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- All Subjects: Adolescence
Description
This study investigated reasons for romantic dissolution in 235 participants, ranging from 18-55 years of age, who had experienced a breakup in the past 12 months. Through an online survey on Amazon Mechanical Turk, participants were asked to briefly describe their relationship, then rate how true a variety of statements were in regards to the characteristics of their relationship. Participants were then asked to rate how much each characteristic contributed as a reason for their breakup. Pairwise Pearson correlations were used to determine the variance in breakup factors with participant age. A significant positive correlation was found between age and participants attributing their breakup to a lack of intimacy, demonstrating that older participants were more likely to attribute their breakups to this factor. A marginally significant negative correlation was found between age and loss of independence as a reason for dissolution, showing that younger participants were more likely to attribute their breakup to losing their independence than were older participants. The correlation between age and participants' attributing breakups to a partner cheating was marginally significant, such that older participants were more likely to attribute their breakup to cheating than were younger participants. Due to the lack of significant correlations found between the 15 coded breakup factors and age, it was determined that age does not have a major effect on what factors may lead partners to end a romantic relationship.
ContributorsGrassel, Savannah (Author) / Shiota, Lani (Thesis director) / Ha, Thao (Committee member) / Yee, Claire (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
In two complementary studies, I used an innovative ecological momentary assessment (EMA) design to examine associations between adolescents’ daily interactions with parents and peers and their mood states during two developmentally normative, yet demanding contexts: romantic relationships and the transition to college. The first study examined how adolescents’ daily romantic relationship experiences (e.g., romantic emotionality, conflict, affiliation) were related to negative affective states. Eighty-eight adolescent romantic couples (Mage = 16.74 , SD = 0.96; 44% Latina/o, 42% White) completed short electronic surveys twice-weekly for 12 weeks, which assessed their affective states and their relationship processes (24 total possible surveys). Results indicated that greater conflict and negative romantic emotionality predicted greater within-person fluctuations in same-day negative affect. Greater daily affiliation with a romantic partner predicted slightly lower levels of same-day negative affect; positive romantic emotionality did not significantly predict negative affect.
Study 2 examined first-year college students’ growth trajectories in positive and negative affect across the transition to college (i.e., spanning the entire first semester), predicted said trajectories and daily affective states. Participants were 146 first-year college students from a large southwestern university entering their first semester of college (Mage = 17.8, SD = 0.5). Electronic diary surveys were administered to students twice weekly between July and December of 2014, so as to span the transition to college and the entire first semester, and assessed daily affective states and interpersonal interactions. Results indicated that students decreased in their positive affect gradually across the first semester, but remained stable in their negative affect. Significant variability emerged around these average trends, and was predicted by indices of conflict and involvement with parents and friends. Generally, greater involvement with friends and parents was associated with greater positive and less negative affect, whereas greater conflict with these important social groups predicted greater negative affect. Together, these studies underscore the importance of positive attachments during developmentally-challenging contexts experienced in adolescence.
Study 2 examined first-year college students’ growth trajectories in positive and negative affect across the transition to college (i.e., spanning the entire first semester), predicted said trajectories and daily affective states. Participants were 146 first-year college students from a large southwestern university entering their first semester of college (Mage = 17.8, SD = 0.5). Electronic diary surveys were administered to students twice weekly between July and December of 2014, so as to span the transition to college and the entire first semester, and assessed daily affective states and interpersonal interactions. Results indicated that students decreased in their positive affect gradually across the first semester, but remained stable in their negative affect. Significant variability emerged around these average trends, and was predicted by indices of conflict and involvement with parents and friends. Generally, greater involvement with friends and parents was associated with greater positive and less negative affect, whereas greater conflict with these important social groups predicted greater negative affect. Together, these studies underscore the importance of positive attachments during developmentally-challenging contexts experienced in adolescence.
ContributorsRogers, Adam A (Author) / Updegraff, Kimberly A (Thesis advisor) / Ha, Thao (Committee member) / Iida, Masumi (Committee member) / Dishion, Thomas J (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Due to the prevalence of digital communication, the importance of digital communication for romantic relationship formation and maintenance, and the associations between online behavior and romantic conflict, it is important to investigate conflict enabled by and conducted through digital communication platforms. Additionally, because of the overrepresentation of self-report measures in studying online relational behavior, it is not known whether current methods of studying in-person conflict apply to digital conflict. The present study thus aimed to examine 1) the efficacy of participant-uploaded screenshots for observing online relationship experiences, and 2) the applicability of the adapted SPAFF coding system (D-SPAFF) to romantic dyadic digital communication. We found acceptable participant compliance and rich data was acquired using this method. We also found affective behavior in screenshots was related to similar concurrent and prospective relationship outcomes as found in the literature. Finally, there were a few unexpected affective behaviors related to relationship outcomes. Our study supports a nuanced theoretical framework for the investigation of online relationship interactions. Future research should continue to validate this method and investigate the unique affordances and mechanisms of digital interactions.
ContributorsTrimble, Ava (Author) / Mukarram, Maheeyah (Co-author) / Ha, Thao (Thesis director) / Quiroz, Selena (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor)
Created2022-05