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It saddens me to admit that I feel safest on an app where men are simply not allowed to contact me until I express an interest in them. A quick review of online discussion platforms would suggest that many in society have just decided that men cannot be trusted with the first move. I get it, frankly, but it isn’t what I hope for. In this piece I argue that Black women who desire connection and community cannot afford to stop dating online. With personal narrative and a review of the literature, this paper takes an autoethnographic approach to online dating as a Black woman. I show that the risks of social isolation and mental health concerns leave women of color, particularly Black single women in a vulnerable position. Research is suggesting that people are meeting less new people IRL (in real life), and that this is especially true for romantic connections. Given the hostility of the online dating environment, I consider the role of courtesy, consciousness and awareness of virtual space as community for the Black woman. The paper requests that claims of anti-racism be replaced with demonstrations of this in dating practices, and I present suggested strategies for holding space in the current environment.

In this paper we review the self-expansion model in the context of close relationships, focusing primarily on work in the last 20 years, considering throughout variation in our samples across cultures and other demographics—both in existing studies and in potential implications for future research. The self-expansion model has two key principles. The first half of the paper focuses on the motivational principle: The model theorizes that people have a fundamental desire to expand the self—that is, to increase their self-efficacy, perspectives, competence, and resources, and this often occurs through relationships in general. The second half of the paper focuses on the inclusion-of-other-in-the-self principle, in that a major means of self-expansion is through close relationships, when one’s partner’s identities, perspectives, skills, and resources become to some extent “included in the self” as also one’s own. For each principle we briefly describe its foundational research support and then explore the extensive, significant work of the last 20 years substantially expanding and deepening the implications of the model. The majority (although with some interesting exceptions) of studies have fallen short of testing the universal breadth of the model. As we review the research, we consider where the studies were conducted and with what kinds of populations. Where there are data from diverse populations, the overall pattern of results are generally similar. However, there were individual differences found within the populations studied, such as in attachment style, that affected the operation of both principles. Since there are well known differences in the distribution of such individual differences across populations of many types, it is quite likely that while the basic patterns may not differ, future research will show different degrees of operation in different populations.

Numerous studies show that prosocial behavior leads to positive emotional outcomes for the actor, yet does it matter, who the beneficiary is? The present paper explores differential effects of helping acts towards close versus distant recipients on subjective well-being and the role that basic psychological needs play in this relationship. Two studies using event-recall ( N = 127) and interventional ( N = 305) designs in Russian samples were conducted to test our hypotheses. Study 1 showed that performing acts of kindness towards family and friends (compared to a control condition) led to higher satisfaction of the needs for relatedness and morality, while helping strangers increased only the latter. Study 2 failed to unconditionally replicate the prosocial-happiness link; however, when the need for competence was controlled for, helping both types of recipients was shown to provide higher event-level well-being outcomes. The positive effect of prosocial acts toward strong ties was mediated by relatedness and morality satisfaction, while when the recipient was a stranger, the effect was accounted for by fulfilling the needs for morality and autonomy. No significant event-level well-being differences were detected between those helping close versus distant others and no differences in positive affect, negative affect or life satisfaction emerged between the three conditions. The paper provides support for the importance of the self-perceived impact for the success of kindness interventions. We conclude with a discussion of implications for kindness interventions towards different recipients.

This paper examined the associations among: (1) the perceived freedom to initiate and end interpersonal relationships ( relational mobility), (2) relationship quality, and (3) well-being. Across 38 nations, people in nations with higher relational mobility reported greater well-being, which was explained by higher-quality relationships with close others (Study 1A). This effect was replicated at the individual level, after controlling for extraversion and socio-economic status (Study 1B). Finally, first-year college students with higher relational mobility reported receiving more social support from new friends during the COVID-19 pandemic, which explained those students’ higher well-being during the pandemic (Study 2). Together, this work demonstrates that relational mobility can explain enhanced well-being across nations, individuals, and life circumstances, and indicates potential avenues for interventions that increase the well-being of individuals and societies.

In many contexts worldwide, most people grow up with one or more siblings. The current paper reviews research on sibling relationship quality (closeness, communication, and conflict) in adolescence and young adulthood in four different contexts: primarily White North American and European samples (132 articles reviewed); ethnic minority families (26 articles reviewed); China (6 articles reviewed); and when one sibling has a disability (21 articles reviewed). Where the literature was available, within each context we addressed five questions: how does sibling relationship quality change from adolescence through young adulthood, how are demographic and structural characteristics linked to sibling relationship quality, how is sibling relationship quality linked to adjustment and behavior, how are familial relationships and processes linked to sibling relationship quality, and how is sibling relationship quality linked to non-familial relationships. Included articles were published between 2001 and 2021 and included aspects of sibling closeness, communication, or conflict in adolescence or young adulthood. Across all contexts, individual (e.g., gender) and dyadic characteristics (e.g., gender composition, birth order) play a role in siblings’ relationship qualities. In several contexts, the current literature suggests that sibling closeness and communication are linked to positive development, well-being, and healthy relationships with other social partners. In multiple contexts, sibling conflict is linked to poorer well-being and negative relationships with other social partners. These broad patterns, however, are qualified by each context and often multiple moderators.

Feminism provides a worldview with innovative possibilities for scholarship and activism on behalf of families and intimate relationships. As a flexible framework capable of engaging with contentious theoretical ideas and the urgency of social change, feminism offers a simultaneous way to express an epistemology (knowledge), a methodology (the production of knowledge), an ontology (one’s subjective way of being in the world), and a praxis (the translation of knowledge into actions that produce beneficial social change). Feminist family science, in particular, advances critical, intersectional, and queer approaches to examine the uses and abuses of power and the multiple axes upon which individuals and families are privileged, marginalized, and oppressed in diverse social contexts. In this paper, I embrace feminism as a personal, professional (academic), and political project and use stories from my own life to illuminate broader social-historical structures, processes, and contexts associated with gender, race, class, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, nationality, and other systems of social stratification. I provide a brief history and reflections on contemporary feminist theory and activism, particularly from the perspective of my disciplinary affiliation of feminist family science. I address feminism as an intersectional perspective through three themes: (a) theory: defining a critical feminist approach, (b) method: critical feminist autoethnographic research, and (c) praxis: transforming feminist theory into action. I conclude with takeaway messages for incorporating reflexivity and critical consciousness raising to provoke thought and action in the areas of personal, professional, and political change.

The social and behavioral sciences have long suffered from a lack of diversity in the samples used to study a broad array of phenomena. In an attempt to move toward a more contextually-informed approach, multiple subfields have undertaken meta-science studies of the diversity and inclusion of underrepresented groups in their body of literature. The current study is a systematic review of the field of relationship science aimed at examining the state of diversity and inclusion in this field. Relationship-focused papers published in five top relationship science journals from 2014 to 2018 ( N = 559 articles, containing 771 unique studies) were reviewed. Studies were coded for research methods (e.g., sample source, dyadic data, observational data, and experimental design) and sample characteristics (e.g., age, education, income, race/ethnicity, and sexual orientation). Results indicate that the modal participant in a study of romantic relationships is 30 years old, White, American, middle-class, college educated, and involved in a different-sex, same-race relationship. Additionally, only 74 studies (10%) focused on traditionally underrepresented groups (i.e., non-White, low-income, and/or sexual and gender minorities). Findings underscore the need for greater inclusion of underrepresented groups to ensure the validity and credibility of relationship science. We conclude with general recommendations for the field.

Familial caregiving research is yet to examine the factors that underpin the association between attachment insecurity and carer burden. Furthermore, previous research consists largely of data collected at a single point in time. This paper addresses these gaps by reporting on a study involving 57 parent–child dyads to determine whether adult children’s caregiving self-efficacy mediates the association between carer attachment insecurity and carer burden. Furthermore, care-recipient care-seeking style was investigated as a moderator of the association between carer’s attachment insecurity and their self-efficacy. Carers completed self-report measures of attachment orientations at baseline, caregiving self-efficacy at 3 months, and carer burden at 6 months. At 3 months, dyads also engaged in a video-recorded caregiving discussion task assessing care-recipient’s observed care-seeking style. The mediation effects of carer attachment orientations on burden through caregiving self-efficacy were contingent on care-recipient indirect-constructive care-seeking. Findings highlight the complex interplay between carer attachment orientations, caregiving self-efficacy, and care-recipient care-seeking style in predicting the burden experienced by adult children.

People often self-disclose news about themselves. Respondents may have similar news and feel conflicted about whether to share that news in the moment – that is, to reciprocally self-disclose. On the one hand, reciprocally self-disclosing could enable them to convey that they understand the recipient’s experience. On the other hand, reciprocally self-disclosing could dishonor the recipient’s contribution in a manner akin to stealing the spotlight. What contextual variables do respondents consider when navigating this conflict? How do recipients perceive reciprocal self-disclosures (RSDs) relative to non-disclosures – and what contextual variables moderate recipients’ perceptions? In this paper, we report four studies ( N = 1200 Reddit conversations, 733 MTurk and 701 Prolific users) examining how people use and perceive RSD across a variety of contexts. We focus principally on context valence (positive vs. negative) and news similarity (similar vs. more extreme). Across experimental and naturalistic studies, respondents were highly context-sensitive and particularly reluctant to reciprocally self-disclose in positive contexts. Yet, recipients were less context-sensitive. Recipients evaluated similar RSDs as comparably responsive as non-disclosures in positive contexts and more responsive than non-disclosures in negative contexts. Furthermore, recipients perceived more extreme RSDs as more responsive than non-disclosures in negative contexts and less responsive than non-disclosures in positive contexts. Exploratory analyses suggested privacy, gender of respondent, and closeness predicted whether respondents used RSD but not whether recipients perceived RSD as responsive. In short, people often refrain from RSD to avoid committing communication errors – but our research suggests RSD can be highly responsive and incurs few costs relative to non-disclosure.

In the face of COVID-19, many schools have to educate their students using online activities. During this time, whether and how parents are involved may be of particular importance for young children—who are less able to learn independently via the Internet due to their developmental immaturity. Therefore, this study examined the cross-sectional association of maternal involvement in child online learning with child adjustment during the COVID-19 pandemic and tested maternal mindfulness as a moderator. Data were collected from 236 mothers of kindergarten-aged children (mean age = 55.91 months; 75% of them were girls) during the fourth wave of COVID-19 outbreak in Hong Kong, China. Using paper-and-pencil questionnaires, mothers rated their involvement and mindfulness and their children’s pre-academic ability and internalizing and externalizing behaviors and provide demographic information. Regression models revealed that maternal involvement was associated positively with child pre-academic ability and negatively with child internalizing behaviors, but such associations were only significant for children with more mindful mothers. Maternal mindfulness did not moderate the negative association between maternal involvement and child externalizing behaviors. Findings highlighted the role of maternal mindfulness in child development, suggesting that it may be crucial to promote maternal involvement and mindfulness during the pandemic and perhaps beyond.