Previous research indicates that survivors of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) are at a greater risk of developing Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptomatology. IPV survivors often use maladaptive coping strategies in response to IPV that place them at a higher risk for PTSD. Cultural gender roles/beliefs have been known to influence coping methods. Marianismo, a Latino/a gender role belief, has not been investigated in relation to IPV, coping strategies, and PTSD among Latinas. This study examined whether physical, psychological, or sexual abuse by a romantic partner, coping strategies, and Marianismo were associated with PTSD symptomatology among 157 college-aged Latinas. The participants completed an on-line survey that assessed IPV frequency, disengaged and engaged coping, Marianismo, and PTSD symptomatology. Hierarchical multiple regressions revealed that, regardless of IPV type, more IPV and disengaged coping strategies were the best predictors of PTSD symptomatology. Marianismo did not significantly moderate the relation between coping and PTSD. However, the strong zero-order correlation between disengaged coping and Marianismo indicated they were highly correlated variables. The study findings are consistent with previous research that suggested that coping strategies are culturally dependent on beliefs and gender role expectations. Latinas may use more disengaged coping strategies because these methods may be deemed more culturally appropriate and reflect Marianismo beliefs. Psychologists working with Latina IPV survivors need to develop culturally sensitive approaches to psychoeducation on IPV and coping strategies that empower these women within their cultural belief systems and reduce their PTSD symptomatology.

Menopause is a complex biopsychosocial phenomenon that is influenced by women’s attitudes, the attitudes of their partners, families, and friends, and societal norms. Previous research has shown that attitudes can be influenced by many factors, such as age and menopausal status. This study examined men’s and women’s attitudes toward several facets of menopause, including fertility, attractiveness, personal growth, emotional stability, and sexuality, using an Amazon Mechanical Turk sample of 194 females and 151 males. Results revealed that women and men differed significantly in their attitudes toward fertility, attractiveness, personal growth, and sexuality, with women having more positive attitudes on every dimension except sexuality. For females, age was a significant positive predictor for fertility, personal growth, and emotional stability; knowledge was a significant positive predictor for personal growth; and education was a significant positive predictor for emotional stability. For males, age was a significant positive predictor for fertility, and knowledge was a significant negative predictor for fertility. These results indicate that men typically have more negative attitudes toward menopause than do women, and that more potential predictors of menopause attitudes should be explored in future work to provide insight into the reasons for this difference.

Alexithymia is a personality trait characterized by a diminished ability to identify and describe feelings, as well as an inability to distinguish physical symptoms associated with emotional arousal. Alexithymia is elevated in both patients with epilepsy (a neurologically-based seizure disorder) and psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES; a psychological condition mimicking epilepsy); however, different neuropsychological processes may underlie this deficit in the two groups. To expand on previous research considering factors contributing to alexithymia in these populations, we examined the extent to which scores on the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) were predicted by performance on measures of executive and language functioning. We studied 138 PNES and 150 epilepsy patients with video-EEG confirmed diagnoses. Neuropsychological tests were administered to assess executive functioning (interference scores of the Stroop Color-Word Test and Part B of the Trail Making Test) and language functioning (Animals, Controlled Oral Word Association Test, and Boston Naming Test). Hierarchical linear regressions revealed that the relationships between disparate neuropsychological domains and alexithymia were not moderated by diagnosis of PNES or epilepsy. Multiple regression analyses within each group demonstrated that phonemic verbal fluency and response inhibition were significant predictors of alexithymia in epilepsy. Thus, alexithymia may reflect impairments in language and aspects of executive functioning in both PNES and epilepsy.

Background: When studying how humans regulate their affect, it is important to recognize that affect regulation does not occur in a vacuum. As humans are an inherently social species, affect plays a crucial evolutionary role in social behavior, and social behavior likewise assumes an important role in affect and affect regulation. Emotion researchers are increasingly interested the specific ways people help to regulate and dysregulate one another’s affect, though experimental examinations of the extant models and theory are relatively few. This thesis presents a broad theoretical framework for social affect regulation between close others, considering the role of attachment theory and its developmental foundations for social affect regulation in adulthood. Affectionate and responsive touch is considered a major mechanism of regulatory benefit between people, both developmentally and in adulthood, and is the focus of the present investigation. Method: A total sample of 231 heterosexual married couples were recruited from the community. Participants were assigned to engage in affectionate touch or sit quietly, and/or engage in positive conversation prior to a stress task. Physiological data was collected continuously across the experiment. Hypotheses: Phasic respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) was used to index the degree of regulatory engagement during the stressor for those who did and did not touch. It was hypothesized that touch would reduce stress appraisal and thus the need for regulatory engagement. This effect was predicted to be greater for those more anxiously attached while increasing the need for regulatory engagement in those more avoidantly attached. Secondarily, partner effects of attachment on sympathetic activation via pre-ejection period (PEP) change were tested. It was predicted that both attachment dimensions would predict a decrease in partner PEP change in the touch condition, with avoidant attachment having the strongest effect. Results: Hierarchical linear modeling techniques were used to account for nonindependence in dyadic observations. The first set of hypotheses were not supported, while the second set were partially supported. Wives’ avoidance significantly predicted husbands’ PEP change, but in the positive direction. This effect also significantly increased in the touch condition. Theoretical considerations and limitations are discussed.

Physical pain and social pain are two types of pain humans experience. Physical pain is defined as any pain experienced upon bodily injury, whereas social pain is defined as the pain experienced upon social injury when social relationships are threatened, damaged or lost (Eisenberger & Lieberman, 2004). Both physical and social pain can be experienced as acute or chronic, acute lasting for up to three months, and chronic lasting for more than three to six months. Studies on acute and chronic social pain have shown that social pain leads to less empathy. The Pain Overlap Theory suggests that social pain and physical pain share similar neural networks and underlying processes. If social pain and physical pain overlap in the brain, then it would be expected to see a similar reduction in empathy when experiencing acute and chronic physical pain. Therefore, it was hypothesized that those who suffer from chronic physical pain will be less empathetic overall, and they will be less empathetic to others in physical pain and social pain.

Affiliative touch, such as physical affection between relationship partners, activates neural systems associated with reward, relaxation, and attachment. Co-sleeping is a common practice among romantic partners, and the social context of sleep is linked to well-being. The effect of touch during sleep, however, remains largely untested. As a first study, 210 married couples were asked how much they generally touched during sleep and how important it was for them to touch during sleep. I hypothesized that perceptions of more spousal touch during sleep, as well as greater importance placed on that touch, would be associated with better quality of sleep. Given the strong links between touch and attachment, and previous findings of poor sleep associated with attachment anxiety, these effects were expected to be greatest among spouses higher in attachment anxiety (who might benefit most from a sense of security arising from touch). Separate regression analyses were run for husbands and wives, controlling for affective symptoms of depression (which were significant predictors of poor sleep for both spouses). For both spouses, higher reports of amount and importance of touch during sleep predicted better quality of sleep. For wives, the predicted interaction was significant, but in the opposite direction: Reported amount and importance of spousal touch during sleep was positively related to sleep quality only among those with lower attachment anxiety, whereas it was unrelated among those with higher attachment anxiety. Higher attachment anxiety also was related to worse sleep among wives, but not husbands. It may be the case that wives who are lowest in attachment anxiety may feel more comfortable when being touched by their partners. As a result, they may touch more often, place more importance on touch, and be more likely to experience rewards of touch such as better sleep quality. The findings lend support to the idea that social touch can serve a regulatory function, even during sleep.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), or lupus, is a rare autoimmune disease in which the antibodies that are formed in the body attack healthy tissues and organs. The most prevalent physical manifestation of the illness is fatigue. Fatigue often plagues patients with no warning and without leaving a trace of measurable evidence. The issue of fatigue’s invisibility and the difficulties of communicating the experience of fatigue has been shown to impact relationships with friends, family, and physicians. It is important for patients to understand their condition in order to better identify their own triggers, manage their condition, and communicate their symptoms to friends, families, and other medical professionals. The study sought to explore the lived experience of women who have lupus, describe the impact of symptom invisibility on social support and patient-doctor relationships, identify effective strategies in communicating and managing the condition, and describe the broad range of life changes associated with the disease. The study utilized in-depth, semi-structured interviews to gather detailed information from eleven women with lupus. Six overarching themes emerged from the data: difficulties with diagnosis, discovering lupus is a process, managing lupus, social impact of lupus, communicating the experience, and limitations of the healthcare system. Symptom invisibility was not frequently cited as the cause of any interpersonal problems faced by the participants. Rather, the results suggest that the current healthcare system in the United States may not be equipped to adequately care for patients with lupus. This study provides insight for recommendations to patients with lupus and may inform cultural and policy changes necessary to improve healthcare delivery.

Lucid dreaming occurs in those who become aware they are dreaming, while still in the dreaming state. Although lucid dreaming has been studied with respect to personality characteristics and as a learned cognitive skill to enhance well-being via processes such as mindfulness, less research has been conducted on relationships between lucid dreaming and emotion. I collected self-reports from a college sample of 262 participants to examine the relationships between lucidity experienced in dreams and emotion regulation, dispositional positive emotions, interoceptive awareness, and mindfulness. Pearson correlations revealed that greater lucidity experienced within dreams was significantly related to more positive emotions, greater interoceptive awareness, and greater mindfulness; however, lucidity was not related to emotion regulation. Furthermore, regression analyses revealed that greater lucidity experienced within dreams predicted more dispositional positive emotions above and beyond emotion regulation and interoceptive awareness. It is important to note that these relationships were tested across people who self-identified as lucid dreamers as well as those who identified as non-lucid dreamers. Overall, lucidity may be beneficial for anyone who recalls his or her dreams, in that higher lucidity was associated with more positive affect during waking. Positive emotions experienced during waking also may translate into greater awareness during dreaming.

The value of safe sex may be discounted based on contextual factors associated with an opportunity for sex. College students (n = 75) in a within-subjects study selected hypothetical sexual partners from a set of pictures and classified them based on attractiveness and estimated chance of having an STI. In the sexual delay discounting (SDD) task, participants rated their likelihood (0 – 100%) of waiting for some period of time (e.g., 3 hours) to have protected sex with their selected partners, when they could have immediate sex without protection. In the sexual probability discounting (SPD) task, participants rated their likelihood of having protected sex if the opportunity was uncertain (e.g., 50%), when they could have unprotected sex for sure (100%). All participants included in the final analyses were aware of and had a positive attitude towards protection against STIs as they indicated preference for immediate (or certain) protected sex. Results show that participants’ willingness to have safe sex systematically decreased as the delay to and odds against having safe sex increased. However, these discounting patterns were observed only in some partner conditions but not others, showing that preference for delayed (or uncertain) safe sex was altered by perceived attractiveness and STI risk of sexual partners. Moreover, the hyperbolic discounting model provided good to acceptable fit to the delay and probability discounting data in most-wanted and least-STI conditions. Gender differences in devaluation of safe sex were also found.

Touch appears to be an important component for understanding psychological and emotional well-being, as well as the formation and maintenance of interpersonal relationships later in life. While research about touch in relation to these topics is gaining momentum, there is still little evidence on the specific effects and processes that take place when touch is negative or harmful. The current study examined how women who have experienced physical or sexual abuse perceive touch in the context of interpersonal relations and in turn, how these experiences, perceptions and attitudes are related to depressive symptoms. Taking into consideration the significance of interpersonal touch, I speculated that 1) attitudes towards touch would be more negative among women who reported physical or sexual abuse than among women who did not; 2) among women who reported past abuse, increased abuse severity would predict increased current depressive symptoms; and 3) among women who reported past abuse, current attitudes towards touch would mediate the relationship between abuse severity and depressive symptoms. As predicted, results indicated that women who reported physical or sexual abuse had less positive attitudes towards touch than women who did not report any abuse. Echoing prior research, reports of childhood and adult abuse predicted increased depressive symptoms. Finally, for women who reported childhood abuse, Discomfort with Social Touch was a significant partial mediator of depressive symptoms, whereas for women who reported adult abuse, both Desire for More Partner Touch and Discomfort with Social Touch were significant partial mediators of depressive symptoms. Results suggested that negative attitudes towards general social touch, in particular, may play a strong role in mediating depressive symptoms among women who reported abuse.