One of the most consistently recurring themes in great literature is the love triangle--Arthur and Guinevere and Lancelot, Tristan and Isolde and King Mark, and countless others. No one has produced an immortal story about it; but a love triangle plays itself out day after day in the lives of parents, young children, and caregivers. In this…

In this article, the author begins by discussing relevant research in nineteenth-century women's literacy on intimacy and community building. The author then describes how missionary women stationed in Hawai'i maintained some rhetorical expression and autonomous meaning making through the letters they wrote home to the States, the letters they…

Objective: The aim of this study is to identify the distinct developmental experiences associated with child sexual abuse and rape. Method: For 269 sexual offenders (137 rapists and 132 child sexual abusers), developmental experiences were recorded from a behavioral checklist, a parental-bonding survey, and a sexual history questionnaire. Offender…

Despite the recent emphasis on acceptance in romantic relationships, no validated measure of relationship acceptance presently exists. To fill this gap, the 20-item Frequency and Acceptability of Partner Behavior Inventory (FAPBI; A. Christensen & N. S. Jacobson, 1997) was created to assess separately the acceptability and frequency of both…

Data from a longitudinal sample of dating couples (some of whom married) were analyzed to test the aspect of Waller's (1938) principle of least interest that states that unequal emotional involvement between romantic partners has implications for relationship quality and stability. Both members of the couples were asked multiple times over several…

Joint custody and cooperative coparenting are often unsafe for women who leave violent partners. Although certain legal protections are available, more work is needed to understand and address abused women's needs in this context. This study provides divorce scholars and practitioners with information on the interface between separation/divorce…

To date, there has been little research examining HIV/STD risk among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals who are in abusive relationships. This article uses data collected from a community-based organization that provides counseling for LGBT victims of intimate partner violence (IPV). A total of 58 clients completed the…

Despite over 30 years of review and analysis, researchers still are unclear as to what W.H. Crockett's Role Category Questionnaire (RCQ) of interpersonal differentiation actually measures. Among the constructivists, at least four different explanations have been advanced. The "orthodox" interpretation holds that the RCQ constitutes a…

Attachment and separation are concepts that depict the struggle within individuals between isolated self and involvement with others. Many authors have written about this struggle in a variety of terms. The theory evaluated by this study was elaborated by C. Gilligan (1982). It postulated that there existed two views of life experiences: one based…

This study assessed second-, third-, fifth-, and sixth-graders' perceptions of relationship quality with a reciprocal classroom friend and a reciprocal classroom best friend. Findings demonstrated that best friends rated higher in quality than did friends on four of seven dimensions. Best friends exhibited more response congruence than did friends…

Uses social learning theory to examine the possible effects of parental domestic violence on children who witness it in their home environment. Examines the short-term and long-term influence of witnessing parental violence on children's development, including aggression among peers during childhood and adolescence, as well as in dating…

Studied the relation between urban psychosocial stressors and intimacy achievement in a sample of 59 African American, Hispanic American, and White adolescent fathers-to-be. Those with higher cumulative psychosocial stressors had lower levels of intimacy, and low interpersonal empathy was significantly associated with intimacy levels. African…

Shows how present emphasis on patient autonomy overlooks ways in which intimate relations enable autonomy to function meaningfully and how traditional categories of competent and incompetent discount intimacy as tool for accessing patients' subjective experiences. Urges intimate associations to mark moral boundaries for autonomy because they…

Examines reasons that the care of infants in day nurseries often becomes impersonal rather than intimate, and suggests ways of counteracting this. (DE)

Critically examines self-report measures used by marital researchers, focusing on selected indicators of marital satisfaction, adjustment, and quality. Reviews indicators of marital intimacy and complaints. Explores measures of concepts linked more directly to marital stability, including measures of commitment, relationship alternatives, and…