Chapter 14 Review

How are gay and lesbian couples like or unlike heterosexual couples?

One of the most striking findings about gay and lesbian couples is how similar their relationships are to heterosexual couples' realtionships.

What makes a marriage work?

• couples establish love maps •nurture fondness and admiration •turn toward each other •accept the influence of the partner •solve solvable conflicts •overcome gridlock •create shared meaning.

What are characteristics of the lives of single adults?

•Being single has become an increasingly prominent lifestyle •Autonomy is one of its advantages •Intimacy, loneliness, and finding a positive identity in a marriage-oriented society are challenges faced by single adults.

What attracts someone to another person?

•Familiarity precedes a close relationship •We like to associate with people who are similar to use. •The principles of consensual validation and matching can explain this •Similarity in personality attributes may be especially important in a relationship's success. •The criteria for physical attractiveness vary across cultures and historical time.

What are some current trends in childbearing?

•Families are becoming smaller, and many women are delaying childbirth until they have become well established in a career •There are some advantages to having children earlier in adulthood, and some advantages to having them later.

What paths do people take after a divorce?

•Hetherington defined six pathways taken by people after divorce: enhancers, good-enoughs, seekers, libertines, competent loners, and the defeated •About 20% become better adjusted and more competent after the divorce.

How stable is temperament from childhood to adulthood?

•Links between childhood temperament and adult personality can vary, depending on contexts in an individual's experience. •A high activity level in early childhood is linked with being an outgoing young adult. •Young adults show fewer mood swings, and engage in less risk-taking than adolescents. I •In some cases, certain dimensions of temperament in childhood are linked with adjustment problems in early adulthood.

How does divorce affect adults?

•The US divorce rate increased dramatically in the 20th century but began to decline in the 1980s •Divorce is complex and emotional •Both divorced men and women can experience loneliness, anxiety, and difficulty in forming new relationships.

What are current marital trends?

•The age at which individuals marry in the United States is increasing •Despite a decline in marriage rates, a large percentage of Americans still marry •The benefits of marriage include better physical and mental health and a longer life.

What attachment styles characterize adults, and how are they linked to relationship outcomes?

•Three adult attachment styles are secure attachment, avoidant attachment, and anxious attachment •Attachment styles in early childhood are linked with a number of relationship patterns and developmental outcomes. •securely attached adults often show more positive relationship patterns than insecurely attached adults. •adults with avoidant and anxious attachment styles tend to be more depressed and have more relationship problems than securely attached adults.

What are the lives of remarried parents like?

•When adults remarry, they tend to do so rather quickly with men remarrying sooner than women •Remarriage confers some benefits on adults but also some problems •Remarried families are less stable than first marriages and remarried adults have a lower level of mental health than adults in first marriages, although remarriage improves adults' (especially women's) financial status •Stepfamilies come in many sizes and forms.

What characterizes falling out of love?

•collapse of a close relationship can be traumatic •for some individuals it results in happiness and personal development •For most individuals, falling out of love is painful and emotionally intense.

What are some different types of love?

•friendship, romantic love, affectionate love, and consummate love •Friendship plays an important role in adult development, especially in terms of emotional support •Romantic love, also called passionate love, includes passion, sexuality, and a mixture of emotions, not all of which are positive •Affectionate love, also called compassionate love, usually becomes more important as relationships mature •Shaver proposed a developmental model of love and Sternberg a triarchic model of love (passion, intimacy, and commitment).

What are key features of the lives of cohabiting adults?

•increasingly popular lifestyle but researchers have found it is often linked to negative marital outcomes, although this link depends on the timing of cohabitation •Negative marital outcomes are more likely when cohabitation occurs prior to becoming engaged.

What are some differences in how men and women communicate?

•rapport talk, which many women prefer, and report talk, which many men prefer • small gender differences in overall communication, but recent research suggest some gender differences in specific aspects of communication, such as the way men and women use words.

What are some important aspects of the man's role in relationships?

•traditional male role involves considerable strain, which takes a toll on men's health. •also discourages equal relationships with women, and discourages positive emotional connections with other men.

What are some important aspects of the woman's role in relationships?

•woman are more relationship-oriented than men and that their interactions focus on fostering the development of other people. •more individual variation in women's and men's relationship styles than this view acknowledges •Many experts believe that it is important for women to retain their competence in relationships, but also to the self-motivated.