerships (ages 18-26 years) and later alcohol-related problems and consequences, alcohol use, relationship quality, and relationship dissolution in adult relationships (ages 26-35). METHOD: Data came from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health; Waves III and IV) with 1,347 young adults and their partners at Wave III, including dating, cohabiting, and married couples, and individual adult behaviors at Wave IV, 6 years later. Drinking partnerships were based on alcohol use frequency, quantity, heavy episodic drinking, and getting drunk. RESULTS: Four clusters included (a) congruent light and infrequent, (b) discrepant male heavy and frequent, (c) discrepant female heavy and frequent, and (d) congruent heavy and frequent drinkers. Young adult discrepant partnerships reported more alcohol-related problems and consequences 6 years later. Young adults in the congruent heavy drinking partnership indicated more separation/divorce and alcohol use as adults. Young adult married men who drank discrepantly and higher compared to their wives reported higher rates of adult drinking and problems than other men. There were a number of negative effects from congruent heavy drinking, especially for women. CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrated that there are multiple types of young adult drinking partnerships based on couples' alcohol use behaviors. Men may be at risk for serious alcohol-related problems later in adulthood, especially when paired with discrepant drinking partners and congruent heavy drinking partners. Women are at risk when in congruent, heavy and frequent drinking partnerships. Studying romantic relationships and drinking has implications for broad aspects of young adult and adult development.

Romantic relationships and alcohol use.

The focus of this review is on the associations of alcohol use and aspects of romantic relationships. The review covers concepts and methods, partner drinking associations, effects of relationships on drinking, and drinking effects on relationships. Several conclusions were reached. People are attracted to similarly drinking others. With greater relationship commitment there is greater desistance from drinking. Across time and relationship commitment levels, socialization influences vary by gender. A thread throughout the review was the identification of congruent and discrepant drinking among relationship partners. Congruent drinking, even at higher levels, was associated with more positive outcomes whereas discrepant drinking was associated with more negative outcomes. Needed for the future are greater theory development and longitudinal and laboratory studies that include diverse samples and both parties to the relationship.

Intimate Partner Violence in Young Adult Dating, Cohabitating, and Married Drinking Partnerships.

Using data from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this study examined intimate partner violence (IPV) and drinking partnerships in 741 young adults in male-female dating, cohabitating, and married relationships. Cluster analyses revealed four similar kinds of drinking partnerships: (a) congruent light and infrequent, (b) discrepant male heavy and frequent, (c) discrepant female heavy and infrequent, and (d) congruent moderate/heavy-frequent drinkers. Overall, there were no significant main effect differences across relationship type and clusters. The type of relationship and the type of drinking partnership interacted with contexts examined (i.e., type of violence severity, gender, and whether the violence was perpetration or victimization). Given the severity of IPV in couple relationships, additional empirical attention to drinking partnerships is warranted.

Binge drinking in the context of romantic relationships.

This study examined consequences of binge drinking on relationship conversation qualities (positive tone, general disagreements, drinking disagreements, and talks about drinking) among romantically involved college students. Conversation qualities were predicted with three binging variables: (a) same day binging, (b) prior day binging, and (c) total amount of binging reported. The participants (N=156) completed 10 daily diaries of relationship conversations as well as drinking behaviors. Same day binging increased the occurrence of both drinking disagreements and talks about drinking. However, prior day binging was not associated with any of the four conversation qualities examined. Greater numbers of binges over the duration of the study were associated with less overall positive tone, and more general disagreements, drinking disagreements, and talks about drinking. The implications of the findings for student drinking patterns and relational quality are discussed.

Religiousness and disordered eating: does religiousness modify family risk?

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of intrinsic and extrinsic religiousness in modifying family risk on disordered eating among women. We hypothesized that intrinsic religiousness would buffer the impact of family risk whereas extrinsic religiousness would increase the risk. In a survey of 876 college women between the ages of 18 and 29, the results showed that, when intrinsic religiousness was higher, there was no relationship between family risk and disordered eating. When intrinsic religiousness was lower, there was a significant positive relationship between family risk and disordered eating. These findings support the hypothesized buffering effect of intrinsic religiousness. For extrinsic religiousness, there was a stronger relationship between family risk and disordered eating when extrinsic religiousness was higher than when it was lower, supporting the hypothesized enhanced vulnerability effect. Future research should actively explore other moderating variables as well as aspects of religiousness that may contribute to risk and resiliency in disordered eating.