ICPR Abstracts: Session 33

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Session 33: Evening Posters

Effects of Different Kinds of Social Support

33.1
Measuring Emotional Work

Lyndall Strazdins
Australian National University

Emotional work is the provision of companionship, 
support and regulation to others as well as the 
maintenance and repair of relationships with others.  
These social provisions share in common an intention to 
enhance, repair or maintain the psychological well- being 
of another person.  The aim of the study was to develop a 
general measure of emotional work - allowing comparison 
of emotional work in relationships with partner/spouse, 
children, close family/friends, workmates and 
clients/customers/patients. Items were drawn from 
research on social provisions, social support, personal 
relationships, attachment, developmental, organisational 
and therapeutic processes.  Data on the structure, 
reliability, generalisability and validity of the measure 
from a sample of 400 Canberra (Australia) respondents 
will be presented.

33.2
Getting Good Grades and Staying in School:
The Role of Social Support in the Success of African-
American Students at a Predominantly 
White University

Calvin Graham, 
Virginia Consortium for Professional Psychology
Barbara A. Winstead, Old Dominion University

Measures of social support as well as stress, family 
income, and living arrangements were used to predict 
adjustment to college among African-American students in 
their first semester at a predominantly White four-year 
university.  These variables were used to predict grade 
point average in the Spring term and enrolment at the 
university in the following Fall term.  Social support and 
less stress predicted adjustment to college.  Social support 
had a negative impact on grades and retention.  Stress, 
family income, and living arrangements were also 
predictors.  The mixed nature of the influence of social 
support (improves adjustment but may interfere with 
academic success) is discussed. 

33.3
Ethnic Variation in Perceived Family, Teacher, and 
Peer Support as Predictors of Adolescent Self-Esteem

Cindy Carlson, Szu-Chia Chang, Sarika Uppal,
Patricia Castaneda-English and Pi-Chen Chang
University of Texas at Austin

The purpose of this research was to investigate the relative 
contribution of perceived support from family, teachers, 
and peers to global self-esteem in a sample of culturally 
diverse adolescents.  A sample of 800 adolescents in a 
public middle and high school were surveyed regarding 
perceived social support and discrimination.  For the 
sample as a whole global self-esteem was predicted by 
family and teacher support.  Significant variation in social 
support predictors, however, emerged among ethnic 
groups. Of particular relevance was the role of perceived 
discrimination in the global self-esteem of Hispanic 
adolescents.

33.4
Collectivism and Familism as Predictors of Familial
and Societal Support in Interracial Marriages

Mary Susan Page-Youn, 
Claremont Graduate School
Stanley O. Gaines, Jr., Pomona College

Interracial marriages are still stigmatized in the United 
States. The present study hypothesized that individuals 
who scored higher on collectivism and familism would 
report having more problems about familial and societal 
acceptance of their interracial spouse. A total of 111 
interracial married couples completed surveys which 
contained measures of collectivism and familism, and four 
questions pertaining to the degree of spousal acceptance.  
Results of a regression analysis indicated that subjects 
who scored higher on measures of collectivism and 
familism reported higher incidences of lack of familial and 
societal acceptance (p < .05). The results could assist 
therapists treating interracial couples.

33.5
Social Support Providers for Post-Partum Women

M. Cynthia Logsdon, Spading University
Anita Barbee and John C. Birkimer
University of Louisville

Many studies have shown the important effect of social 
support networks in ameliorating stress and helping 
people adapt during crises and transitions in their lives 
(Raatikainen, 1991).  A support network usually consists 
of family and friends, but the ratio of family to friends may 
vary depending upon the stage of life a person is in.  
Family members may become increasingly important when 
a person is in the stage of childrearing (Hobfoll et a., 
1986).  We found that postpartum women increasingly 
relied on a variety of people in their networks for support 
for their varied needs and were be more satisfied with 
their support as a result.

33.6
Support Education Intervention For Couples Coping 
With Myocardial Infarction

Miriam J. Stewart, Karina Davidson,
Alexandra Hirth, and Lydia Makrides
Dalhousie University

Illness management and health promotion activities 
frequently occur within the context of close relationships.  
The importance of spousal support --and the impact of a 
myocardial infarction [MI] on the spouse -- has been 
highlighted as a significant variable in the MI survivor's 
adjustment.  In this demonstration project, couples 
participated in a 12 week support intervention designed to 
convey information and emotional support to group 
participants.  Weekly topics were based on common 
stressors experienced by persons post- MI and their 
spouse/partner. Preliminary findings indicated that the 
support intervention enhances adjustment of the MI 
survivor and spouse/partner by preventing psychological 
sequelae and promoting positive health behaviours. 


33.7
Cancer Patients and Social Support from 
their Intimate Partners

Roeline G. Kuijer, Jan F. Ybema, Bram P. Buunk,
Majella de Jong and Robbert Sanderman
University of Groningen

In a cross-sectional study among 86 cancer patients and 
their partners, possible causes and effects of three 
different ways of giving support by partners were 
examined. The more self-efficacy in providing support 
partners experienced, the more the were actively engaged 
and the less they adopted a buffering or an overprotective 
style of support giving. Furthermore, partners were more 
actively engaged as patients were lower in mastery. More 
physical constraints in daily activities of the patients 
resulted in partners being more overprotective. 
Overprotection seemed to result in more depression among 
patients. 

33.8
Changes in Support Networks of Older Adults

Marjolein Broese van Groenou and Theo van Tilburg
Vrije Universiteit

This paper focuses on the changes in the mean intensity of 
instrumental and emotional support received from nine 
types of relationships by Dutch older adults who lost a 
partner (n46) or who experienced a decrease in physical 
mobility (n384) within a one- year period. Multi-level 
regression analyses are used to examine the shifts within 
the hierarchy of types of network supporters. The data 
used are from older adults (age 55-85) who participated in 
the NESTOR-program on "Living arrangements and social 
networks of older adults" in 1992 and from the follow-up 
in 1993 by the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam. 

Intimacy in Marriage

33.9
From Intimacy to Loneliness in Professional Partners

Ana Rosa Abraham Funes, 
Mexican Institute of Partner Therapy
Maria Montero y Lopez Lena, 
National Autonomous University of Mexico

The aim of this study was to identify differences in 
loneliness experience and degree of intimacy reached in 
marriage. Data was gathered from 30 couples in which 
only the men work and 30 couples in which both members 
were working.  Two original questionnaires were used 
with Mexican subjects, in order to measure loneliness and 
intimacy degrees. The results are discussed in terms of the 
socio- cultural factors that could impact the psychological 
meaning of both loneliness and intimacy experiences. 

33.10
Loneliness in Puerto Rican Marriage

Ruth Nina Estrella
University of Puerto Rico

Loneliness exists in intimate relationships in diverse 
forms. The purpose of this work was to study the 
loneliness in an intimate relationship such as marriage.  30 
Puerto Rican married couples from San Juan were 
interviewed to establish types of loneliness, the feelings 
related to this loneliness and the effects on marital 
relationships. Statistical analysis of the study is presented 
and future studies are proposed on loneliness in marital 
relationships and its relation to marital satisfaction. 

33.11
Friendship and Marriage

Kaeren Harrison
University of Southampton

This poster will report on research I am currently 
undertaking which is concerned with the changing nature 
of marital love and the place of friendship in women's 
lives. It focuses, in particular, on the role of friends and 
husbands as sources of intimacy for married women. Its 
overall aim is to develop an analysis of the social 
significance of 'close' or 'intimate' relationships in women's 
lives. Data has been collected from both interviews and 
written material in the Mass-Observation archive. The 
women reveal in conversation and letter writing their 
continued search for emotional intimacy and lack of sexual 
equality with their husbands/partners, demonstrating two 
of the enduring asymmetries of modern marriage today. 

Perception of Persons, Relationships, and 
Patterns of Social Interaction

33.12
"Excellent! Party on Dude!": 
A New Generation of Personal Idioms

Kelly J. Fudge
University of Texas at Austin

We learn to talk like those around us, and on some 
occasions, those around us are media characters. We 
emulate their talk and style and adopt dialogue from their 
program or movie. The character identification moves to 
the relational level when we interact with others or when 
we include others in our own identification. If repeated 
with some frequency, the character emulation may become 
a personal idiom in the relationship. This type of personal 
idiom is an extension of role playing, a type of social play, 
often public and comedic, and may lead to interpersonal 
solidarity. Drawing from interpersonal and mass media 
literature, this study builds a basis for "media-derived 
personal idioms"--a new generation of idioms that may be 
especially important in today's relationships as they coexist 
and interact in a media world.

33.13   [withdrawn]

33.14
The Use of Evaluative Language in Social Interaction

Robin A. Quinn and William P. Davern
University of Memphis

Verbal feedback is an important part of social interaction. 
This study examined the impact of status, moral relevance, 
and gender on verbal reactions to moral deviance by 
assessing the use of evaluative language in an advising 
situation. Analyses suggested that subjects used more 
evaluative language to advise higher status targets and 
perceived these targets as more responsible for their 
problems regardless of the moral relevance of the problem. 
Verbal reactions to moral deviance also differed 
depending on gender; males altered the evaluative content 
of their advice according to the moral relevance of the 
target's problem whereas females did not.

33.15
Measuring Significant Other-Concepts:
Spontaneous Verbal Descriptions

Regan A. R. Gurung, Phil Ullrich,
Barbara R. Sarason, and Irwin G. Sarason
University of Washington

This study presents findings that establish the notion that 
people form cognitive representations of their significant 
others.  These Significant-Other concepts vary in Valence, 
Connectedness and Elaboration  and are significantly 
related to perceptions of relationship quality and  
satisfaction.  This study uses a new spontaneous 
audiotaped measure to  assess these concepts in 
conjunction with paper and pencil measures.  Raters coded 
the ten minute verbal statements of 150 couples in close  
relationships who were brought into the lab.  Results 
indicate the  utility of the audiotaped measure and the 
discriminant and predictive  validity of the new 
conceptualization of Significant-Other concepts.

33.16
Politeness Strategies: A Reliability Analysis

William P. Davern, Robin A. Quinn and Jeffrey S. 
Berman, University of Memphis

Strategic usage of politeness strategies may enable 
speakers to regulate the amount of threat to face 
experienced during communication.  In this study, Brown 
and Levinson's (1987) politeness model was organized into 
scales to determine the degree to which they could be 
reliably rated. Analyses revealed that the two types of 
politeness hypothesized to maximally avoid threat to face 
were also the two strategies that were the most reliably 
rated.  These two most reliably rated categories seem to 
represent intimacy extremes.  Contrary to prior theory and 
research on politeness usage, the present study revealed no 
gender differences in perceptions of politeness.

33.17
Recognizing Real Emotion: A Social Relations Analysis
of Classroom Embarrassment

Rowland S. Miller and David K. Marcus
Sam Houston State University

Improving on past emotion recognition studies, this 
investigation asked participants to judge the extent of 
others' embarrassment as it actually occurred.  207 
students reported how embarrassed they were during class 
presentations, and also judged the embarrassment of other 
speakers.  Social relations analyses showed that audience 
members generally agreed on who was embarrassed and 
who was not, and did accurately perceive the speakers' 
emotion.  However, the audience's idiosyncrasies affected 
their judgments, too; embarrassment lay in the eyes of the 
beholders as well as in the actions of the beheld.  The 
more embarrassed the speakers were during their own 
presentations, the more embarrassed they perceived others 
to be during theirs. 

33.18
The Most Popular Person in the Class:
In Search of the Trait Structure of Charisma

Neal J. Roese, Northwestern University
James M. Olson, University of Western Ontario
Karen L. Grabowski and Jeffrey R. Sherman, 
Northwestern University

What makes an individual especially well liked in the eyes 
of others?  The present research focused on the perceived 
trait structure of charisma.  In Study 1, participants 
recorded traits and behaviors associated with an especially 
popular and well-liked individual whom they knew, and 
also for a close friend.  In Study 2, the trait terms from the 
first study were converted to scalar ratings.  A 
discriminant function analysis was used to identify those 
traits that maximally differentiated between likeable 
person, close friend, and disliked person.  In addition to 
pleasantness and outgoingness, the effective use of humor 
was an important marker of charismatic individuals. 

33.19
Are the Representations of Social Relationships 
Dimensional or Categorical: The Chinese Case

Zhang Zhixue
University of Hong Kong

Dimensional perspective maintains that the 
representations of social relationships are essentially 
continuous dimensions, whereas categorical perspective 
argues that they are actually discrete categories. In the 
present two studies, subjects were instructed to sort 
different social relationships into certain groups in terms 
of their similarity. The results of multidimensional scaling 
(MDS) and cluster analysis (CA) derived from the same 
co-occurrence matrices were compared, which indicated 
that the most salient schema individuals used to represent 
social relationships was continuous dimension which 
could be identified by MDS. However, the less salient 
ones were discrete categories that were better derived by 
CA. The author hypothesized that the mental 
representations of social relationships are either 
dimensional or categorical depending on the salience of 
the schemata used by individuals. Chinese individuals' 
representations of social relationships were discussed. 

33.20
Empathic Accuracy in Depressed 
and Nondepressed Students

Michael J.L. Sullivan and Tara McCallan
Dalhousie University

This study addressed the relation between depression and 
empathic accuracy.  Forty pairs of subjects interacted via a 
videoconferencing system.  Depressed and nondepressed 
subjects were instructed to "get to know each other".  
Following the interaction, one partner watched the video 
record, and recorded thoughts and feelings experienced 
during the interaction.  The other partner watched the 
same video segment, and was asked to infer the thoughts 
and feelings of the interaction partner.  Concordance 
between one partner's report and the other's inferences was 
used as the index of empathic accuracy.  Findings revealed 
that depressed subjects were significantly less 
empathically accurate, smiled less, made less eye contact, 
and asked fewer questions than nondepressed subjects.

33.21
The Influence of Self-esteem on Views of Close 
Personal Relationships

Geoffrey MacDonald, John G. Holmes, 
and Sandra L. Murray, University of Waterloo

An experiment to examine the interplay between people's 
self-esteem and their perceptions of their partner is 
presented.  Participants were assigned to a self-esteem 
boost, threat, or control condition. After the manipulation, 
participants in all three conditions filled out their reactions 
to a number of relationship scenarios, as well as a number 
of scales relating to various aspects of their relationship 
views.  Our hypothesis stated that low self-esteem people 
would be more reactive than high self-esteem people. 
Results of the study will be discussed.

33.22
A Transgenerational View of Family Functioning 
in Three Cultures

David Jones, Paul Blackburn,
Ali Mazaheri-Tehrani and Dev Sharma
Birkbeck College

The development of a Transgenerational Questionnaire 
(TGQ) to measure perceptions of relationships across 
three generations by adult couples is reported.  Data 
collected from a British sample suggest differences 
including greater perceived closeness in the current 
generation than in the preceding generation and a decline 
in strictness. Cross-cultural comparisons of relationship 
patterns across generations in families from Iran and India 
will be presented.  Data from first generation immigrant 
families from India will also be discussed.  Finally a 
subset of the TGQ items was used to assess perceptions of 
relationships with parents by White British and Indian 
Asian adolescents.

33.23
A Descriptive Approach to Reevaluating Marital 
Success in Contemporary United States

Mary S. Marczak & Mari S. Wilhelm
University of Arizona

Scholars have argued that interpretive data is necessary to 
gain new insights or challenge understanding gleaned from 
conventional methods.  This study models Colaizzi's 
(1978) Descriptive Approach to examine marital success 
in contemporary U.S.  To include experiences from diverse 
ethnic groups, the sample was selected from Tucson and 
Minneapolis areas.  Respondents will be asked to provide 
a detailed description of an experience or event they felt 
exemplified successful marriages and to provide a 
rationale for their choice.  The themes and descriptions 
emerging from this study will be compared to the themes 
delineated from the review of current measures of marital 
quality. 

33.24
Single Parents as Cohabitors or Cohabitors
 as Single Parents

Maureen Lynch and Leslie Richards
Oregon State University

Generally unresearched are individuals who 
simultaneously experience single parenthood and 
cohabitation.  Utilizing telephone interview data from a 
subsample of women and men from a larger longitudinal 
data, the present paper details a qualitative assessment of 
what single parents perceive as being the positive and 
negative aspects of cohabiting relationships.  Data coded 
by thematic content revealed that respondents gave more 
positive than negative comments about cohabiting with a 
partner while being single parents.  The majority of 
favorable comments were related to the couple's 
relationship, rather than personal or familial issues. Less 
favorable comments also grouped into self, dyadic, and 
family categories.

Social Exchange Processes in Relationships

33.25
Interest in Time Spent Selecting a Gift For You
and Whether an Identical Gift Was Bought for 
Someone Else in Communal and Exchange 
Relationships

Judson Mills, University of Maryland
Margaret S. Clark, Carnegie Mellon University

Interest in the time another spent selecting a gift for you 
and whether the other bought an identical gift for someone 
else was greater if the other was someone with whom you 
have or would like a communal relationship than someone 
with whom you have an exchange relationship.  Those 
aspects of the gift selection evidence the other's concern 
for your needs, and interest in the other's concern for you 
was assumed to be greater in communal than exchange 
relationships, particularly if the communal relationship is 
uncertain and desired.  Interest in cost of the gift was not 
associated with relationship type.

33.26
Sex, Gender Role Orientation, and the Impact of 
Inequity in Social Exchange: 
Some Unexpected Findings

Martin Dunbar, Kate Hunt, & Graeme Ford
Medical Research Council, Scotland

Equity theory (Walster et al., 1978) predicts that when the 
benefits that are exchanged within a dyad are unequal both 
partners will experience distress. We examined gender 
differences in the effects of inequity among a sample of 
240 individuals. Although the correlation coefficients 
representing the relationship between inequity and 
psychological distress were larger among men than among 
women, these differences were not statistically significant. 
We also examined whether the relationship between 
inequity and distress varied according to gender role 
orientation. We found a significant interaction between 
gender role orientation and inequity among men only.  
Contrary to our expectations, the within cell correlation 
coefficients suggested that "masculine men" were the least 
affected by inequity. 

33.27
Relationship Closeness and the Perception
 of Helping Intentions

Li Feng
University of Hong Kong

Two studies explored the role of perceived relationship 
closeness in perceiving helping intentions. In study 1, 
subjects were asked to describe a recent event of giving or 
receiving help and explain why the help was given. 
Content analysis yielded four categories of intentions:  
Altruistic, Normative, Relationship, and Exchange. Study 
2 was designed to test the hypothesis that people use 
information on relationship closeness to make judgements 
on helping intentions. Subjects read a scenario describing 
two persons' interaction in which A treated B to a meal 
and after a certain period of time B bought A a gift. Then 
they judged the probability of the intentions behind B's 
behavior. The two independent variables were the 
relationship closeness betweeen A and B and the time 
interval between A and B's behaviors. The hypothesis was 
supported by the results.

33.28
Affect and Relationship Satisfaction in Romantic and 
Friendship Relationships

Dean M. Bonnici and Barry J. Fallon
University of Melbourne

Equity theory proposes a 'just' rule of social exchange 
which predicts that distress will be associated with 
perceptions of inequity. This study investigated affective 
consequences of inequity; the utility of a measure of 
general relationship satisfaction; and response differences 
based on relationship characteristics. Respondents in same 
(153) or opposite (147) sex friendships or a romantic 
relationship (103) were assessed; the equity balance in 
their relationship, their affect levels on seven emotions 
and degree of relationship satisfaction. Some Equity theory 
predictions were supported. Overall, women were 
significantly more angry in their relationships, and those 
in romantic relationships reported higher positive affect 
and relationship satisfaction. Some implications for the 
investigation of personal relationships within an equity 
framework are discussed.

Social Cognition and Attachment

33.29
Attachment and Romantic Relationship Expectations

Lois Callander, Kim Bartholomew 
and Shawnda Servello, Simon Fraser University

The present study examined the associations between 
patterns of adult attachment and romantic relationship 
expectations.  A factor analysis of love prototype features 
(Fehr, 1988) used to assess romantic expectations yielded 
factors comparable to those found by Aron and Westbay 
(in press): intimacy, passion and commitment. Secure 
attachment ratings were positively correlated with the 
intimacy and commitment expectations factors.  In 
contrast, both fearful and dismissing attachment patterns 
were negatively correlated with intimacy and commitment 
expectations.  No correlations were found between 
attachment ratings and the passion expectations factor.  
The findings in this study confirm that attachment and 
relationship expectations are associated, suggesting that 
expectations are an integral component of adult attachment 
models. 

33.30
Similarity in Perceptions of own and Partner's 
Attachment Dimensions

Ann P. Ruvolo and Lisa A. Fabin
University of Notre Dame

Individuals in 301 dating couples rated themselves and 
their partners on each of four continuous attachment 
dimensions (i.e., secureness, dismissingness, 
preoccupiedness, fearfulness).  An individual's perception 
of how the partner rates on a particular dimension was 
significantly predicted by the individual's own rating on 
the dimension, after controlling for the partner's self- 
rating on the dimension.  Thus, people perceived their 
partners to be more similar to themselves than they really 
are.  This relationship was stronger for women highly 
satisfied with the relationship than for unsatisfied women.  
The results may be interpreted in light of theories of social 
comparison. 

33.31
Attachment and Emotional Reactions 
to Ambiguous Events

Lucy Robin
Wellesley College

This study examined the hypothesis that individuals with 
different romantic attachment styles would react with 
different patterns of emotions--both positive and negative--
to various ambiguous relationship events, in ways that are 
consistent with the working models of self and other and 
relationship beliefs characteristic of each attachment style.  
Participants were 120 undergraduates endorsing one of 
Bartholomew and Horowitz's four attachment styles. They 
read a series of brief, ambiguous scenarios and rated their 
emotional reactions to them.  Results confirmed the 
hypothesis; the emotional reaction patterns' associations 
with working models of attachment are discussed.

33.32
Attachment Across Generations:
The Role of Mothers' Expectations of Parenthood

Holly Burton, Deborah Jacobvitz, 
Donna Martin-Brace, Pam Holland and Nancy Hazen
University of Texas at Austin

This study examined the role of adults' expectations of 
parenthood in the intergenerational transmission of 
attachment. 120 expectant women were administered the 
Adult Attachment Interview and a survey tapping 
expectations of parenthood.  Later, these first-time 
mothers were videotaped feeding, playing and dressing 
their 8- month-olds. As predicted, compared to mothers 
who minimized the importance of early attachment 
experiences, those who clearly and openly described them 
had more realistic expectations of parenthood. They 
anticipated more stress, less time for outside activities and 
hoped for calm babies.  Mothers preoccupied with early 
experiences expressed concern about their ability to 
provide adequate childcare.  Relations between 
expectations of parenthood and caregiving behaviors were 
also discussed.