This study aimed to investigate the influence of sex and gender role identity on anger experience at varying levels of provocation in a sample of 585 Australian students. Participants viewed videotaped vignettes of a potentially anger-triggering event where the intent of another person was either ambiguous or unambiguous. Measures of self-predicted anger, trait anger, and gender role identity were then completed. Results supported the hypothesis that it is gender role identity rather than sex that is more closely related to angry emotion. There was, however, no support for the hypothesis that anger arousal would be greater in circumstances in which the intention behind a provoking event is ambiguous when the respondent identifies with a masculine gender role. The implications of these findings for the development of anger management programs are discussed.

Relationships form the essence of personality and contribute to the individual's wellbeing. Keeping in view the significance that relationships may have on an individual, it becomes compelling to examine relationship quality, the central guiding force of relationships. Relationship quality — the positive or negative feelings about a relationship — is termed an ambiguous concept. The purpose of this article is to review the literature of relationship quality to develop a deep understanding of the construct, by exploring its various determinants. The article begins with a description of the construct followed by a detailed exploration of the factors that determine relationship quality. Research suggests that a wide range of factors have an influence on relationship quality. These include, among others, self-verification and self-enhancement, personality, emotional intelligence, interaction patterns, and partner support. Economic factors also play an important role in determining relationship quality. Previous research also suggests that most of the research on relationship quality has been done on either marital relationships or dating relationships. Further, the determinants of relationship quality may be different with respect to different types of relationships. Additionally, research suggests that relationship quality has been examined using multiple methods, which strengthens the claim of relationship quality being a complex and ambiguous construct.

Australia is one of the world's foremost mining nations. While the economic and employment benefits of the mining industry are well documented, potentially negative aspects of mining industry employment are less understood. It has been suggested that mining industry workers may be more likely than workers in other occupations to experience relationship problems and work-family stress, but there is very little empirical study examining this proposal. Data from the nationally representative Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey were used to compare males employed in the Australian mining industry with males working in other occupations, on indices of relationship quality and work-family balance, as well as mental and emotional health. Employment in the resources sector was not associated with poorer outcomes on these measures, relative to other occupations. These results suggest that hypothesised connections between mining industry employment and relationship/family stress require careful examination.

Recognised as one of the most painful human experiences, the purpose of this study was to uncover the relational and metaphorical themes embodied in bereaved parent narratives following the death of a child. Using a grounded approach, 420 narratives were analysed. Results of the study found (a) relational trajectory, (b) grief/coping, and (c) communication as prominent relational themes. In the present study, bereaved parents often described their conjugal relationship metaphorically as being in motion, as a living organism, and as on a journey. Grief was primarily described metaphorically as a type of journey. Communication was metaphorically described in terms of being open or closed. Discovering the experiences of bereaved parents adds to our knowledge about how the stress of child death impacts relational resiliency. Implications are discussed.

The Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA) is the most widely used self-report measure of adolescent attachment relationships. This study reports the development of the IPPA-45, a short-form of the IPPA that assesses the quality of mother, father, and peer attachment relationships. A hierarchical measurement model is proposed with three lower-order factors and a higher-order factor. Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted using a sample of 1,025 English-speaking adolescents (387 males) aged 13 to 18 years. Results support the hierarchical factor structure, and tests of model invariance demonstrated that the measurement models were similar regardless of age or sex. Differences in mean scores were found with regard to attachment target, gender and age. Overall, the IPPA-45 is supported as a psychometrically sound measure of relationship attachment across the age-range of adolescence.

Many people experience a non-marital relationship breakup, which can lead to poor adjustment outcomes; however, relative to divorce, non-marital breakups have received less research attention, particularly on factors that may predict positive adjustment outcomes. We examined the adaptive role of finding benefits in a non-marital breakup in 140 participants who completed measures of benefit finding, the impact of the event, and adjustment. Regression analyses found that benefit finding related to positive adjustment outcomes and that the benefit finding-depression relationship was moderated by the impact of the event. This study provides empirical support for benefit finding in a non-marital relationship breakup.

The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that those with insecure attachments (characterised by anxiety, avoidance or both; Hazan & Shaver, 1994), would engage in less effective communication on sexual matters, which would in turn predict lower sexual satisfaction. A sample of 125 participants aged between 18 and 65 completed an online questionnaire asking about their sexual and intimate relationships, and their attachment patterns. As expected, avoidant individuals reported poorer sexual communication, which contributed to their sexual dissatisfaction. Contrary to expectations, anxiety did not have this effect. Interestingly, those anxious individuals in a relationship of 9 months or longer engaged in poorer sexual communication, which negatively impacted their sexual satisfaction. It was suggested that the ‘honeymoon period’ may be responsible for this finding. Alternatively, and as suggested by Davis et al. (2006), other variables, such as sexual anxiety and using sex as a barometer of relationship status, may account for this effect and warrant further exploration.

In this study, men and women were surveyed about their attitudes toward the use of white lies and other forms of benevolent deception in their romantic relationships. We predicted that people would be more accepting of telling lies than of having lies told to them. Furthermore, we predicted that women would be more accepting than men of benevolent deception in their romantic relationships. We found that people were more tolerant of telling benevolent lies than they were of being told such lies. However, we found that men, not women, were more accepting of benevolent deception in their relationships.

The pervasive emotional and cognitive experience of loneliness has been linked to rejection experiences and emotional sensitivity, such as rejection sensitivity (RS), defined as the tendency to anxiously expect and overreact to rejection. Moreover, RS is founded on attachment theory and has been described as a correlate of anxiety and avoidance of intimacy in close relationships. The aims of this study of 639 preadolescents (Grades 5 to 7) were to test whether the association between relationship stressors and loneliness is indirect due to the mediational role of RS, and whether the association between RS and loneliness is indirect via anxiety and avoidance of peer intimacy. As expected, regression results showed that adolescents who reported heightened perceptions of parental rejection and victimisation by peers had greater RS, which in turn was associated with adolescents’ greater feelings of loneliness. Also, as predicted, adolescents with heightened RS reported more avoidance and anxiety about peer intimacy. Although anxiety about intimacy mediated the association between RS and loneliness for both boys and girls, avoidance mediated between girls’, but not boys’, RS and loneliness. The findings highlight the interrelations between multiple forms of emotional sensitivities, and the importance of parent-child relationships, peer victimisation, and emotional sensitivity for explaining loneliness.

The current study addressed whether attachment, rumination, and trait depression were predictive of co-rumination in dyadic friendships. The final sample consisted of 205 pairs of same-sex friends (Mage = 18.93 years, SD = 1.31) and 135 (66%) of the dyads were female. Results revealed that an individual's attachment avoidance was significantly related to their own (actor effect) and their friend's (partner effect) co-rumination. Gender moderated the (1) effect of attachment avoidance on co-rumination at the actor and partner levels and (2) effect of attachment anxiety on co-rumination at the partner level. Furthermore, an interaction emerged between friendship duration and trait depression on co-rumination at the actor level. Considering the adjustment trade-offs of co-rumination (e.g., closer friendship quality accompanied with greater levels of depression and anxiety), it is important to understand the predictors of co-rumination and the consequences of it in order to effectively apply intervention efforts.

Many children on the autism spectrum are dependent on prompts provided by adults for staying on-task, completing activities and transitioning between activities in the home, school and community environments (Bryan & Gast, 2000; Milley & Machalicek, 2012). Yet, prompt dependency beyond childhood has received little attention. This study explored the possibility that prompt dependency also applies to adults diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome (AS) when interacting with their neurotypical partner. In-depth interviews with nine couples (ages ranging from 29 to 69) were used to explore intimate relationships between partners in order to determine whether prompt dependency was evident. A grounded theory research strategy was applied to analyse interview data. Data analysed through constant comparison coding supported the hypothesis that adults with AS in the sample showed prompt dependency in their interactions with their partners. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.