Among gay and bisexual men, primary partners are a leading source of HIV infection. Trust, intimacy, and advancements in HIV treatment may impact same-sex male (SSM) couples' decisions to engage in unprotected anal intercourse (UAI). This qualitative study explored how Black, White and interracial couples discussed, and made decisions regarding condoms. Qualitative interviews were conducted wit...

Objective: This study aims to investigate the relationship between alexithymia and dysfunctional reactions with marital intimacy among married men and women in Mashhad City, Iran. Methods: The data collection tools in this study included the Persian version of the Toronto alexithymia scale-20 (2008), the dysfunctional attitude scale (Weissman and Beck 1978), and the intimacy scale (Walker and...

This study was a 3-year follow-up of 65 male and 138 female same-sex couples who had civil unions in Vermont during the 1st year of that legislation. These couples were compared with 23 male and 61 female same-sex couples in their friendship circles who did not have civil unions and with 55 heterosexual married couples (1 member of each was a sibling to a member of a civil union couple). Despit...

We examined whether 164 heterosexual, married couples' reports of the sanctification of their marriage and their spiritual intimacy predicted their observed behavior across the transition to parenthood, using highly conservative statistical strategies to control for time-invariant factors and time-varying factors (marital love, collaborative communication skills) that could explain away these l...

This study examined the quality of the intimate relationships of male Vietnam veterans. Heterosexual couples in which the veteran had posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; n = 26) were compared to couples in which the veteran did not have PTSD (n = 24). Over 70% of the PTSD veterans and their partners reported clinically significant levels of relationship distress compared to only about 30% of t...

Computer mediated communication (CMC) systems, as with the great majority of interactive systems, rely on their users’ ability to encode and decode messages in sight and sound. They are however notoriously problematic for implicit communication and fostering a sense of intimacy between couples. We describe the design concept and construction of a device intended to exploit existing behaviour an...