The authors examined preadoptive factors as predictors of relationship quality (love, ambivalence, and conflict) among 125 couples (44 lesbian couples, 30 gay male couples, and 51 heterosexual couples) across the 1st year of adoptive parenthood. On average, all new parents experienced declines in their relationship quality across the 1st year of parenthood regardless of sexual orientation, with...

Certain Personality Disorders (PDs) have been found to be present in the prodromal phase of schizophrenia at a higher rate than other personality disorders. Although schizotypal, paranoid, and schizoid PDs are traditionally viewed as spectra for schizophrenia, research suggests that avoidant PD should be included in this group (e.g., Fogelson et al., 2007). The present study examines whether a ...

OBJECTIVE To test the diagnostic constructs implied by DSM-IV Axis-II personality disorders by examining relationships between different combinations of DSM-IV criteria. METHOD Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the borderline, schizotypal, avoidant and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder constructs in a large treatment-seeking sample (N= 668) from a multisite study. A model ...

We applied the strength-energy model of self-control to understand the relationship between self-control and young athletes' behavioral responses to taking illegal performance-enhancing substances, or "doping." Measures of trait self-control, attitude and intention toward doping, intention toward, and adherence to, doping-avoidant behaviors, and the prevention of unintended doping behaviors wer...

The current studies tested how attachment orientations are related to empathic accuracy (i.e., the accuracy with which one infers a partner's private thoughts and feelings) during attachment-relevant discussions. In Study 1, married couples were videotaped discussing a severe or a less severe relationship issue that involved intimacy or jealousy. In Study 2, dating couples were videotaped tryin...

According to attachment theory, individuals should experience changes in attachment orientations (styles) if they encounter experiences or events that strongly reinforce or directly contradict the major concerns of their existing orientations. Systematic changes should be most evident across stressful life transitions. Wives and husbands expecting their first child completed scales measuring th...

The collective influence of identity styles and romantic attachment insecurity on psychological dating aggression was examined for 1,975 adolescents living in a southern state of the United States. Informational identity style related negatively to psychological dating aggression, but anxious romantic attachment related positively to this behavior. Diffuse-avoidant identity style and using psyc...

In two studies, we used a negative affective priming task with pictures of angry (Study 1), sad (Study 2), and happy faces (Studies 1 and 2) to measure attentional inhibition of emotional stimuli as a function of attachment style. Results showed that attachment avoidance was associated with a stronger inhibition of both angry and sad faces. This indicates that the regulatory strategies of avoid...

Do insecurely attached individuals perceive greater rejection from their heritage culture? Few studies have examined the antecedents and outcomes of this perceived rejection - termed intragroup marginalization - in spite of its implications for the adjustment of cultural migrants to the mainstream culture. This study investigated whether anxious and avoidant attachment orientations among cultur...