The following forty posters were presented during the Saturday evening reception. Complete abstracts follow. Click here to return to titles only.

1. The Use of Cluster Analysis in Describing Patterns of Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms in Parents of Adolescent Cancer Survivors
Melissa A. Alderfer, Avital Cnaan, Anne E. Kazak
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine & The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Parents of childhood cancer survivors experience cancer-related posttraumatic stress (PTS), yet little is known about patterns of PTS within families. It is important to consider PTS patterns within parental couples to capture the complexity of the effect of cancer on families and family functioning. This investigation explored PTS patterns in couples parenting survivors of childhood cancer and family functioning. Pre-intervention data from 98 couples enrolled in the Surviving Cancer Competently Intervention Program were analyzed. Most participants were white (90%), in their mid-forties, and married almost 20 years. The cancer survivors were aged 11-18 and had completed treatment 1-12 years prior. Cluster analysis was applied to parents Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Reaction Index responses. The Impact of Event Scale-Revised and SCID were used for cluster validation. The clusters were compared on the family coherence subscale of the Family Life Scales. Five PTS patterns emerged: 1) Minimal PTS (n=36); 2) Mothers elevated (n=28); 3) Disengaged (n=11); 4) Fathers elevated (n=14); and 5) Both parents elevated (n=9). Validation was satisfactory. Family functioning was most favorable in Clusters 1 (M=61.74) and 2 (M=60.69) and significantly better than family functioning in Clusters 3 (M=54.27; ts>3.29, ps<.003) and 4 (M=58.12; t=2.12, p<.04). Cluster 5 (M=59.13) did not differ significantly from other clusters (ts[>17]<1.79, ps>.09), potential due to low power. These findings lend empirical support to the importance of applying family/systems models to understand psychosocial adaptation to childhood chronic illness. This study was supported by a grant from the National Cancer Institute (CA63930).

2. Trauma responses in children newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes: Respondent correspondence and association with parents' responses
Jodie M. Ambrosino, Stuart Weinzimer, Sheila Santacroce, William Tamborlane, Margaret Grey
Yale University School of Nursing

The management of a child's type 1 diabetes (T1D) is complex for a family. Models of self- and family management have focused on individual (e.g., age), psychosocial (e.g., depression) and family (e.g., parent involvement) predictors; outcomes range from metabolic control to quality of life and family functioning. However, little is known about the impact of trauma responses on management of T1D in children. The objective of this longitudinal study is to assess: 1) initial trauma responses to the diagnosis of T1D; 2) change in trauma responses over one year; and 3) impact of trauma responses on the evolution of management strategies and metabolic functioning. We plan to enroll 42 children newly diagnosed with T1D and their parents with the following criteria: child 8-17 years old with no other health/developmental problems; English speaking. Parent-report, as well as child- and parent- self-report instruments measuring acute- and post trauma responses, trauma exposure, internalizing/externalizing behaviors, management behaviors, and quality of life are administered during initial hospitalization, and again at 2, 5, and 11 months during clinic appointments; medical outcome data is similarly collected with a semi-structured interview. After a general description of the child and parent data, preliminary analyses will focus on respondent correspondence with family groups and associations between initial responses and early follow up amongst the child and his/her parents drawn from previous research on medical trauma. The results of this study will advance the science of pediatric medical traumatic stress and elucidate how medical trauma responses can shape disease management strategies.

3. Depressive Symptoms among Grandparents Raising Grandchildren: The Impact of Participation in Outside Roles
Lindsey Baker
University of Southern California

Grandparents raising grandchildren face many unique challenges when compared with other parents. These challenges have often been associated with low levels of well-being among grandparent caregivers. However, the process through which raising a grandchild may influence the well-being of grandparent caregivers has not been made clear in previous research, likely due in part to the lack of nationally representative datasets available to study this topic. For the first time, waves 2000 and 2002 of the Health and Retirement Study allow researchers to identify grandparents raising grandchildren in the dataset. Using the HRS, this research examines well-being among grandparents raising grandchildren during middle to late life, specifically looking at how other roles in which a grandparent may be participating (such as employment) may influence depressive symptoms among grandparent caregivers. A series of logistic regressions are run to determine the impact of caregiver status on depressive symptoms among grandparent caregivers, taking into account the grandparent's participation in outside roles. This research suggests that while grandparent caregivers are more likely to become depressed than non-caregivers, participating in an outside role may alleviate the negative impact of raising a grandchild on depressive symptoms, possibly due to higher levels of social integration among grandparents participating in an outside role. These findings suggest that policies aimed at allowing grandparents to stay involved in outside activities could be beneficial to the well-being of grandparent caregivers.

4. Rejection Sensitivity and Adult Attachment Styles
Susan Balaban, Sally I. Powers
University of Massachusetts Amherst

This project focuses on exploring and clarifying the unique and overlapping influence of insecure attachment styles and rejection sensitivity on physiological stress patterns. Rejection sensitivity (RS), the cognitive-affective processing disposition in which individuals anxiously expect, readily perceive, and overreact to social rejection, is derived from Bowlby's attachment theory. RS, insecure attachment, and stress reactivity are all hypothesized as risk factors for depression, anxiety, and interpersonal difficulties. RS theorists argue that this construct explains the interpersonal difficulties and psychiatric symptoms associated with anxious and avoidant attachment. Prior research has shown that attachment style influences stress reactivity in dating couples engaged in relationship conflict. Evidence also suggests that RS may have a similar impact on individuals' stress response. This project will evaluate this relationship, controlling for attachment anxiety and avoidance. In a sample of 199 late adolescent couples, stress reactivity and recovery patterns were measured with salivary cortisol taken during an experimental conflict negotiation task. Analyses were performed using hierarchical linear modeling techniques to account for the dyadic nesting of couples' data and repeated measures of cortisol. Preliminary analyses suggest complicated relationships between rejection sensitivity, attachment style, and cortisol reactivity. Both male and female attachment style relate to the stress response. Further, while RS appears to heighten couples' stress response during conflict, this relationship may be mediated by attachment anxiety. Conversely, controlling for attachment avoidance, RS seems to have a stronger influence on cortisol levels. This research will help refine these constructs and contribute to our understanding of the relation between interpersonal dynamics and psychopathology.

5. Relationship between attachment style, personality traits, and romantic relationship quality
Eileen K. Ben, Sally I. Powers
University of Massachusetts Amherst

Anxious and avoidant attachment styles and the personality constructs sociotropy and autonomy have been linked to problems in interpersonal relationships. Further, these attachments styles and personality traits bear some resemblance. Sociotropy, a trait characterized by excessive investment in interpersonal relationships, seems similar to anxious attachment, which reflects a desire for closeness with others and a fear of abandonment. Solitude, a facet of autonomy characterized by distancing oneself from others, bears resemblance to avoidant attachment, which is characterized by discomfort being close to others. While researchers have noted the apparent similarity between these two sets of constructs, little empirical work has been done examining the relation between them. The present study explores how both sets of constructs are related to the quality of romantic relationships. The data were taken from a longitudinal study of adolescent romantic relationships. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) techniques were used to take into account the dyadic nesting of the data within couples. Analyses indicate that while solitude and avoidant attachment are related to relationship quality in similar ways, sociotropy and anxious attachment are not. When solitude and avoidant attachment are entered separately, each negatively predicts ratings of relationship quality. However, when entered jointly, only avoidant attachment negatively predicts relationship quality, suggesting that attachment avoidance may mediate the relationship between solitude and relationship quality. Sociotropy and anxious attachment are differentially related to relationship quality. While female sociotropy positively predicts women's ratings of relationship quality, female attachment anxiety negatively predicts women's ratings of relationship quality. Thus, sociotropy and attachment anxiety appear to be distinct constructs.

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6. A conceptual framework for a family health approach to providing support for families experiencing the impacts of traumatic stress
Cyndi Brannen, Patrick McGrath
Centre for Research in Family Health, IWK Health Center, Halifax, Canada

Secondary traumatic stress (STS) refers to the various negative impacts associated with living with someone with PTSD. Caregiver burden, depression and isolation are all characteristics of secondary traumatic stress (e.g., Gavloski & Lyons, 2004). Relationship satisfaction and family functioning often suffers in households where a member has PTSD (Figley, 1995). However, current treatment approaches to PTSD continue to focus on the individual with the disorder. Furthermore, even though the negative impacts of PTSD on spouses and families are known to often be both significant and chronic, there has yet to be an evidence-based framework for research and treatment of STS. The development of such an approach is vital for improving family health, given that there is evidence that traumatic stress can be "passed down" to children from their parents (e.g., Yehuda, Halligan, & Grossman, 2001). Our conceptual framework is centered on the family primary caregiver's experience of STS and how interventions targeted at improving her symptoms and facilitating coping with her partner's PTSD will improve their individual health, relationship satisfaction, and overall family functioning. This framework will be used to develop an evidence-based intervention program. Our project is very timely given the increasing rates of PTSD, especially in the context of the current operational requirements of Canadian Forces members. The goal for presenting this poster at New Methods for the Analysis of Family and Dyadic Processes is to facilitate discussion on connecting new statistical approaches with our conceptual framework for treating secondary traumatic stress and improving family health.

7. Change in Beliefs about Friendships as a Function of Egosystem and Ecosystem Friendship Goals
Amy Canevello, Jennifer Crocker
Institute for Social Research, Research Center for Group Dynamics, Michigan

Recently Crocker and colleagues proposed two motivational frameworks for the self: egosystem goals focused on constructing desired self-images, and ecosystem goals focused on supporting others' well-being (Crocker, Nuer, Olivier, and Cohen, 2006). The present study examined the association between egosystem and ecosystem goals for friendships, and entity vs. incremental theories of relationships (Knee, 1998). We hypothesized that ecosystem goals, in which the self is viewed as the source of need satisfaction, foster incremental theories of friendships (i.e., the belief that people can develop friendships and overcome problems), whereas egosystem goals, in which the self is viewed as being at the mercy of others, foster entity theories of friendships (i.e., the belief that some friendships are destined to work and others are not). In a 12-week longitudinal study, 199 first-semester college students completed pre- and posttest measures of entity and incremental friendship theories and weekly measures of ecosystem and egosystem friendship goals. Multiple regression analyses examining residual change in friendship theories from pre- to posttest showed that mean weekly egosystem goals predict increased entity friendship theories but do not predict change in incremental friendship theories. Mean weekly ecosystem goals predicted increased incremental friendship theories and decreased entity friendship theories from pretest to posttest. Thus, beliefs about whether relationships can be improved change as a function of the types of friendship goals students have in their first semester of college.

8. The Impact of Retirement on Self-Rated Health of Older Married Couples: A Multilevel Dyadic Model
Angela L. Curl
Case Western Reserve University

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to investigate the impact of retirement on trajectories of self-rated health of older married couples. Methods: Longitudinal data (five waves, spanning eight years) from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) were analyzed. A sample of 1,666 non-Hispanic married couples (176 Black and 1490 White) was selected where both spouses provided data. Retirement and self-rated health (SRH) were assessed by two single-item questions: whether they considered themselves retired and the rating of their overall health. Retirement status (self and spouse) and time since retirement (self) were used to predict changes in self-rated health over time. Data from husbands and wives were analyzed simultaneously using multilevel modeling. Results: By the end of the study, 61% of husbands and 48% of wives considered themselves retired at one or more waves. In multilevel analyses, retirement had a short-term negative impact on the trajectory of self-rated health for wives who considered themselves retired. In contrast, the impact for husbands' was long-term, so that the more years that a husband was retired, the more his SRH declined. Cross-spouse effects of retirement varied by gender: when wives retired, their husbands' SRH improved, but wives' SRH was not affected by husbands' retirement. Retirement had a stronger negative impact on SRH for wives than for husbands. Implications for direct practice: Knowledge about the health impact of retirement can help inform policy reform/advocacy efforts, as there is a need to help older adults remain as healthy as possible, regardless of retirement status.

9. Developmental changes in parent-adolescent relationships
Irene H.A. De Goede, Susan J.T. Branje, Wim H.J. Meeus
Utrecht University, Netherlands

During adolescence parent-child relationships develop from a more vertical relationship to a more horizontal relationship with increasing reciprocity and equality. Although many studies addressed this issue, there is still little information on the subject derived from longitudinal data. In this study we have therefore longitudinally examined mean developmental changes in support, conflict, and power in adolescents' relationships with mothers and fathers, as well as inter-individual differences in these changes. The three relationship qualities were measured with the Network of Relationship Inventory (Furman & Buhrmester, 1985; 1992). Over 1300 adolescents completed the questionnaire for the relationship with their mother and father separately. The participants represented two age groups: an early adolescent group (mean age 12.4 at time 1), and a middle adolescent group (mean age 16.7 at time 1). Data were collected during four measurement waves with a one-year interval. The longitudinal data were analyzed with univariate and multivariate multigroup latent growth curve models. Special attention has been paid to gender differences and to linkages between changes in the three relationship dimensions within each parent-adolescent relationship. The results show a curvilinear development for support and conflict: parental support temporarily decreased and conflict with parents temporarily increased. Parental power declined linearly during adolescence. Initial levels of and changes in support, conflict, and power were significantly related. Changes in parental power were positively correlated to changes in conflict and parental support. Changes in conflict were negatively correlated to changes in parental support. Conclusions based on these results will be discussed.

10. Modifying the Marital Communication Scale for dyads with Parkinson's disease: Content validity assessment
Terry Deshefy-Longhi, Jane Karpe Dixon, Marianne LaFrance
Yale University

Parkinson's disease (PD), as it progresses, limits a person's verbal and nonverbal communication, potentially impacting the dyadic relationship. There is need for instrumentation to explore how well partners living with PD are able to communicate despite these limitations. The purpose of the poster is to describe the modification and content validation of the Marital Communication Scale (MCS), adapted to reflect specific situations, messages, and emotional intentions germane to PD dyads. Method: Five experts in the fields of dyadic communication or PD systematically evaluated the 45 items of the modified MCS for PD (MSC-PD) for relevance of content using a Likert-type scale of 1 (not relevant) to 4 (very relevant), and for clarity of wording using a dichotomous scale of 1 (unclear) or 2 (clear). Content validity (CV) and clarity indices were obtained for each item by totaling the number of CV scores rated as 3 or 4, or the number of clarity scores rated as 2, divided by the total of CV or clarity scores received, respectively. Results: Content validation was achieved. CV indices ranged from .8 - 1.0 (highest possible score); clarity indices ranged from .6 -1.0 (highest possible score). Item revisions were based on resulting indices, and reviewer comments. Most changes addressed simplifying language, and strengthening the primary focus of each item on the marital relationship. Implications: If the MCS-PD is validated for use with PD dyads, resulting data will provide evidence of problems and possible compensations in dyadic communication, potentially leading to evidence-based interventions for these partners.

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11. The relationship between mothers' job stress and child behavior in low-income families: A daily diary study
Anna Gassman-Pines
New York University

The majority of studies investigating maternal employment characteristics and children's outcomes are cross-sectional, comparing children of parents with differing characteristics at one point in time. This assumes that parents' employment characteristics are static. Also, few studies examine low-income workers. This study uses daily diary methodology to examine the effects of daily variation in job stress and interactions with co-workers and supervisors on child behavior, among low-income families. A pilot study collected data from 22 low-income mothers of preschool children, recruited from Head Start centers. Mothers were asked to report on their levels of job stress, interactions with co-workers and supervisors, mood, interactions with their children and child behavior every day for one week. Preliminary results, based on multi-level models, indicate that higher levels of daily job stress was significantly associated with more daily child aggressive behavior problems (b = .30; SE = .12; p < .05) and hyperactive behavior problems (b = .21; SE = .10; p < .05) and less positive child behavior (b = -.17; SE = .07; p < .05). Higher levels of daily job stress was also significantly related to more harsh mother-child interactions (b = .22; SE = .10; p < .05) and, at the trend level, less warm mother-child interactions (b = -.14; SE = .07; p = .06). Preliminary results indicate that higher levels of harsh mother-child interactions and lower levels of warm mother-child interactions partially mediate the associations between daily maternal job stress and aggressive, hyperactive and positive child behaviors.

12. Using Context Effects to Model Social Capital at the Individual and Group Levels of Analysis
Eric Hedberg
University of Chicago

Individuals receive benefits from social ties in two ways. First, individuals gain from their specific ties from which they appropriate resources. Second, individuals' goals are affected by how strongly connected their groups are through average social tie strength. Strong groups either enhance individual's interests encapsulated within collective goals, or create a difficult atmosphere to compete for solely individual interests. Although each effect represents distinct phenomena in social research, they are not so separated in the dynamics of small groups. In Individuals have several interests with regards to social exchange with their kin. In ties people exchange commodities that are competitive or not competitive. Furthermore, the benefits of social capital differ not only between the type of exchange, but also between the givers and receivers of particular exchanges. Individuals are compelled by strongly connected groups to offer non-material-favors to kin. Once offered, individuals are able to extract favors from their strongest tie. For kin seeking cash gifts or loans, groups that are not as well connected give to opportunity to express need but also reduce competition. Givers of cash loans or gifts will simply supply to their strongest tie. From these patterns, a typology of social capital benefits emerges, and future research directions are discussed.

13. Predicting marital dissolution: An event-history analysis
Gregory G. Homish, Kenneth E. Leonard
The State University of New York at Buffalo

Although many factors can lead to decreased marital satisfaction and ultimately marital dissolution, more extreme or deviant events such as illicit drug use, heavy episodic drinking, or marital violence would be expected to negatively impact a relationship at an accelerated rate. The objective of this work was to examine the relation between these events and separation or divorce. Couples' (N = 634) marijuana use, heavy drinking, and interpersonal violence were assessed at the time they applied for their marriage license and then again at the first, second, fourth, and seventh anniversaries. Husband and wife marijuana use was dichotomized into any use vs. no use, heavy drinking was measured as the discrepancy between levels of husband and wife heavy drinking, and physical aggression was categorized into couples where neither partner was aggressive, both were aggressive, husbands were more aggressive, or wives were more aggressive. An event history analysis identified the impact of these factors after controlling for sociodemographic variables (age, race, education, income, months of cohabitation prior to marriage, and children prior to marriage). By the seventh anniversary, 106 couples were divorced or currently separated. After controlling for sociodemographic variables, couples in which the wives used marijuana, husbands' and wives' heavy drinking patterns were dissimilar, and couples in relationships characterized by predominately husband to wife aggression were significantly more likely to separate or divorce. Intervention efforts could be improved by identifying these high-risk families earlier in the marital relationship.

14. Pain and Depressive Symptoms in Middle-aged Married Couples
Karen J. Ishler
Case Western Reserve University

The link between pain and depressive symptomatology has been well established. Prior research on married couples has also found that pain symptoms in one spouse can contribute to depressive symptomatology in the other spouse. However, these relationships have been studied mainly in chronic pain patients or terminally ill patients and their spouses. Moreover, few studies have considered couples in which both partners experience problems with pain. A sample of 303 community-dwelling, middle-aged married couples in which both spouses reported that they were "often troubled by pain" was drawn from Wave 1 of the Health and Retirement Study. Both husbands (M = 6.09) and wives (M = 6.64) evidenced moderate levels of depressive symptomatology (8-item CES-D), and symptom levels were significantly correlated within couples (ICC = .34). Pain intensity ratings (mild, moderate, severe) were also correlated (ICC = .21). A series of hierarchical linear models examined predictors of depressive symptomatology, especially pain intensity levels of both the respondent and the spouse. Higher pain intensity levels in both the respondent and the spouse were significantly associated with higher depressive symptomatology. Other significant predictors of higher depressive symptomatology included younger age, lower education, higher number of respondent's own health conditions, respondent's own marital dissatisfaction, and the spouse's marital dissatisfaction. These findings have implications for the assessment of pain and depressive symptoms in married persons, and highlight the need to consider pain from a dyadic perspective in future research and interventions.

15. Feeling supported and feeling secure: How one partner's attachment style predicts the other partner's perceived support, felt security, and relationship satisfaction.
Lisa Jaremka, Heidi Kane, Nancy Collins
University of California at Santa Barbara

Attachment theory assumes and explicitly acknowledges that one partner's outcomes are inextricably linked to the other partner's personality and behavior. While this concept is a core assumption of this and other theories, most research on attachment and relationships has taken an intrapersonal perspective in which one partner's attachment is linked to his or her own relationship outcomes. As such, there is little empirical work addressing the links between one partner's attachment and the other partner's relationship experiences; and there is even less work that identifies the specific interpersonal processes through which these dyadic effects occur. This study explored the association between one partner's attachment style and the other partner's relationship experiences (N=111 couples). It was hypothesized that individuals would be more satisfied in their relationship when their partners were more secure (lower in attachment avoidance and anxiety), and that this association would be mediated by perceived caregiving and relationship-specific felt security. Results indicated that men were less satisfied when their female partners were higher in attachment anxiety, whereas women were less satisfied when their male partners were higher in attachment avoidance. Structural equation modeling revealed that these links were partially mediated by caregiving and relationship-specific security. Specifically, individuals who were involved with insecure partners were less satisfied, in part, because they perceived their partners to be less effective caregivers, which made them feel less secure in their partner's love.

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16. Inter-parental Incongruence in Differential Treatment of Adolescent Offspring and Marital Quality: Between-Family and Within-Family Associations
Marni L. Kan, Susan M. McHale, Ann C. Crouter
Pennsylvania State University

Family systems perspectives direct attention to both between family differences and within family dynamics including non-shared experiences of family members and change within families over time. The study of inter-parental patterns of parental differential treatment (PDT) offers an opportunity to better understand family-level dynamics because the extent to which mothers and fathers differ in their differential treatment of two children is a construct that involves multiple family subsystems. Some research shows that congruence between mothers' and fathers' PDT has implications for family functioning, including marital quality. We extended this work by examining longitudinal links between mother-father congruence in PDT and marital quality using a multivariate, multilevel modeling approach. Data came from 201 White, working and middle-class two-parent families with at least 2 offspring. Mothers, fathers, and youth were interviewed at 4 time points over the course of 6 years regarding their relationships with one another. Between-family and within-family parameterizations of congruence between mothers' and fathers' differential intimacy, conflict and time spent with two offspring were examined in conditional growth models predicting marital conflict and satisfaction. Results indicated that greater inter-parental incongruence early in adolescence was related to steeper declines in marital quality over time, and that increasing incongruence over time was related to decreasing marital quality. Discussion focuses on how our analytical approach provides a model for studying systemic family processes including family alliances and families' adaptations to developmental changes of their members.

17. A Longitudinal Investigation of Within-Couple Dedication Differences in Cohabiting Relationships
Galena Kline Rhoades, Scott M. Stanley, Howard J. Markman
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey

Cohabitation represents a relatively new stage in relationships in the United States and recent research suggests that it is linked with later marital distress and divorce (e.g., Cohan & Kleinbaum, 2002; Kamp Dush, Cohan, & Amato, 2003; Stanley, Whitton, & Markman, 2004), though the causes of this association are not well understood. Previous research has demonstrated that knowing partners' commitment levels during cohabitation may help us better understand for whom and under what circumstances cohabitation is a risk factor for marital distress (Kline et al., 2004). In the current sample of 120 cohabiting couples, we sought to replicate an earlier finding that among married couples who had lived together before engagement, women were more dedicated than their husbands (Rhoades, Stanley, & Markman, in press). Further, drawing on interdependence theory and previous research indicating that perceived mutuality of commitment is associated with relationship satisfaction (Drigotas, Rusbult, & Verette, 1999), we tested the hypothesis that a difference in dedication between partners would be associated with later relationship dissatisfaction. Cohabiting couples completed surveys by mail at three time points, three months apart. Results suggested that in nearly half the couples, there were meaningful differences between partners' dedication to one another. Among couples who believed in the institution of marriage, cohabiting women were, on average, more dedicated than their partners. These within-couple differences were associated with lower relationship satisfaction later on, even controlling for overall level of dedication. These findings highlight the importance of examining commitment in future research on cohabitation.

18. The ties that protect: Parental romantic attachment moderates the effect of parent aggression on child attachment.
Laurent, H. K., Kim, H.
University of Massachuesetts Amherst and Oregon Social Learning Center

The current study addresses the moderating role of parental romantic attachment in the relationship between parent conflict behaviors and parent-child attachment. We improve on previous studies by 1) examining the contribution of each parent's behavior during couple interactions, rather than a dyadic conflict measure, 2) differentiating between observed physical and psychological aggression in conflict, and 3) utilizing multilevel modeling to account for the clustering of children within parental couple units, as well as mother-child and father-child attachment scores within each child. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to predict child attachment to mother and father (level 1) from parent aggression, attachment, and aggression x attachment (level 2). Preliminary analyses revealed only one direct effect of parental aggression on child attachment; mother's physical aggression predicted higher security. Several significant aggression x attachment interactions revealed that aggression was not damaging to child attachment if parents themselves showed a secure attachment style. Specifically, physical aggression by either parent did not undermine child security if the partner showed greater security. Also, father's psychological aggression did not decrease attachment security as long as he himself reported secure attachment. These results indicate that child attachment does not depend on the parents' behaviors alone, but rather on how these behaviors fit into the couple relationship and whether they threaten the stability of the family. Some aggression in couple interactions may actually enhance parents' ability to serve as a secure base, as long as it is grounded in a secure attachment to each other.

19. Mediation in Dyadic Research: New Models and Methods
Ledermann, T., Macho, S., Bodenmann, G.
University of Fribourg Switzerland

Models of mediated effects are common and of prime scientific importance in social sciences as they provide information about causal processes that are mediated by one or more intervening variables. A procedure for analyzing mediation in dyadic research using the Common Fate Mediator Model and the Actor-Partner Mediator Model, which are based on the Common Fate Model and the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model, respectively, is presented. The Common Fate Mediator Model ought to be used if variables measured on the individual level are indicators of latent causal factors (e.g., marital satisfaction). The Actor-Partner Mediator Model, on the other hand, may be suitable, if the relations between the variables ought to be analyzed on the individual level. To assess mediation effects, a three-step procedure is suggested: First is a selection between models representing complete versus partial mediation. Second, structural coefficients are tested separately for significance using the model selected. Finally, mediation effects represented by the product of the estimated coefficients are tested by means of z statistics or the bootstrapped confidence intervals. The presented models for analyzing mediation in dyadic data are limited, however, due to the problem of statistically equivalent causal models and the problem of omitted variables.

20. Positive Parenting and Children's Social Skills: A Comparison of Two Methods
Jade Logan, Maureen Perry-Jenkins
University of Massachusetts Amherst

The goals of this study are twofold: (1) to examine the extent of agreement between multiple reporters of positive parenting and children's social skills and compare two ways of obtaining the agreement, and (2) to examine the relationships between agreement in positive parenting and social skills of six to seven year old children. Mothers, fathers, and teachers of 66 children completed the Behavioral Assessment Scale for Children (BASC) to assess children's social skills. Mothers' and fathers' positive parenting behavior was measured via self-report. Two types of correlational analyses were used (Pearson product moment and HLM correlations) to determine the extent of agreement between self-report measures of positive parenting as well as the extent of agreement between mothers', fathers', and teachers' reports of children's social skills. No significant correlations were found between self-reports of warm parenting and observational reports of warm parenting for both mothers and fathers. Mothers' reports of children's social skills were significantly related to fathers' reports for boys but not girls and the sample as a whole. Fathers' reports of children's social skills were significantly related to teachers' reports for boys but not girls and the sample as a whole. Further research on the use of multiple reporters' assessment of children's behavioral outcomes is warranted in order to explain the lack of agreement among mothers', fathers', and teachers' reports of children's social skills.

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21. A multilevel dyadic modeling technique to assess risk factors for hepatitis C infection among heterosexual couples
James M. McMahon; Enrique R. Pouget; Stephanie Tortu
National Development and Research Institutes, New York

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the most common blood-borne pathogen in the United States, and a leading cause of liver-related morbidity and mortality. While it is known that HCV is most commonly transmitted among injection drug users, the role of sexual transmission in the spread of HCV remains controversial. Research on the sexual transmission of HCV often involves analysis of cross-sectional or longitudinal data from heterosexual couples. Previous analyses, however, have not taken advantage of recent advances in dyadic data modeling. Based on the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model, our team has developed a multilevel modeling technique designed to overcome limitations of previous research by assessing multiple risk factors for HCV while partitioning the source of risk at the individual and couple level. The model also permits estimates of moderator effects within- and across-levels. To illustrate the technique, analysis was performed on sociodemographic, risk exposure, and HCV screening data obtained from 265 drug-using couples (N=530) in East Harlem, New York City. In multivariable analysis, significant individual-level risk factors for HCV included history of injection drug use, tattooing, and older age. At the couple level, HCV infection tended to cluster within couples and this interdependence was accounted for by the couples' drug injection behavior. Individual and couple-level sexual behavior was not associated with HCV infection. This multilevel modeling technique was designed for dyadic data analysis with a binary outcome and is therefore well-suited for use in epidemiological studies assessing risk factors for disease states (1,0). Limitations and advantages of the approach are discussed.

22. Adult Children's Knowledge of Older Parent Preferences
Elizabeth A. Mulligan, Emily C. Kissel, Brian D. Carpenter
Washington University in St. Louis

When older adults become unable to express their own wishes because of a physical or cognitive impairment, family members often are asked to speak on their behalf. Previous research on surrogate accuracy, however, has suggested that some family members have limited knowledge about what their relatives would want. The current study extends previous research in two ways. First, we asked family members to predict older adults' preferences in multiple domains. Second, we included three family members in order to conduct triadic analyses of concordance. Adults over age 60 reported their preferences regarding medical treatment, psychosocial care, finances, living arrangements, and end-of-life preparations. Two adult children predicted their parent's responses. In addition, parents predicted how accurate each child would be and children estimated their own accuracy. Intraclass correlation coefficients were computed as indices of concordance for all possible dyads within a family. Children were fairly confident in their ability to predict parent preferences, but, at the group level, children's knowledge about their parents was only moderate. Noteworthy was the substantial interindividual variability in accuracy: some children were very accurate in their predictions whereas others were no better than chance at estimating what their parent would want. Future analyses will use multilevel modeling techniques to examine these non-independent triadic data.

23. Biological Sex and Marital Status Predict Perceived Social Support
Alexander Nagurney
Texas State University - San Marcos

There is a good bit of research evidence to support the notion that, in general, females perceive more social support than do males. The current study attempted to further investigate sex differences by breaking social support down into four sub-categories of support: informational, emotional, instrumental, and companionship. This investigation also included an examination of marital status as an interacting factor when predicting perceived support. It was hypothesized that, because of their greater focus on emotion-focused issues, females would score higher on emotional and companionship support whereas males, because of their greater focus on problem-focused issues, would score higher on informational and instrumental support. It was unclear how marital status would interact with biological sex. College student participants completed a questionnaire assessing demographics (including sex and marital status) as well as the various types of social support. A multivariate analysis of variance demonstrated that the only significant sex difference was that females reported more perceived emotional support than did males. Participants who were married/committed always reported more perceived support (regardless of type) than those who were single, but neither of these groups was differentiated from those who were casually dating. The only significant interaction involved instrumental support such that than females who were not dating or casually dating reported more instrumental support than males, whereas this pattern was reversed for married/committed participants. These results indicate that marital status is a major factor that should be considered when examining sub-categories of perceived support, at least on an equal level with biological sex.

24. Family Food Environment and the Transition to College
Sarah Novak, Carly Keidel, Marlene Schwartz
Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity, New York

We investigated the impact of parents' attempts to regulate their children's food habits after students have left home for college. In a preliminary study, we surveyed students during their first and second semesters of college to determine whether the food rules their parents had employed when they were younger would lead to more or less healthful eating habits away from home. According to students' reports, parental food regulation was not associated with their weight status or eating habits, but it was associated with students' appearance concerns. Evidence for the moderating roles of gender and weight status was revealed, including a significant three-way interaction predicting junk food consumption. For lower-weight boys, parental regulation had a protective effect, but for heavier boys, it was counterproductive. Among girls, parental restrictions had much less of an impact than weight status, with heavier girls reportedly consuming less junk food than other girls. We are currently conducting a follow-up study in which high school seniors and their parents provide reports about the family food environment. Outcomes for the students will be tracked as they make the transition to college this fall.

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25. Testing linkages between daily family relationships and broader family processes using a parental diary methodology
Lauren M. Papp, Chrystyna D. Kouros, Marcie C. Goeke-Morey, E. Mark Cummings
University of Wisconsin-Madison

A central concern of family systems theory is the examination of linkages among multiple family processes collected from the perspectives of multiple family members (Cox & Paley, 1997). Following these aims, the current project assesses daily family relationship quality in relation to several domains of broader family functioning, including parental and child psychological adjustment, marital functioning, and parenting dimensions. Moreover, this project introduces a newly developed parent-reported diary procedure to collect ratings of marital and parent-child quality. Participants consisted of 261 community-based families who were part of a broader investigation of family relationships and child development. The goals of this project are two-fold: First, we will examine the construct validity of mothers' and fathers' daily diary ratings of marital relationship quality and parent-child relationship quality. Multilevel modeling will be utilized to examine associations between the diary variables and relevant constructs from questionnaires completed by mothers, fathers, and children. Second, we will relate mean levels and variability of daily family relationship ratings to characteristics of family processes (i.e., psychological adjustment, marital functioning, and parenting dimensions) assessed through questionnaires. A multivariate hierarchical linear modeling framework is well-equipped to accommodate diary data structure and interdependent reports collected from mothers and fathers. Moreover, this approach will allow us to test individual- and couple-level questions, as well as cross-partner effects (Lyons & Sayer, 2005). The analyses will provide additional understanding of how day-to-day family relationships interplay with broader family processes, drawing on the perspectives of multiple family members and multiple methodologies.

26. Variation in Employment Responses to Fatherhood by Relationship Status
Christine Percheski, Christopher Wildeman
Princeton University

With a few notable exceptions, researchers have largely ignored how fatherhood impacts men's behavior, especially that of unmarried men. Of the existing research, most is concentrated in the field of labor economics and is not in dialogue with the wider scholarship on changes in families. In this project, we fill this gap in the literature by considering how men's economic responses to fatherhood vary by the context in which they become fathers. Specifically, our research question is whether the employment response of first-time fathers to fatherhood varies by the relationship of the father to his child's mother. We consider fathers married to their child's mother, fathers cohabiting with their child and the child's mother, and fathers living apart from their child and the child's mother. The data is from the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study, a longitudinal study following a birth cohort of 3700 children born to unmarried parents and a comparison sample of 1200 children born to married parents. We utilize the data's rich information on the father's relationship to the child's mother at the birth, the residential and marital changes in the subsequent five years, and the father's employment history during this period. For this analysis, we restrict the sample to first-time fathers and use structural equation models to model trajectories in hours and weeks worked at four timepoints: baseline (the child's birth), 12 months, 30 months, and 60 months.

27. Considering Non-Independence of the "Independent" Variables in the Analysis of Dyadic Data
Mark T. Pope
University of Texas at Austin

In dyadic research, redundancy between explanatory variables can occur because of redundancy between the respondents own variables and because of redundancy with their partners variables. This topic of non-independence is rarely mentioned in articles and texts dealing with dyadic data. In regression based analyses, redundant variance is partialed out (Cohen, et al., 2003). The partialing fallacy occurs when causally important variance is partialed out of the estimated coefficients because it was entered redundantly (more than once) into the model (Gordon, 1968; Pedhazur, 1982). Generally, low levels of redundancy are not problematic (Alwin, 1996). If, however, the redundant information is repetitively entered into the model, even when redundancy is low, it will become problematic (Gordon, 1968). Dyadic data has the potential of double entering each variable (once for each member of the dyad). Consideration of redundancy is especially important in studies where the focus is on the interpretation of the beta coefficients and their relative importance (i.e. gender differences) (Alwin, 1996; Pedhazur, 1991). Additionally, failing to consider redundancy can lead to incorrect conclusions about the results and result in a Type II statistical error (Cohen, et al., 2003; Pedhazur, 1982; Pedhazur 1991). The degree of redundancy can be tested following Kenny, Kashy, and Cook's (2006) suggestions for testing non-independence.

28. Analysis of Developmental Trajectories of Coupled Partners: The Case of Commitment to Marriage
Christine M. Proulx, Catherine A. Surra
University of Texas at Austin

Many constructs relevant to relationships likely show variation in how they naturally evolve over time. These constructs might include trust or intimacy, or amount of self-disclosure or companionship. We have tracked in both members of couples naturally occurring changes in amount of commitment to marrying, measured as the chance of marriage to the partner, over the course of dating and marital relationships. Data gathered take the form of graphs of changes in the chance of marriage, which ranges from 0% to 100%, over time. Whether gathered from memory at one point in time or month to month in real time, the graphs form a continuous representation of changes in the chance of marriage. Inherent in any data set of graphs like ours are characteristics that make them difficult to analyze, including variation in lengths and shapes of the graph (e.g., degree of acceleration, degree of turbulence), and the nature of curvilinearity (e.g., U-shaped, or n-shaped). Two research questions are of interest: (a) how to characterize in a parsimonious way the shape of each trajectory and (b) how to examine interdependence of trajectories gathered from coupled partners. Using data from a longitudinal study of 232 randomly selected dyads, we will explore measurement and analysis techniques suited to answering each question and the pros and cons of each. Techniques addressed will include: growth curve modeling, path analysis, T-technique factor analysis, and dynamical systems modeling. Our goal is to engage conference participants in a discussion of methods for examining highly variable, developmental trajectories.

29. A sequential analysis of concept development as it is used to scaffold the zone of proximal development in narrative therapy with children
Heather L. Ramey
Brock University, Ontario

Narrative therapy is a postmodern therapy that takes the position that people create self-narratives to make sense of their experiences. These stories determine the meanings people make of their lives. To date, narrative therapy has compiled virtually no quantitative research, and very little qualitative research, leaving gaps in almost all areas of process and outcome. One of the therapy's founders (White, 2006) has recently utilized Vygotsky's zone of proximal development to describe narrative therapy's aims. In collaboration with the child client, the narrative therapist formalizes therapeutic concepts and submits them to increasing levels of generalization to scaffold Vygotsky's zone of proximal development. This study, currently underway, seeks to analyze therapist's use of summaries as a form of concept development, and subsequent client responses, and to compare these with the corresponding level of generalizations of concepts in therapeutic conversations. A sequential analysis is being used to measure dynamic processes in therapy. Speech turns are coded, with type of therapist summaries at lag 0 and client responses at subsequent lags. Log linear analysis will be used to determine what patterns are occurring and whether the stated intent of narrative therapy matches its actual process.

30. Measurement Issues in Pediatric Populations: Lack of Comprehensive Family Measurement Techniques for a Study of Long-Term Otucomes in Pediatric Cancer Survivors
Lisa Y. Ramirez, Catherine C. Peterson
Case Western Reserve University, Department of Psychology and Center for Survivors of Childhood Cancer, Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital

Effective psychological treatment in pediatric populations is dependent upon understanding family functioning, both of individual members and the family system. Our attempt to study long-term psychological outcomes in childhood cancer survivors and their families was met with several measurement challenges, particularly a lack of validated family measures. To attain a sense of "family functioning," three parent-report measures were used to assess parent, child, and family functioning: 1) Brief Symptom Inventory (parent functioning), 2) Impact on Family (family impact of illness), and 3) Behavior Assessment System for Children (child psychological functioning). Formulating an accurate picture of how the family functioned as a system, however, was challenging: most respondents were mothers, and we were unable to identify a reliable method to assess children's perceptions of the impact of their medical illness on the family system. This study highlights a pressing issue in pediatric psychological research: lack of reliable, valid, comprehensive family measures. Barriers to assessing family outcomes include: small sample sizes; lack of responses from one or both parents (especially fathers); lack of child or adolescent reports, including siblings; and limitations of retrospective, cross-sectional data. Future pediatric psychology family research should address how to assess family system functioning according to family members and external informants (e.g., medical staff), in addition to reliable, valid measures that assess each family member's perception of the psychological impact of illness. Our data illustrate several measurement challenges in assessing family functioning, and we discuss clinical implications and future research directions for working with families in pediatric populations.

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31. Examining the role of prior contact in interpersonal evaluations and metaperceptions
Alecia Santuzzi, Jason Reed
Syracuse University

Individuals may differentiate perceptions of interaction partners based on prior experiences with the partner. However, this might not be the case for metaperceptions, or an individual's perceptions about how others evaluate him or her. The purpose of this project is to determine the most appropriate way to examine the effect of prior social interaction on the relationship between self-perception and metaperception. Fifteen groups (sizes ranged from 7 to 11) of undergraduate students individually completed demographic and self-evaluation measures. In phase one, each group was then split into two subgroups. Each subgroup completed a get-to-know-you discussion for 15 minutes. Then, participants completed evaluations and metaperceptions of each subgroup member, as well as a second self-evaluation. For the second phase of the study, the 2 subgroups were combined and discussed their past high school curricula for 15 minutes. Participants then completed evaluations and metaperceptions for each member of the large group and a final self-evaluation. Data were analyzed using the social relations model (Kenny & La Voie, 1984), which examines group, dyad, rater, and target factors as random effects. Prior social interaction (whether the partner was from the phase one subgroup) was tested as a predictor for evaluation and metaperception. Models using prior social interaction as a fixed or random effect were compared. The role of individual characteristics, concerns about interpretation, and practical limitations are discussed.

32. Does Moving Matter? An exploration of neighborhood childhood mobility among low-income families in the short-run and long run
Michelle P. Silver
University of Chicago

An important and under-explored topic in child and family policy is whether low-income families' neighborhood mobility is associated with their children's development of behavior problems, over time. This analysis integrates four theoretical frameworks in psychology, sociology and economics to form a new hypothesis regarding the merits of neighborhood mobility. In an effort to reconcile opposing theoretical frameworks, I offer a set of conservatively specified models that carefully address problems relating to endogeneity and sample attrition. The analytic strategy I employ specifically addresses concerns regarding selection bias in longitudinal models and includes comparisons of mean differences, OLS regression, first-differencing, and lagged dependent variable models. The heterogeneity among low-income families is explored using data from "Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three-City Study (Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio)." Some potential contributions that these analyses offer include the use of unique family measures that are not typically included in prior research; a better understanding of the differences between movers and non-movers in low-income families; and a deeper understanding of the relationship between voluntary mobility and behavioral outcomes in the short-term versus the long term controlling for observable as well as unobservable characteristics. Results suggest that studies with attrition due to neighborhood mobility are prone to losing children with elevated behavioral problems, and that family characteristics as well as neighborhood deterioration may matter more for children than moving.

33. Application of group-based, joint-trajectory modeling to dyadic relationships
JuliAnna Smith, Aline Sayer, Maureen Perry-Jenkins
University of Massachusetts Amherst

We present a new application of group-based, joint-trajectory modeling to the analysis of dyadic relationships by examining changes in partner's reports of relationship quality across the transition to parenthood. The birth of a first child is a stressful time for couples as it requires renegotiation of domestic responsibilities and the redefinition of familial roles. Research suggests that the relationship quality for new parents changes across this transition in very differently for different individuals. Group-based modeling provides a means to identify the groups of individuals who follow similar patterns of change over time. The first part of these analyses uses group-based modeling to identify the primary patterns of change in husbands and wives' reports of their love and conflict with their partner across the first year of the transition, separately for each partner. We will then use variables thought to be important to relationship quality to predict group-trajectory membership. The second part of the analyses uses joint-trajectory modeling to examine the relationships between mothers and fathers' reports of relationship quality. This provides us a way of examining questions of conditional and joint probability, such as "What is the likelihood that a wife who reports consistently high levels of love will have a husband who reports consistently high love or report initially high, but declining, love?" We will then examine how the same variables we used to predict changes in individual relationship trajectories predict changes in these conditional probabilities between couple trajectories. In other words, we will be able to explore what makes it more likely that a wife who reports a consistently high love will have a husband that predicts consistently high love.

34. Cultural Differences in Family Advice
Mahin Tavakoli
Carleton University, Canada

The study of advice has mostly focused on cognitive aspects of professional advice rather than social and emotional aspects of informal advice such as that given and received by family members. The present study reveals social aspects of various categories of advice given and received in a non-professional relationship among family members with diverse cultural backgrounds. 36 native-born and 16 immigrant university students in Ottawa, Canada listed which family members advised them about seven life plans with and without requesting their advice. Data show the amount of advice is unrelated to the importance of the plan. The most-requested advice concerned choosing a university major, what to wear, and whom to marry. The most frequent unrequested advice concerned how to spend time and money, visiting relatives, and choosing friends. Native Canadians requested more advice about whom to marry and how to spend time than did immigrants. Immigrants requested more advice about visiting relatives but received more unrequested advice in this regard. Results are discussed in the context of collectivist-individualist cultural differences in social pressure and control.

35. Intraindividual Variability in Relationship Satisfaction: The Role of Daily Adolescent Conflict
M.D. Van Doorn, S. J. T. Branje, W. H. J. Meeus
Utrecht University

Dyadic relationships are based on the interactions between two individuals, which make relationships inherently dynamic. Daily interactions may temporarily or permanently affect the quality of the relationship, and may either improve it or make it sour. Although this dynamic nature of relationships is widely recognized, most studies assess relationship quality as a relatively static concept and only examine changes over an extended period of time, thereby ignoring the daily fluctuations in relationship quality. The current study examines how adolescents navigate through the ups and downs of daily relationships with parents and friends by focussing on the consequences daily perceptions of conflicts have on relationship satisfaction. Our sample consisted of 72 adolescents, aged 16 years, who filled out a diary for seven consecutive days and rated the quality of the relationship with father, mother and best friend separately. Moreover, they had to indicate how many conflicts occurred with each of them each day and for each conflict they had to answer several questions regarding the conflict. Multilevel analyses showed that the perceived relationship satisfaction was lower on days that conflicts occurred. However, when we look at the consequences of conflicts on the perceived relationship satisfaction one day later, the negative effects of conflicts disappeared. Our results indicate that it is important to look at the daily interactions adolescents have with their parents and friends and that the occurrence of conflicts contribute to intraindividual variability in relationship satisfaction.

36. Kin-Based Resource Allocation: Inclusive Fitness and Emotional Closeness
Gregory D. Webster
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Evolutionary psychology has examined the distal causes of prosocial behavior (inclusive fitness), whereas social psychology has examined its proximal causes (emotional closeness). Few studies, however, have systematically manipulated both genetic relatedness and emotional closeness to examine whether each is related to prosocial behavior when controlling for the other. Thus, across 4 studies, over 800 undergraduates allocated fictional dollar amounts to either their own kin or an experimentally manipulated set of relatives. Genetic relatedness was positively related to kin-based resource allocation regardless of whether it was measured (Studies 1 & 2) or manipulated (Studies 3 & 4), and regardless of whether emotional closeness was measured (Studies 1 & 3) or manipulated (Studies 2 & 4). In Study 2, participants were also primed with either emotional closeness or distance (randomly assigned). A three-way interaction revealed that, when emotional closeness was primed, the effect of genetic relatedness was significantly stronger than when it was not, but only for participants scoring high on individual difference measures of Collective Self-Esteem for Family (CSEF) or Psychological Kinship (PK). A multilevel moderated mediation model revealed that the direct relationship between genetic relatedness and resource allocation (which was partially, but not fully, mediated by emotional closeness) became stronger as positive attitudes about one's family increased (i.e., with higher CSEF or PK scores). Supporting inclusive fitness theory, the present results demonstrated that genetic relatedness, whether manipulated or measured, had a robust effect on kin-based resource allocation even after accounting for proximal effects like emotional closeness, cohabitation, and social interaction.

37. Premarital Risk Factors Associated with Parental Divorce and Conflict
Sarah W. Whitton, Galena K. Rhoades, Scott M. Stanley, Howard J. Markman
Harvard Medical School

Parental conflict and divorce are two of the most potent predictors of marital dissolution (e.g., Amato, 1996; Amato & Booth, 2001). However, we know relatively little about the mechanisms through which marital distress and divorce are transmitted across generations. We aimed to address this limitation of the literature by identifying risk factors for distress and divorce, present at the outset of marriage, that are associated with parental divorce and conflict. Based on past research (e.g., Amato & DoBoer), we focused on two broad risk factors: poor communication skills and low commitment to marriage. Given evidence of gender differences in the effects of parental divorce and violence, we tested for gender effects. In a sample of 261 engaged couples participating in an ongoing project on the efficacy of relationship education (Stanley et al., 2001), we assessed positive and negative communication, relationship dedication, relationship confidence, and perceived relationship quality, as well as history of parental divorce and conflict. For females but not males, parental divorce was associated with less positive communication, more self-reported negative communication, and lower dedication, confidence, and relationship quality. In contrast, for males but not females, dedication, confidence, adjustment, and negative interaction were predicted by parental conflict. The only interaction between parental divorce and conflict was that parental conflict was linked with female's self-reported negative communication for those with non-divorced parents, but not for those with divorced parents. Implications of findings for models of the intergenerational transmission of conflict and divorce, including gender differences in potential mechanisms, are discussed.

38. Methods for Studying Parental Knowledge
Megan E. Winchell, Ann C. Crouter
The Pennsylvania State University

Parental knowledge/monitoring has been consistently linked to adolescent well-being, but conceptualization and measurement of this construct has been inconsistent, with some researchers measuring parents' and youth's perceptions of knowledge and others, actual knowledge. This study examines links between parental knowledge measures and adolescent well being and compares two analytic approaches: multilevel modeling and cluster analysis. Whereas multi-level modeling (a variable-oriented method) allows examination of nested data, cluster analysis (a person-oriented method) illuminates family profiles of parental knowledge. We used data from a study of 175 two-parent families with two adolescent youth. In home interviews, youth reported on internalizing and externalizing behavior, and parents and youth reported on perceived knowledge. Actual knowledge was assessed through three telephone calls; knowledge was indexed as the match between parent and youth reports of youth's daily activities.

39. "Indirectly" Measured Mate Preferences: Their Relation with Self- Reported Preferences and Dispositional Characteristics
Dustin Wood, Claudia C. Brumbaugh, R. Chris Fraley
University of Illinois

A limitation of past studies of mating preferences is that the preferences are almost invariably self-reported. The primary goal of the current study was to validate an "indirect" method of measuring preferences utilizing a statistical conception of a preference as an idiographic (or within-person) correlation between an individual's ratings of attraction of various targets and the characteristics of these targets. Here, indirect preference estimates were formed by correlating an individual's ratings of attraction to 98 photos of male or female targets with the consensually rated qualities of these targets. These estimates of mate preferences were collected on a large number of individuals (N > 3000), and were related to the individual's personality traits, attachment style, and age. The indirect preference estimates showed modest relationships (rs between .10 and .40) with self-rated preferences, and showed hypothesized relationships between personality traits. For instance, extraverts showed differential attraction to targets with "sex-typic" characteristics (masculinity or femininity) and "agentic" characteristics (e.g., seductiveness, confidence). Agreeable, conscientious, and securely attached individuals showed higher attraction to targets with "communal" characteristics (e.g., soft-heartedness, classiness, low deviance). Despite using different sets of photographs for men and women, most relationships between preferences and personality traits were very similar across genders. The study also showed that preferences varied somewhat with age, with older individuals showing a higher preference for communal characteristics. That these relationships were found using an indirect method of assessing preferences punctuate the reality of individual differences in preferences, and suggest their necessary role in understanding assortative mating processes.

40. A dyadic examination of daily health symptoms and emotional well-being in later-life couples
Jeremy Yorgason, David Almeida, Shevaun Neupert, Avron Spiro, Lesa Hoffman
Brigham Young University

One potential consequence of age-related declines in health and physical functioning is a decrease in emotional well-being. As health declines, depression and negative affect tend to increase, whereas life satisfaction and positive affect tend to decrease. Most investigations of the relationship between health and well-being have focused on the associations between health and emotional well-being of individuals. However, individuals with health problems are typically involved in a variety of family relationships. In couple relationships, the effects of health problems of one spouse may influence the emotional well-being of the other spouse. In this study we explored the daily associations of health symptoms and spousal affect for couples in later life, and examined how long-term stable characteristics (marital satisfaction and chronic illness severity) moderate this relationship. Baseline and daily diary (across 8 days) data from 96 older couples who participated in the Normative Aging Study were examined with multivariate multilevel models using SAS Proc Mixed. Results suggested that higher negative mood was associated with daily spousal symptoms in couples wherein husbands or wives reported higher average levels of symptoms. The link between husbands' symptoms and wives' mood were moderated by husbands' baseline marital satisfaction and illness severity. Specifically, higher husband marital satisfaction and higher illness severity were associated with lower positive mood and higher negative mood, respectively, for wives on days where husbands reported higher symptom levels. Researchers interested in couple relationships can use multivariate multilevel models to analyze data where dyadic and longitudinal non-independence occurs.