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Feeling loved (loved, cared for, accepted, valued, understood) is inherently dyadic, yet most prior theoretical perspectives and investigations have focused on how actors feeling (un)loved shapes actors' outcomes. Adopting a dyadic perspective, the present research tested whether the established links between actors feeling unloved and destructive (critical, hostile) behavior depended on partners' feelings of being loved. Does feeling loved need to be mutual to reduce destructive behavior, or can partners feeling loved compensate for actors feeling unloved? In five dyadic observational studies, couples were recorded discussing conflicts, diverging preferences or relationship strengths, or interacting with their child (total N = 842 couples; 1,965 interactions). Participants reported how much they felt loved during each interaction and independent coders rated how much each person exhibited destructive behavior. Significant Actors' × Partners' Felt-Loved interactions revealed a strong-link/mutual felt-unloved pattern: partners' high felt-loved buffered the damaging effect of actors' low felt-loved on destructive behavior, resulting in actors' destructive behavior mostly occurring when both actors' and partners' felt-loved was low. This dyadic pattern also emerged in three supplemental daily sampling studies. Providing directional support for the strong-link/mutual felt-unloved pattern, in Studies 4 and 5 involving two or more sequential interactions, Actors' × Partners' Felt-Loved in one interaction predicted actors' destructive behavior within couples' subsequent conflict interactions. The results illustrate the dyadic nature of feeling loved: Partners feeling loved can protect against actors feeling unloved in challenging interactions. Assessing Actor × Partner effects should be equally valuable for advancing understanding of other fundamentally dyadic relationship processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parental warmth and hostility are two key dimensions of parenting for child development, but the differential effects of these parenting dimensions on child prosocial and antisocial development has not been adequately investigated. The current study hypothesized that parental warmth would be uniquely related to child callous-unemotional waits and prosocial behavior, whereas parental hostility would be uniquely related to child delinquency and aggression. These hypotheses were investigated in a diverse sample of 1.216 adolescent males (13 to 17 years old, 46% Latino, 37% Black) with justice-system involvement in the 5 years following their first arrest. Hybrid models estimated within- and between-individual associations over time, while controlling for the overlap between parental warmth and hostility and between child prosocial and antisocial outcomes. Results indicated that maternal warmth showed consistent associations with callous-unemotional traits and prosocial behavior over time, whereas maternal hostility showed consistent associations with delinquency and aggression over time. Further, the findings were similar across racial and ethnic groups. Implications for developmental models of antisocial behavior, particularly for those including the role of callous-unemotional traits, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past research on the relation between hostility in intimate relationships and adiposity has yielded mixed findings. The present study investigated whether the association between relationship hostility and adiposity is moderated by people's biological reactions to couple conflict. Cohabiting adult couples (N = 117 couples) engaged in two conflict interactions, before and after which salivary cortisol levels were measured. Results revealed an association between relationship hostility and adiposity, but this association was concentrated among people with relatively low levels of cortisol reactivity to couple conflict. Results are interpreted in light of research demonstrating that cortisol reactivity can become blunted over time in response to repeated stressors. These results provide precision to etiological models of obesity by identifying cortisol reactivity as a factor that moderates the association between relationship hostility and adiposity. (PsycINFO Database Record [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Affective instability and interpersonal stress are key features of borderline personality disorder (BPD). They were shown to covary in the daily lives of patients in a recent ambulatory assessment study (Hepp et al., 2017) that observed comparatively larger positive associations between interpersonal stressors and negative affect in individuals with BPD than those with depressive disorders. The present study sought to replicate these findings, collecting data on hostility, sadness, fear, and rejection or disagreement events from 56 BPD and 60 community control participants for 21 days, 6 times a day. Using identical statistical procedures, the positive associations between momentary rejection/disagreement and hostility, sadness, and fear were replicated. Again replicating the original study, the rejection-hostility, rejection-sadness, and disagreement-hostility associations were significantly stronger in the BPD group. Time-lagged analyses extended the original study, revealing that rejection was associated with subsequent hostility and sadness more strongly in the BPD group, as was disagreement with subsequent hostility and fear. Though small, we argue that the observed group differences reflect meaningful pervasive responses in a daily life context. Future research should consider these when implementing affect regulation strategies that are applicable in interpersonal contexts for all individuals, but particularly those with BPD. (PsycINFO Database Record [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined (a) the associations between family hostility (husband-wife marital hostility and child hostility) and middle-aged husbands' and wives' depressive symptoms over an 11-year time period and (b) the moderating influence of couples' marital integration on these associations as measured by their joint activity. Higher order family-level latent constructs captured chronic husband-wife (marital) hostility using husbands' and wives' reports of chronic hostile interactions from 1990 to 1992, while a higher order latent construct of chronic child hostility toward parents was measured using parental reports of children's hostile behaviors from 1990 to 1992. Structural equation modeling with data from 370 families depicted the longitudinal impact of family hostility on depressive symptoms of both husbands and wives in 2001 after accounting for earlier levels of depressive symptoms in 1991. Separate models were fit for couples with high and low levels of marital integration. For couples who experienced low levels of marital integration, chronic marital hostility and child hostility were related to depressive symptoms in husbands and wives. However, for those with high marital integration, these influences were largely diminished. (PsycINFO Database Record [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study examined the influence that parental warmth/support and verbal hostility had on adolescents' prosocial behavior toward multiple targets (stranger, friend, family) using multiple reporters (self, parent, observations). Data were taken from Times 2 and 3 of a longitudinal project and included 500 adolescents and their parents (M age of child at Time 2 = 12.34). Structural equation models suggested that mother warmth was associated with prosocial behavior toward family, while father warmth was associated with prosocial behavior toward friends. Findings also suggested that adolescents' prosocial behavior was more consistently influenced by father hostility than it was by father warmth. Finally, observational reports of father hostility were associated with adolescent prosocial behavior more consistently than self- or child-reported parenting. The discussion focuses on the importance of considering target of prosocial behavior, the differences between mothers and fathers, and the role of self-reports compared to observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors reviewed the psychological research on envy. The authors examined definitional challenges associated with studying envy, such as the important distinction between envy proper (which contains hostile feelings) and benign envy (which is free of hostile feelings). The authors concluded that envy is reasonably defined as an unpleasant, often painful emotion characterized by feelings of inferiority, hostility, and resentment caused by an awareness of a desired attribute enjoyed by another person or group of persons. The authors examined questions such as why people envy, why envy contains hostile feelings, and why it has a tendency to transmute itself. Finally, the authors considered the role of envy in helping understand other research domains and discussed ways in which people cope with the emotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the nature of pathways between marital hostility and withdrawal, parental disagreements about child rearing issues, and subsequent changes in parental emotional unavailability and inconsistent discipline in a sample of 225 mothers, fathers, and 6-year-old children. Results of autoregressive, structural equation models indicated that marital withdrawal and hostility were associated with increases in parental emotional unavailability over the one-year period, whereas marital hostility and withdrawal did not predict changes in parental inconsistency in discipline. Additional findings supported the role of child rearing disagreements as an intervening or mediating mechanism in links between specific types of marital conflict and parenting practices. Implications for clinicians and therapists working with maritally distressed parents and families are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low negative emotionality (NEM) holds a central place in classic descriptions and seminal theories of psychopathy. However, the empirical link between low NEM and psychopathy is weak. The authors posited that this inconsistency is due to the multifaceted nature of both the NEM and psychopathy constructs and to suppressor effects between facets of psychopathy in relation to NEM criteria. The authors sought to delineate the differential associations between facets of psychopathy and NEM in a large sample of male prisoners using the Psychopathy Checklist--Revised (PCL-R; R. D. Hare, 2003) and self-report measures assessing different aspects of NEM. Statistical analyses revealed that the interpersonal-affective facet of psychopathy is negatively associated whereas the social deviance facet of psychopathy is positively associated with facets of NEM. The results demonstrate that suppressor effects can reconcile the centrality of NEM in classic descriptions of psychopathy with empirical investigations using the PCL-R. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, 361 adult burn survivors completed the Perceived Stigmatization Questionnaire (PSQ), the Social Comfort Questionnaire (SCQ), and other measures. Both the PSQ and SCQ had good internal consistency indices. Factor analysis of the PSQ yielded 3 factors (absence of friendly behavior, confused/staring behavior, and hostile behavior). The SCQ had 1 factor. Conjoint factor analysis with measures of related constructs (body esteem, body-esteem importance, depression, social support) suggested that PSQ and SCQ measure distinct constructs. Correlations with the related psychosocial constructs and burn characteristics suggested the PSQ and SCQ have good convergent and discriminant validity. Limitations of the study are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measures of communication, hostility, and neuroticism taken from 85 couples from Germany before marriage were used to predict marital outcomes 5 years later. Hostility and neuroticism discriminated between couples who separated or divorced after 5 years and those who remained married, whereas communication discriminated between married-satisfied and married-dissatisfied couples. Only hostility and neuroticism predicted marital satisfaction at 18 months, suggesting that these factors contribute to rapid, early declines in marital functioning. The authors conclude that poor communication alone cannot account for the full range of marital outcomes and that skill-based models of marriage can be strengthened by considering relatively rare exchanges between partners (e.g., aggression) and their enduring vulnerabilities (e.g., neuroticism). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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: hostility, distress, empathy, and affection. These 4 types were linked with concurrent marital satisfaction and interviewer ratings of marital adjustment as well as with marital stability at a 5-year follow-up. The study also examined the extent to which naive judges' ratings of emotion expression correspond to "expert" ratings using the Specific Affect Coding System (SPAFF). The unique advantages of naive coding of emotion expression in marital interaction are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on the J. C. Meehan, A. Holtzworth-Munroe, and K. Herron (2001) failure to replicate the J. M. Gottman et al. (1995) results of 2 different types of batterers, defined by heart rate reactivity: Type 1 men lowered their heart rate from baseline to the high-conflict marital discussion, and Type 2 men increased their heart rate from baseline to the high-conflict marital discussion. Discussion is about criminality-psychopathy literature associated hypoarousal and hyporeactivity and the hostility-cardiovascular disease literature, which reports associated hyperreactivity and hostility related to cardiovascular disease. The Type 1-Type 2 distinction should be referred to these two venerable literatures. This article proposes the hypothesis that the Meehan et al. study failed to replicate Gottman et al. because it used a low-conflict marital discussion rather than the high-conflict discussion Gottman et al. used. This article reviews a study that did use a high-conflict marital task and found results generally supporting the Gottman et al. findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relation of shame and guilt to anger and aggression has been the focus of considerable theoretical discussion, but empirical findings have been inconsistent. Two recently developed measures of affective style were used to examine whether shame-proneness and guilt-proneness are differentially related to anger, hostility, and aggression. In 2 studies, 243 and 252 undergraduates completed the Self-Conscious Affect and Attribution Inventory, the Symptom Checklist 90, and the Spielberger Trait Anger Scale. Study 2 also included the Test of Self-Conscious Affect and the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory Shame-proneness was consistently correlated with anger arousal, suspiciousness, resentment, irritability, a tendency to blame others for negative events, and indirect (but not direct) expressions of hostility Proneness to "shame-free" guilt was inversely related to externalization of blame and some indices of anger, hostility, and resentment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A significant source of confusion in the marital observation area is the proliferation of systems for collapsing microbehavioral codes into categories. This study used an archival data set of 995 couples' videotaped conflict negotiations coded with the Marital Interaction Coding System-IV (MICS). A factor analysis was conducted to provide some empirically based guidance for the formation of coding categories. Four factors emerged for both men and women: Hostility, Constructive Problem Discussion, Humor, and Responsibility Discussion. Suggestions are made for category formation with MICS codes and for the development of a new coding system based on these results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]