Romantic relationships can have a profound effect on adults' health and well-being whereas the inability to maintain intimate bonds has been associated with physical and emotional distress. Studies in monogamous mammalian species underscore the central role of oxytocin (OT) in pair-bonding and human imaging studies implicate OT-rich brain areas in early romantic love. To assess the role of OT i...

I nterpersonal communication is central to romantic relationships. The way two people interact when they first meet can either ignite or extinguish hopes of future romance (Davis, 1973). Couples' communication is associated with what partners think about each other (Sillars, Roberts, Leonard, & Dun, 2000), how they generally behave toward each other (Fitzpatrick, 1988), and how they feel about ...

This study examined romantic partner selection and socialization of substance use (cigarettes, alcohol) and behavior problems among a sample of 78 young adolescents (6th-8th graders) over eleven months. Adolescent and romantic partner behaviors were assessed before and after relationships were initiated via school records and self-report. Most selection and socialization effects were apparent f...

This study examined the association between romantic relationships and delinquency in adolescence and young adulthood. Using a large, longitudinal, and nationally representative sample, results from negative binomial regressions showed a positive association between romantic involvement and delinquency in adolescence. Further, the cumulative number of romantic relationships from adolescence to ...

This study investigated longitudinal associations between adolescents' technology-based communication and the development of interpersonal competencies within romantic relationships. A school-based sample of 487 adolescents (58% girls; Mage  = 14.1) participated at two time points, one year apart. Participants reported (1) proportions of daily communication with romantic partners via traditiona...

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...

An attachment perspective is proposed as a framework for conceptualizing the impact of sexual victimization on close relationships. Two studies were conducted to empirically examine the links between sexual victimization and perceptions of romantic, parental, and peer relationships. Study One included 154 undergraduate women, and Study Two included 48 high school seniors. In both studies, appro...

This study examined whether individuals with different personality types (i.e., overcontrollers, undercontrollers, resilients) had different friendship quality development throughout adolescence. It also investigated whether personality types were indirectly related to romantic relationship quality in young adulthood, via friendship quality development in adolescence. The study employed six wav...

Individuals in the early stage of intense romantic love show many symptoms of substance and non-substance or behavioral addictions, including euphoria, craving, tolerance, emotional and physical dependence, withdrawal and relapse. We have proposed that romantic love is a natural (and often positive) addiction that evolved from mammalian antecedents by 4 million years ago as a survival mechanism...

This study examined the associations between reasoning during interparental conflict and autonomous adolescent conflict negotiation with peers over time. Participants included 133 adolescents and their parents, peers, and romantic partners in a multi-method, multiple reporter, longitudinal study. Interparental reasoning at adolescent age 13 predicted greater autonomy and relatedness in observed...