Erin E. Crockett

Passionate love and relationship thinkers: Experimental evidence for acute cortisol elevations in women

We assessed the impact of an individual difference variable, relationship-focused thinking, on womens acute salivary cortisol responses during and after a guided imagery task. Specifically, 29 healthy women, all of whom were experiencing high levels of passionate love, but varied on levels of relationship-focused thinking, were assigned to one of two experimental conditions: a partner reflection condition or a cross-sex friend reflection condition. Results indicated that women experiencing passionate love evidenced increased cortisol levels when asked to reflect on their romantic partner and relationship relative to women asked to reflect on a cross-sex friendship, but this difference was particularly pronounced and relatively long-lasting for those women characterized by a high amount of relationship-focused thinking. Our study significantly expands extant work on the passionate love-cortisol link by isolating the impact of a specific psychological variable, relationship-focused thinking, on the physiological experience of falling in love. We believe our work highlights the advances that can be made when established work in the close relationships and neuroendocrine fields are integrated.

What's closeness got to do with it? Men's and women's cortisol responses when providing and receiving support.

Objective: To examine the effects of social support role (i.e., recipient versus provider) and experimentally manipulated closeness on men’s and women’s cortisol responses during an acute stress paradigm. Methods: We manipulated psychological closeness (high versus low) between 50 same-sex stranger pairs and subsequently randomly assigned individuals to either prepare a speech (i.e., support recipient) or provide support to the speech presenter (i.e., support provider). Results: When receiving support, cortisol responses of men in the high closeness condition increased over time relative to a) men in the low closeness condition and b) women in the high closeness condition. Cortisol responses of female support recipients did not differ as a function of condition. For support providers, whereas both men’s and women’s cortisol declined throughout the procedure, the decline for men was steeper than the decline for women. Conclusions: With few exceptions, psychological closeness, sex, and social support role interacted in theoretically consistent ways and each significantly contributed to the pattern of cortisol responses observed in men and women during a standardized acute stress paradigm. This work expands the growing literature on potential mechanisms underlying the social support-health link. Further, the employed methodology highlights the utility of borrowing established paradigms from the close relationships literature to help illuminate specific interpersonal characteristics that might affect social support dynamics in naturally existing relationships and at the same time control for extraneous variables. Cond = condition; dL = deciliter; M = mean; SD = standard deviation; TSST = Trier Social Stress Test.

Missing you maintains us: Missing a romantic partner, commitment, relationship maintenance, and physical infidelity

Working from the perspective of interdependence theory and models of relationship maintenance, this study examined the functional role of missing a romantic partner during a brief geographic separation. Eighty-eight undergraduate students involved in romantic relationships completed a measure of commitment prior to separation, and measures of missing a romantic partner, relationship maintenance, and physical infidelity during their winter break. Commitment was associated with participants’ self-reports of missing their romantic partners. Further, commitment predicted participants’ use of relationship maintenance strategies (i.e., positivity, openness, and assurances) and physical infidelity during the separation. These associations were mediated by how much participants missed their romantic partners. Findings are discussed in terms of interdependence theory and the growing literature on geographic distance between relationship partners.

Men Seek Social Standing, Women Seek Companionship: Sex Differences in Deriving Self-Worth From Relationships

Do men base their self-worth on relationships less than do women? In an assessment of lay beliefs, men and women alike indicated that men are less reliant on relationships as a source of self-worth than are women (Study 1). Yet relationships may make a different important contribution to the self-esteem of men. Men reported basing their self-esteem on their own relationship status (whether or not they were in a relationship) more than did women, and this link was statistically mediated by the perceived importance of relationships as a source of social standing (Studies 1 and 2). Finally, when relationship status was threatened, men displayed increased social-standing concerns, whereas women displayed increased interdependence concerns (Study 3). Together, these findings demonstrate that both men and women rely on relationships for self-worth, but that they derive self-esteem from relationships in different ways.

When Receiving Help Hurts: Gender Differences in Diurnal Cortisol Responses to Spousal Support

Wives are considered more effective support providers than are husbands. As support promotes healthy physiological functioning, husbands should derive greater health benefits from spousal support than do wives. Yet, a growing literature indicates that men are relatively insulated from the physiological consequences of marital interactions, suggesting that men may not reap the benefits that support can provide. To examine gender differences in physiological responses to spousal support, couples completed a 6-day diary task that assessed daily support exchanges and diurnal cortisol slopes. On days of greater spousal support, wives exhibited steeper cortisol slopes, whereas husbands exhibited flattened cortisol slopes. Furthermore, for husbands, the association between daily support and cortisol was moderated by problem-solving efficacy; the less efficacious husbands perceived their problem-solving abilities, the flatter their cortisol slopes on high support days. All results held controlling for daily stress and marital satisfaction. Thus, support may incur costs for husbands’ health.

Circumnavigating the cost of support Variations in cortisol as a function of self-efficacy and support visibility

Although social support is typically associated with a number of health benefits, for some individuals support worsens outcomes, likely because receiving support can undermine feelings of competence. Some have argued that invisible support (i.e., support that recipients do not recognize as help) can reduce negative support-related health consequences (Bolger, Zuckerman, & Kessler, 2000); still, the physiological benefits of invisible support have yet to be established and likely differ as a function of self-efficacy. The purpose of this study was to investigate how visibility of support and self-efficacy interact to affect the cortisol reactivity of a support recipient. In a 2 (self-efficacy: high vs. low) × 2 (support visibility: visible vs. invisible) between-subjects, experimental design, 74 undergraduate students were primed for either high or low self-efficacy using false feedback. Participants then received either visible or invisible support from a confederate while preparing a speech as part of the Trier Social Stress Task (Kirschbaum, Pirke, & Hellhammer, 1993). A series of repeated measures analyses of variance revealed that individuals primed to have high self-efficacy experienced cortisol increases in response to the speech task when they received visible support but not invisible support. By contrast, individuals primed to have low self-efficacy experienced increased cortisol when they received invisible support but not visible support. This research suggests that although invisible support can effectively buffer stress, it is not always the best support strategy.

Overlap in Facebook Profiles Reflects Relationship Closeness

ABSTRACT We assessed the association between self-reported Inclusion of Other in the Self (IOS) and Facebook overlap. Ninety-two participants completed online measures of IOS and investment model constructs. Researchers then recorded Facebook data from participants’ profile pages. Results from multilevel models revealed that IOS predicted Facebook overlap. Furthermore, Facebook overlap was associated with commitment and investment in ways comparable to self-reported IOS. These findings suggest that overlap in Facebook profiles can be used to measure relationship closeness.

Breaking the Mold: Evaluating a Non-Punitive Domestic Violence Intervention Program

Individuals convicted of committing domestic violence are often court mandated to attend a Batterer Intervention Program (BIP). Evidence of the effectiveness of these programs, however, is inconclusive largely because of the diversity in approaches used by BIPs. In a pre-test/post-test design, the current study assessed outcomes associated with one specific BIP: a counseling-based, non-punitive psychoeducational program designed to treat both male and female domestic violence offenders. A sample of 149 clients completed a comprehensive survey both prior to and upon completion of the BIP. Participation in this BIP fostered attitudes known to be associated with nonviolence, including perceptions of accountability, anger management, indications of safety planning, and reported desire for change. Additionally, self-reported levels of psychological and physical violence decreased from pre- to post-treatment. Theoretical and therapeutic implications for BIPs are discussed.

An Investigation of the Effects of Testosterone and Behavioral Expressions of Pain on Sex/Gender Differences in Pain Perception

Research indicates that women are more susceptible to pain than men, but the reason for this difference is unclear. While estrogen and progesterone have been implicated, testosterone has not received adequate consideration in the literature. Additionally, incorporating behavioral expressions, or exaggerations, of pain as an important aspect of pain perception is receiving increasing attention. The current study examined the role of testosterone in female pain expression and perception via the cold pressor test. Following all participant exclusions, 46 healthy participants (32 women) provided saliva samples for testosterone analysis using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay before and after rating their pain during the cold pressor test. Participants used a visual analog scale to indicate how the 2℃ water was perceived, ranging from “worst pain imaginable” to “no pain.” The researcher also noted whether a participant displayed overt behavioral expressions of pain such as jumping and cursing. The results revealed that men reported lower visual analog scale scores than women, indicating less perceived pain. A subgroup of women who displayed overt behavioral responses to pain seemed to be driving this sex/gender difference. It was expected that this subgroup of females would have corresponding changes in testosterone that would further explain the observed sex/gender differences, but this was not supported. Collectively, these data add to the previous literature investigating sex/gender differences in pain perception and highlight the importance of studying overt behavioral expressions of pain. Testosterone may alter this behavior and subsequent pain perception, but the contributions of testosterone are likely subtle and were not detected in this study.