Abstract Many marriages are not as happy as people expected them to be, in part because modern spouses too often hold unrealistic expectations about the outcomes their futures hold. Dissatisfaction results when our outcomes are poorer than we expected. A variety of influences—marital misinformation, counterproductive personal beliefs, romantic illusions, adverse events, attention to one’s alternatives, and the unanticipated costs of intimacy—only some of them avoidable, can all lead partners to expect more delight and fewer frustrations than they actually experience. Dangerous disillusionment can result, so the pursuit of relational realism is encouraged. Readers are advised to be reasonable and more realistic than romantic, and suggestions are provided.

This article memorializes Stuart (Stu) Oskamp (1930-2022). Professor Oskamp, an eminent social psychologist, made enduring contributions by applying social psychological knowledge to real-world problems, especially to the sustainability of the earth. Stu taught at Claremont Graduate University (CGU) from 1960 to 2000. While there he served as chair of the psychology department, chair of the entire graduate faculty, acting director of the School of Behavioral and Organizational Sciences, and became professor emeritus and received the CGU President's Medal in 2000. Highlights of Stu's career and professional contributions are noted. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Judgments of physical attractiveness are based on appearance but are influenced by and influence more than just physical features of the face and body (e.g. clothing and personality traits). This is explored in a selective review of previous research, plus new analyses of data from three previously published studies: the Boston Couples Study, the Multiple Identities Questionnaire, and the Intimate Relationships Across Cultures Study, with implications for mental health. Self-ratings of attractiveness are inflated by self-esteem and confidence in self-halo effects. Partner-ratings are inflated by love and relationship satisfaction in partner-halo effects. Positive responses from others influence attractiveness-enhancing cycles, while negative responses influence attractiveness-deprecating cycles, with impacts on well-being. These influences are represented in a comprehensive Attractiveness Halo Model, which identifies Ten Components of Attractiveness that are inter-related, including physical, emotional, sexual, sensory, intellectual, behavioural, observer, situation, reciprocity, and time. Aspects of the model are supported by analyses of the three studies, generalising comprehensive attractiveness halo effects across time, identities, cultures, and relationship types.

People report positive moods and enhanced well-being when they socialize with friends and other close ties. However, because most people routinely have more encounters with acquaintances and strangers (social connections known as weak ties) than with close friends or kin (strong ties), we deemed it important to examine whether interaction with weak ties also enhances happiness and well-being. This investigation, which analyzed data from two laboratory procedures, examined whether participants' positive affect (PA) increased and negative affect (NA) decreased, from before to after a getting-acquainted interaction with a stranger. We also considered whether any benefits of the interaction were moderated by the participants' level of shyness. Participants (N = 270; 135 dyads) from a U.S. university completed mood indices before and after a getting-acquainted task. Their PA significantly increased and their NA significantly decreased from before to after the interaction. Shy participants experienced greater NA both before and after the getting-acquainted interaction (relative to less shy participants), but the shyness level of our participants did not moderate the pattern of change in their PA and NA. Shy participants experienced increases in PA and decreases in NA that were similar to those of less shy participants. We discuss implications of the results regarding the important role of weak social connections for increasing one's daily mood, including for those who are shy.

In this chapter, we provide a conceptual basis and strategies to prevent loneliness as a way to promote Active Aging and enhance the quality of people’s lives as they age. We highlight the importance of maintaining high quality social relationships across the lifespan, and present a framework for preventing intense loneliness. The prevention strategies we suggest are aimed at actions to be implemented before loneliness occurs or during its earlier stages. We also underline the importance of macro social factors for preventing loneliness and fostering active aging. Our recommendations require the effort of the individuals but also that of professionals, policy makers and institutions at the local and state levels.

This introduction to a special Technology and Relationships issue of the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships introduces the collection of articles. It describes the editorial development of the issue, identifies how the articles are organized into three clusters reflecting the developmental arc of relationships, provides a precis of each article, and ends with reflections on a question (is technology beneficial or detrimental?) and two noteworthy aspects of the collection (theory and methodology).

In the concluding article of a special COVID-19 issue of the Journal of Comparative Family Studies, I share salient impressions regarding six topics discussed in the issue, identify characteristics of the 15 articles, discuss ways of dealing with COVID-19, consider COVID's possible long-term impact, and point to future directions COVID research might take.

The main goal of this study was to investigate the association between sexual satisfaction and mental health, and the combined effect of two previously found, statistically significant moderators: partner status and sexual abstinence. In-person interviews were conducted with 223 participants (49.327% males and 50.673% females). The effect of sexual satisfaction on mental health and the interactions of sexual satisfaction × partner status, sexual satisfaction × sexual abstinence, and sexual satisfaction × partner status × sexual abstinence were examined using simple moderation and moderated moderation tests after controlling for a set of sociodemographic, penitentiary, and interpersonal variables. Results revealed a direct relationship between sexual satisfaction and mental health only for the sexually abstinent group. Partner status was not significant as a moderator. It seems that the lack of sexual relationships is more powerful as a moderator than the lack of a romantic relationship. Additionally, the sexually abstinent group showed lower levels of sexual satisfaction in those with a partner outside or inside prison, and lower mental health independently of the current romantic status, than sexually active inmates. These findings point to the importance of sexual satisfaction to mental health in sexual situations of extreme disadvantage.

Journal of Family Theory & ReviewVolume 10, Issue 4 p. 827-833 Book Review The Psychology of Marriage: An Evolutionary and Cross-Cultural View Daniel Perlman, Daniel Perlman University of North Carolina at GreensboroSearch for more papers by this author Daniel Perlman, Daniel Perlman University of North Carolina at GreensboroSearch for more papers by this author First published: 31 July 2018 https://doi.org/10.1111/jftr.12290Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume10, Issue4December 2018Pages 827-833 RelatedInformation

This article describes a web-based comparative analysis assignment for a Human Development and Family Science theories course. Students worked in small groups, each of which studied one theoretical perspective. Then, groups used their theories to do VoiceThreadnarrated analyses of child abuse cases. After presentation of VoiceThread to other groups in class, online discussion ensued; finally, students answered comparative and evaluative questions about the set of theories. This paper presents information on the assignment’s pedagogical underpinnings and its technological systems, along with step-by-step description and information about students. The paper concludes with evaluative data on the assignment and recommendations for future use. Students gave the assignment a good overall rating. The assignment appears to have fostered higher order learning objectives relevant to Bloom’s taxonomy and is generalizable to other courses with multiple perspective or choices among alternatives.

Abstract This entry defines the concept of hooking up; identifies historical and contemporary factors fostering a hookup culture; indicates the prevalence of hooking up as well as demographic and other correlates (e.g., situational factors and personality attributes) associated with hooking up; considers hooking up before, during, and after college; looks at young adults' motives for hooking up; and discusses the feelings individuals experience after hooking up. Although it is not a universal pattern for all students, hooking up has become an important and widespread phenomenon on US college campuses today.

Informed by socioecological and dyadic approaches to understanding marriage, the current study examined the patterning of gender-typed attributes among 120 Mexican immigrant opposite sex couples and the subsequent links with spouses' reports of marital satisfaction. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to identify typologies of couples based on spouses' self-reported masculine and feminine attributes. Three couple profiles were identified: (a) Androgynous Couples, (b) Undifferentiated Couples, and (c) Mismatched Couples. Results from a mixed model ANCOVA showed profile differences in couples' marital satisfaction based on profile membership, suggesting that spouses in the Undifferentiated Profile were the least satisfied. Findings illustrate a lack of gender-typing at the individual and couple levels that challenge stereotypical and patriarchal depictions of Latino marital relationships and propose a more complex understanding of Mexican-origin spouses' gender-typed attributes than has yet been portrayed in the literature. The finding that couples with 1 androgynous partner (i.e., wives in the Mismatched Profile) reported similar levels of marital satisfaction to couples in the Androgynous Profile offers additional insights regarding how these qualities operate under the unique socioecological niches that Mexican immigrant couples inhabit-contexts that may place demands on spouses that challenge gendered and culturally bound depictions of marriage.

Journal of Family Theory & ReviewVolume 7, Issue 2 p. 109-114 Commentary The March to Relational Developmental Systems-Based Theories: An Outsider's View of the Journey Daniel Perlman, Corresponding Author Daniel Perlman University of North Carolina at GreensboroHuman Development and Family Studies, 248 Stone Building, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, PO Box 26170, Greensboro, NC 27402–6170 (e-mail: [email protected]).Search for more papers by this author Daniel Perlman, Corresponding Author Daniel Perlman University of North Carolina at GreensboroHuman Development and Family Studies, 248 Stone Building, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, PO Box 26170, Greensboro, NC 27402–6170 (e-mail: [email protected]).Search for more papers by this author First published: 01 June 2015 https://doi.org/10.1111/jftr.12073Citations: 3Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. 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