This study examined the psychometric properties of an adolescent version of the 'triangular love scale' (TLS), which assesses three components of romantic relationships: intimacy, passion, and commitment. Using data from 435 Dutch adolescents aged 12-18 years, we found evidence for convergent validity, showing that dimensions of intimacy, passion, and commitment were all positively correlated w...

This study explored the interpersonal context of romantic autonomy in mid adolescence by examining within-relationship links with romantic intimacy and affiliation, links across relationships with mothers and friends, and individual differences due to age and gender. Two hundred and thirty adolescents in grades 9, 10 and 11 with a current romantic partner, completed self-report questionnaires a...

Research in animals and humans suggests a role of oxytocin in social approach to strangers. We tested this by introducing undergraduate students to opposite-gendered strangers, with each member of the pair having taken either oxytocin or placebo. One hundred and four undergraduate students were paired up and engaged in a face-to-face conversation structured with a series of intimate topics for ...

Online social networks, such as Facebook, have gained immense popularity and potentially affect the way people build and maintain interpersonal relationships. The present study sought to examine time spent on online social networks, as it relates to intimacy and relationship satisfaction experienced in romantic relationships. Results did not find relationships between an individual's usage of o...

This paper outlines some of the ways in which secure attachment is associated with the capacity to participate in successful intimate relationships. The paper begins with the discussion of four key abilities required for intimacy: the ability to seek care, the ability to give care, the ability to feel comfortable with an autonomous self, and the ability to negotiate. Bowlby's attachment theory ...

OBJECTIVES Empathy and empathic response are receiving greater attention in pain research as investigators acknowledge that other forms of interaction may impact the pain process. The purpose of this study was to examine validation and invalidation as forms of empathic and nonempathic responses in chronic pain couples. METHODS Participants were 92 couples in which at least one spouse reported...

A new model of women's sexual response moves the focus from spontaneous drive with its markers of sexual thoughts, fantasies, and conscious urge to be sexual to an inherently responsive cycle. The model reflects intimacy-based sexual motivation, processing of sexual stimuli to arousal, cognitive, and affective appraisal of that arousal. Sexual desire to continue the physical experience is acces...