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We investigated how power dynamics in close relationships influence the tendency to devote resources to the pursuit of goals valued by relationship partners, hypothesizing that low (vs. high) power in relationships would lead individuals to center their individual goal pursuit around the goals of their partners. We study 2 related phenomena: partner goal prioritization, whereby individuals pursue goals on behalf of their partners, and partner goal contagion, whereby individuals identify and adopt as their own the goals that their partner pursues. We tested our ideas in 5 studies that employed diverse research methods, including lab experiments and dyadic studies of romantic partners, and multiple types of dependent measures, including experience sampling reports, self-reported goal commitment, and behavioral goal pursuit in a variety of goal domains. Despite this methodological diversity, the studies provided clear and consistent evidence that individuals with low power in their relationships are especially likely to engage in both partner goal prioritization and partner goal contagion. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).)

Religiousness is reliably associated with lower substance use, but little research has examined whether self-control helps explain why religiousness predicts lower substance use. Building on prior theoretical work, our studies suggest that self-control mediates the relationship between religiousness and a variety of substance-use behaviors. Study 1 showed that daily prayer predicted lower alcohol use on subsequent days. In Study 2, religiousness related to lower alcohol use, which was mediated by self-control. Study 3 replicated this mediational pattern using a behavioral measure of self-control. Using a longitudinal design, Study 4 revealed that self-control mediated the relationship between religiousness and lower alcohol use 6 weeks later. Study 5 replicated this mediational pattern again and showed that it remained significant after controlling for trait mindfulness. Studies 6 and 7 replicated and extended these effects to both alcohol and various forms of drug use among community and cross-cultural adult samples. These findings offer novel evidence regarding the role of self-control in explaining why religiousness is associated with lower substance use.

Anger is commonly associated with aggression. Inefficient anger-coping strategies increase negative affect and deplete the regulatory resources needed to control aggressive impulses. Factors linked with better emotion regulation may then weaken the relationship between anger and aggression. The current work explored one factor associated with emotion regulation-differentiating one's emotions into discrete categories-that may buffer angry people from aggression. Three diary studies (N = 628) tested the hypothesis that emotion differentiation would weaken the relationship between anger and aggression. In Study 1, participants high in emotion differentiation reported less daily aggressive tendencies when angry, compared to low differentiators. In Study 2, compared to low differentiators, high differentiators reported less frequent provocation in daily life and less daily aggression in response to being provoked and feeling intense anger. Study 3 showed that high daily emotional control mediated the interactive effect of emotion differentiation and anger on aggression. These results highlight the importance of considering how angry people differentiate their emotions in predicting their aggressive responses to anger., ((PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).)

Why do people behave aggressively toward romantic partners, and what can put the brakes on this aggression? Provocation robustly predicts aggression in both intimate and nonintimate relationships. Four methodologically diverse studies tested the hypothesis that provocation severity and relationship commitment interact to predict aggression toward one's romantic partner, with the aggression-promoting effects of provocation diminishing as relationship commitment increases. Across all four studies, commitment to one's romantic relationship inhibited aggression toward one's partner when individuals were severely (but not mildly) provoked. Study 4 tested the hypothesis that this Partner Provocation × Commitment interaction effect would be strong among individuals high in dispositional tendencies toward retaliation but weak (perhaps even nonexistent) among individuals low in such tendencies. Discussion emphasizes the importance of understanding instigating, impelling, and inhibiting processes in the perpetration of aggression toward intimate partners.

Many models of aggression include negatively valenced emotions as common elicitors of aggressive behavior. Yet, the motivational direction of these emotions is not taken into account. The current work explored whether sensitivity to a negative emotion associated with behavioral avoidance-disgust-will predict lower levels of aggression. Five studies tested the hypothesis that disgust sensitivity predicts less aggression. In Study 1 (N = 92), disgust sensitivity predicted less trait physical and verbal aggression. In Study 2 (N = 268), participants high in disgust sensitivity were less likely to behave aggressively towards a stranger on a reaction-time task. In Study 3 (N = 51), disgust sensitivity was associated with less intimate partner violence inclinations. Study 4 (N = 247) replicated this effect longitudinally. In Study 5 (N = 166), each domain of disgust (i.e., moral, sexual, and pathogen disgust) had a buffering effect on daily aggression when daily experiences activated those specific domains. These results highlight the usefulness of considering the motivational direction of an emotion when examining its influence on aggression.

Temptation pervades modern social life, including the temptation to engage in infidelity. The present investigation examines one factor that may put individuals at a greater risk of being unfaithful to their partner: dispositional avoidant attachment style. The authors hypothesize that avoidantly attached people may be less resistant to temptations for infidelity due to lower levels of commitment in romantic relationships. This hypothesis was confirmed in 8 studies. People with high, vs. low, levels of dispositional avoidant attachment had more permissive attitudes toward infidelity (Study 1), showed attentional bias toward attractive alternative partners (Study 2), expressed greater daily interest in meeting alternatives to their current relationship partner (Study 5), perceived alternatives to their current relationship partner more positively (Study 6), and engaged in more infidelity over time (Studies 3, 4, 7, and 8). This effect was mediated by lower levels of commitment (Studies 5-8). Thus, avoidant attachment predicted a broad spectrum of responses indicative of interest in alternatives and propensity to engage in infidelity, which were mediated by low levels of commitment.

We proposed that expressing gratitude would increase positive perception of a relationship partner, thereby increasing comfort in expressing relationship concerns, which is a form of relationship maintenance. Study 1 (n = 159) showed a relationship between naturally occurring expressions of gratitude and comfort in voicing relationship concerns. Study 2 (n = 178) provided longitudinal evidence for direction of effects because Time 1 gratitude expression predicted Time 2 comfort in voicing relationship concerns, controlling for baseline comfort in voicing relationship concerns. Study 3 (n = 225) showed that expressing gratitude to a friend did increase voicing relationship concerns, compared with positive thought and neutral control conditions. In Study 4 (n = 74), we explored the mechanism through a longitudinal, experimental design and found that participants assigned to express gratitude reported higher comfort voicing concerns and more positive perception of partner than did control participants. Moreover, positive perception of partner mediated the relationship between condition and comfort in voicing relationship concerns., (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved.)

We used latent growth curve modeling to examine the effectiveness of a relationship education intervention (Relationship U, or RU) on rates of extradyadic involvement in a sample of 380 college students in committed romantic relationships. RU is designed to be integrated into existing college courses; it educates students about partner selection, making healthy relationship transitions, communication skills, and the potentially negative consequences of cheating in romantic relationships and how to prevent its occurrence. Participants who received the intervention reported trajectories of less extradyadic involvement over time relative to control participants. Being female was not associated with less extradyadic involvement at baseline, but it did predict less extradyadic involvement over time across both intervention and control conditions. Implications for dissemination of relationship education are discussed.

Because religion and/or spirituality is integral to the lives of a majority of the world population, we conducted 3 studies on the role of prayer in romantic relationships. Study 1 (N = 375) showed that prayer for the partner predicted lower levels of extradyadic romantic behavior over a 6-week period, over and beyond relationship satisfaction, and initial levels of extradyadic romantic behavior. In Study 2 (N = 83), we used an experimental design to show that participants assigned to pray for each day for 4 weeks engaged in lower levels of extradyadic romantic behavior during that time, compared with those who engaged in daily positive thoughts about the partner or a neutral activity. Perception of the relationship as sacred mediated the relation between experimentally manipulated prayer and later infidelity. Study 3 (N = 23) showed that objective observers rated participants who had been praying for their partner for 4 weeks as more committed to their romantic relationship than control participants. The implications of these results are then discussed. Because religion and/or spirituality is integral to the lives of a majority of the world population, we conducted 3 studies on the role of prayer in romantic relationships. Study 1 (N = 375) showed that prayer for the partner predicted lower levels of extradyadic romantic behavior over a 6-week period, over and beyond relationship satisfaction, and initial levels of extradyadic romantic behavior. In Study 2 (N = 83), we used an experimental design to show that participants assigned to pray for each day for 4 weeks engaged in lower levels of extradyadic romantic behavior during that time, compared with those who engaged in daily positive thoughts about the partner or a neutral activity. Perception of the relationship as sacred mediated the relation between experimentally manipulated prayer and later infidelity. Study 3 (N = 23) showed that objective observers rated participants who had been praying for their partner for 4 weeks as more committed to their romantic relationship than control participants. The implications of these results are then discussed.

Four methodologically diverse studies (N = 1,758) show that prayer frequency and alcohol consumption are negatively related. In Study 1 (n = 824), we used a cross-sectional design and found that higher prayer frequency was related to lower alcohol consumption and problematic drinking behavior. Study 2 (n = 702) used a longitudinal design and found that more frequent prayer at Time 1 predicted less alcohol consumption and problematic drinking behavior at Time 2, and this relationship held when controlling for baseline levels of drinking and prayer. In Study 3 (n = 117), we used an experimental design to test for a causal relationship between prayer frequency and alcohol consumption. Participants assigned to pray every day (either an undirected prayer or a prayer for a relationship partner) for 4 weeks drank about half as much alcohol at the conclusion of the study as control participants. Study 4 (n = 115) replicated the findings of Study 3, as prayer again reduced drinking by about half. These findings are discussed in terms of prayer as reducing drinking motives., ((PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).)

Characteristics of hyperactive children, including speculation in regard to etiology, are reviewed. Drug effects studies and drug treatment of hyperactive behavior are examined, and unresolved issues are discussed. Conclusions indicate that individual differences in hyperative children should form the basis for treatment planning, rather than simply treating groups of children under the rubric "hyperactivity."

An extensive questionnaire was completed by 48 physicians, detailing the medical and behavioral information they collect in forming a diagnosis of conditions that have hyperactive behavior as a symptom. Results indicate that diagnoses are made primarily on the basis of behavioral indicators, and indicators and information from the child's personal medical history, rather than from other data collected during the physical exam.

Much time is spent in elementary schools in assessment of cognitive attributes of children, little in measurement of noncognitive attributes. This study evaluates relative importance of early assessments of cognitive versus noncognitive variables as predictors of high school achievement and adjustment. Results demonstrate the critical, and frequently more important, contribution of the noncognitive attributes.

Hyperactive boys and matched controls from a large-scale epidemiological study, followed for at least three years to age 12, were compared on parent and teacher reports and assessments of attention, achievement, and intellectual functioning. Three outcome groups, based on presence or absence of hyperactivity symptoms, were derived and compared to the DSM-III description of ADD-H. Problem-free adolescents who were hyperactive in childhood were found to be more mature cognitively and behaviorally than those whose problems persisted.

An examination of temperament characteristics of hyperactive and control subjects indicates that, early in their lives, hyperactive children were viewed as having extreme temperament patterns characteristic of children difficult to rear. Primary hyperactive children were characterized by low threshold level, difficulties in staying on schedule, adjusting slowly to changes and being very active, and not being persistent. Implications of the findings for child-rearing practices are discussed.

Hyperactivity is a complex childhood problem and may represent several groups or syndromes, each with its own etiological patterns. This paper presents results of analyses indicating that, although biological and demographic factors may predispose children to being identified and treated as hyperactive, the major contributions to the condition are early manifestations of temperament and the quality of the family's interaction with the child.

This study seeks to reconcile the widely varying estimates of prevalence of hyperactivity in children. Parents, teachers, and physicians were asked to identify hyperactive children in a sample of some 5000 elementary school children. Approximately five percent were considered hyperactive by at least one defining system; only one percent were considered hyperactive by all three definers. Prevalence rates were relatively constant from kindergarten through fifth grade.

A factor analysis of the "Behavior and Temperament Survey--Home Version" resulted in four independent dimensions that were consistent with the DSM-III diagnostic criteria for inattention, hyperactivity, and conduct disorders. A factor dimension labeled "Impulsivity," not in DSM-III also resulted. Data include correlations between scales, descriptive statistics, and reliability estimates. They also show the stability of the BTS-H over a three-year period.

In a representative sample of San Francisco Bay Area school children, 1.2% were identified as hyperactive by parents, teachers, and physicians. Estimates of the prevalence of various treatment regimens indicate that 58% of those so identified received medication in one year, but a much larger number (86%) will be given medication at some time. Initiation of treatment appears to coincide with stressful times in school, and multiple treatment approaches are generally employed.

Guided by the goal of documenting the natural course of the life histories of a large sample of hyperactive children and their control counterparts, this research reports the extent to which prenatal, developmental, and health history factors distinguish hyperactive and control groups, as well as the relative contributions of the various medical factors. Results indicate that prenatal factors, rather than those occurring later in the child's medical history, are the best predictors of subsequent hyperactive diagnosis.