Approach action tendencies toward positive stimuli and avoidance tendencies from negative stimuli are widely seen to foster survival. Many studies have shown that approach and avoidance arm movements are facilitated by positive and negative affect, respectively. There is considerable debate whether positively and negatively valenced stimuli prime approach and avoidance movements directly (i.e.,...

participants at Hunter College for comments and conversations that have improved this paper. We are responsible for any remaining errors. Abstract We investigate the effect of house price changes on MSA-level divorce rates using data for 1991-2010 from the Current Population Survey and the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Our findings suggest that changing house prices significantly affect divor...

Social Security retirement benefits in the United States (US) reflect marital histories and lifetime earnings of current and former married couples. Focusing on the link between marital history and benefit eligibility, this article examines women's marital patterns over the past two decades. Using the 1990 and 2009 Marital History Modules to the Census Bureau's Survey of Income and Program Part...

Although there is substantial evidence linking marital quality to physical health, few studies have been longitudinal. This study examined data from the Marital Instability Over the Life Course Study; 1,681 married individuals followed for 20 years were included in these analyses. In order to control for life course effects, participants were divided into 2 cohorts: early life and midlife. On t...

Although the interchange between clinical and social psychological research has been fruitful in the study of cognition in marriage, it has recently waned. This article therefore illustrates the value of continued interplay between developments in the social cognition and marital literatures, focusing on the role of context in understanding marriage. Several studies show how construct accessibi...

This study examined links between emotion expression in couple interactions and marital quality and stability. Core aspects of emotion expression in marital interactions were identified with the use of naive observational coding by multiple raters. Judges rated 47 marital discussions with 15 emotion descriptors. Coders' pooled ratings yielded good reliability on 4 types of emotion expression: h...

Consistent with the bidirectional perspective on parent-child relations, the current study examined children’s perceptions of agency in the context of marital conflict. A storytelling task was completed by 115 five-year-old children, tapping perceived agency. These children and their mothers and fathers completed measures of marital conflict at two time points. Consistent with clinical theory a...

BACKGROUND Most existing reports indicate that body weight gradually increases following marital status and thereby enhances health status and decreases mortality; however, the association between marital status and the metabolic syndrome (MetS) has not been thoroughly investigated in a longitudinal study. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to investigate the potential effects of marital st...