Amanda Denes

Pillow Talk: Exploring Disclosures After Sexual Activity

Drawing on physiological research, this study explores disclosures after sexual activity, or “pillow talk.” Oxytocin, better known as the “bonding hormone,” has been associated with physical affection and intimacy. While the hormone was originally studied for its role in childbirth, recent work has started to explore oxytocins other effects, such as decreasing stress, decreasing perceptions of social threat, increasing bonding, and increasing the ability to read emotional cues. Together with the literature on affection exchange theory (Floyd, Judd, & Hesse, 2008), several hypotheses regarding characteristics of disclosures after sexual activity were tested. This study found that disclosing positive feelings for ones partner after sexual activity is positively associated with trust, relationship satisfaction, and closeness. Additionally, women who experienced orgasm disclosed significantly more than both men who orgasmed and women who did not reach orgasm. Lastly, individuals in monogamous/committed relationships engaged in more disclosures after sexual activity and experienced more positive outcomes from such disclosures than individuals in casual/open relationships.

Parents' Communication Skills and Adolescents' Salivary α-Amylase and Cortisol Response Patterns

The primary goal of this study was to examine patterns or groupings of adolescents’ hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) (measured through cortisol) and sympathetic nervous system (SNS) (measured through salivary alpha amylase or sAA) responses as a function of their parents’ communication skills. A related goal was to decipher whether adolescents who demonstrate different patterns of physiological reactivity vary in their personal and relational health. The sample consisted of 118 parent–adolescent dyads who were asked to talk about something stressful related to the parents’ relationship. The results revealed that adolescents’ perceptions of their parents communication skills predicted the likelihood that the adolescents would overreact, show no reaction, or down regulate in response to such a discussion, but only for sAA. All of the communication skills in question—social support, communication competence, feeling caught between the parents’ conflict, and inappropriate disclosures—supported the hypothesis that adolescents with parents who they think are more communicatively skilled are better able to recover from a stressful interaction than adolescents whose parents are less skilled. Adolescents who were considered “overreactors” in sAA also had more negative health indices, somewhat lower psychological well-being, and poorer quality relationships with their parents.

A Kiss Is Just a Kiss?: Comparing Perceptions Related to Female–Female and Female–Male Kissing in a College Social Situation

The visibility of female –female kissing in the media and on college campuses has increased. Yet how female –female kissing influences perceptions of the women engaging in it has not been examined. College students’ (N = 164) understanding of female –female kissing and female –male kissing in an otherwise heterosexual context was examined. Men perceived female –female kissing as more atypical than did women. A woman who kissed a woman was viewed as more promiscuous than a woman who kissed a man. Yet a woman who kissed a woman was perceived as more likely heterosexual than bisexual or lesbian. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Coming Out Again: Exploring GLBQ Individuals’ Communication with Their Parents After the First Coming Out

The present study investigates individuals’ experiences coming out to their parents as gay, lesbian, bisexual, and queer (GLBQ) and how these first coming-out experiences may relate to future parent-child communication regarding individuals’ sexual orientation. Specifically, this study explores whether some individuals feel the need to come out to their parents a second time, and if so, the reasons for coming out again and the strategies used to do so. One hundred six GLBQ individuals (ages 18 to 55) completed surveys about their experiences coming out to their parents the first time and a potential second time. Approximately one-quarter of participants reported coming out to their parents a second time. An inductive analysis revealed three reasons for doing so: to reinforce their sexual orientation, to clarify aspects of their identity, and to share more information about their GLBQ lifestyle. In addition, the more individuals perceived their parents to react to their first coming out with denial and the lower their reported relationship satisfaction with their parents after their first coming out, the more likely they were to come out again. Finally, strategies used to come out both the first and second times are explored.

Analyzing divorce from cultural and network approaches

Abstract Because of the high divorce rate and subsequent outpouring of research on divorce in the United States and other Westernized countries, divorce is often framed from an individualistic perspective as a process that is negotiated between two individuals – as ‘his and her divorce. ’A primary assumption is that the spouses negotiate what is best for them and their children, seemingly irrespective of extended kin or culture. This study provides a more complex understanding of the role of culture in the divorce process by examining divorce from culture and network theory approaches. Interviews with 60 Mexican Americans who experienced divorce are combined with the extant literature to illustrate how culture and social networks shape divorce decisions and behaviors. Five themes surfaced from the interviews: (1) power differentials and gender roles, (2) female collective empowerment, (3) social capital, network density, and family members as stakeholders, (4) family members as bridges of structural holes and (5) religion as culture and law.

The Influence of Divorce and Parents’ Communication Skills on Adolescents’ and Young Adults’ Stress Reactivity and Recovery:

This study examined whether the impact of parents’ marital status (divorced/married) on children’s hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis (measured through salivary cortisol) and sympathic nervous system (SNS; measured through salivary alpha-amylase or sAA) response and recovery patterns was moderated by parents’ communication skills and the age of the child. One hundred eighteen parent–child (ages 15-22) dyads talked about something stressful related to the parents’ relationship. Children who thought their parents were more communicatively incompetent had higher pre-interaction sAA levels. In addition, children whose parents were communicatively skilled (i.e., socially supportive, communicatively competent, children felt less caught between them) were able to down regulate quickly after the discussion, regardless of the marital status of the parent and the age of the child. The results for sAA, and somewhat for cortisol, revealed that parents’ marital status and the age of the child were important in determining differences in children’s physiological response and recovery patterns only when parents were less communicatively skilled.

(Unmet) Standards for emotional support and their short- and medium-term consequences

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to explore the effects of emotional support discrepancy (ESD), or the degree to which people feel their standards for emotional support are met, immediately after a supportive interaction and in the days following the interaction. One hundred thirteen dating couples discussed in the laboratory a topic that was stressful for one of the partners and then completed daily diary logs for seven days. Immediately following the laboratory interaction, a smaller ESD was indirectly associated with more positive affect, less negative affect, and greater relationship satisfaction through cognitive reappraisal. In the days following the laboratory interaction, ESD was not associated with future conversations about either the laboratory stressor or stressors that emerged during the week, but was marginally and positively associated with brooding rumination about the laboratory stressor and positively associated with brooding rumination about the partners support in general. In addition, both types of rumination were associated with less positive affect, more negative affect, and less relationship satisfaction over the course of the week.

Investigating Stepparent-Stepchild Interactions: The Role of Communication Accommodation

This study examined the utility of communication accommodation theory (CAT) to investigate stepchildrens perceptions of communication patterns in typical interactions with their stepparents. A total of 133 stepchildren completed an online survey about their perceptions of their stepparents’ accommodative and nonaccommodative behaviors. A measure of accommodation, overaccommodation, and underaccommodation was created for this study and items were tested with factor analysis. Findings indicate support for CATs predictions: perceptions of stepparent accommodation, underaccommodation and overaccommodation predict stepchildrens accommodative behavior in typical interactions, as well as their conversation satisfaction, relational closeness and perceptions of shared family identity with their stepparents. Further, stepchildrens perceptions of shared family identity with stepparents correlate positively with their reports of satisfaction with blended family life.

Toward a Post-Sex Disclosures Model Exploring the Associations Among Orgasm, Self-Disclosure, and Relationship Satisfaction

This study investigates communication during the post-sex time interval (PSTI) and extends previous work on communication after sexual activity by testing a post-sex disclosures model (PSDM) using structural equation modeling (SEM). Two-hundred six individuals completed surveys after sexual activity regarding their communication behaviors during the PSTI. The results revealed that individuals who orgasmed assessed greater benefits/fewer risks to disclosing after sexual activity, and orgasm was indirectly associated with positive relational disclosures through risk-benefit assessments. However, positive relational disclosures after sexual activity were not predictive of relationship satisfaction. Rather, perceiving greater benefits/fewer risks to disclosing was associated with increased relationship satisfaction, and orgasm was indirectly related to relationship satisfaction through risk-benefit assessments. Together, these findings suggest that fundamental communication and relational processes occur after sexual activity and that assessments of the potential outcomes of post-sex communication have important effects on relationship well-being.

Genetic and Individual Influences on Predictors of Disclosure: Exploring Variation in the Oxytocin Receptor Gene and Attachment Security

The present study explores the associations among allelic variation in the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR), attachment security, and predictors of disclosure. Using the risk revelation model as a guiding framework, risk assessments, communication efficacy, and closeness were investigated. Two-hundred four participants provided saliva samples (from which DNA was extracted) and completed surveys addressing aspects of disclosure, attachment, and relationship characteristics. The results revealed significant interactions between OXTR and attachment security on risk assessments and closeness. Insecurely attached individuals showed greater variability in their assessments of the risks of disclosing and feelings of closeness based on their genotype compared to individuals who were securely attached. Insecurely attached individuals with a known “risk allele” (i.e., the A allele) were more likely to see risks to disclosing to their romantic partners and rated closeness with their partners lower than those with the alternative genotype (i.e., the GG genotype). These findings and their implications for theories of disclosure are discussed.