Congrats to Willis Klein, Sherry Li, & Suzanne Wood for their article “A qualitative analysis of gaslighting in romantic relationships” being one of PR’s 12 most-cited articles during 2024 (of those published from 2022-2024).

This study by Yu found that wives tend to be their husband’s substantial source of perceived psychological well-being than the reverse; however, the benefit of psychological well-being appears to be less for husbands of stay-at-home wives compared with husbands of employed wives.

Congrats to Brian Ogolsky and Laura Stafford for their article “A systematic review of relationship maintenance: Reflecting back and looking to the future” being one of PR’s 12 most-cited articles during 2024 (of those published from 2022-2024).

Congrats to Menelaos Apostolou and his large team of co-authors for their article “Strategies for becoming a more desirable mate: Evidence from 14 countries” being one of PR’s 12 most-cited articles during 2024 (of those published from 2022-2024).

Congratulations to Drs. Mie Kito, Masaki Yuki, and Robert Thomson on having one of the top 10 most cited Personal Relationship articles in the past decade. The article Relational mobility and close relationships: A socioecological approach to explain cross-cultural...

Check it out! Lu Ran Zhang and Wei-Wen Chen performed a Latent profile study of Chinese daters: those who stay loyal and use "voice" in conflicts feel the most partner responsiveness and happiest.

New article alert! We have one of the publications from March 2025. This study emphasizes the importance of the subjective orgasm experience in same-sex relationships, showing that the way an orgasm is perceived...

Congratulations to Dr. Chris Segrin on being one of Personal Relationships Top 10 reviewers in 2024. Dr. Segrin is a Regents Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Arizona. He is a behavioral scientist whose specialty is interpersonal relationships...

Check it out! Sharing secrets is a key aspect of friendship. This study found that sharing and being told personal secrets is consistently linked with close friendship and social connection value, whereas...

Stay connected with the latest in relationship science! Follow Personal Relationships for research highlights, calls for papers, and insights from leading scholars worldwide. Share with your colleagues and students so we can continue growing our community of researchers.

Congrats to Drs. Mitch Brown, Madeline Brown & Bridget O'Neil for their article “Contextual desirability of strong men employing affiliative and aggressive humor” being one of PR’s 12 most-cited articles during 2024 (of those published from 2022-2024). It tested whether…

Join us in congratulating Dr. Bill Chopik on being one of Personal Relationships Top 10 reviewers in 2024. Dr. Bill Chopik is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology at Michigan State University. He studies how close relationships – and the people in them –

Moving on up! Personal Relationships Impact Factor Shows Dramatic Rise in Just-Released 2024 Statistics.

Join us in congratulating Dr. Randi Garcia on having her article be one of the Top 10 most cited articles in Personal Relationships over the last decade! Dr. Garcia is an Associate Professor of Psychology and of Statistical & Data Sciences at Smith College.

This article looks at Non-marital dating relationships and how it can impact our wellbeing. When considered with one's own drinking behavior, perceptions of romantic partner drinking associate with anxiety and relationship satisfaction for young adult men, but not women (Himes et al., 2024).

This article highlights Parents' personal networks are both a resource and risk for vulnerable children. Children’s behavioral and social-related problems are associated with their parents' close relationships. Providing valuable insights for professionals working to protect children at risk.

Join us in congratulating Dr. Theresa Pauly on being one of Personal Relationships top 10 reviewers of 2024! Dr. Theresa Pauly is an Assistant Professor and Canada Research Chair in social relationships, health, and aging at Simon Fraser University.

Join us in congratulating Drs. Denise Haunani Solomon and Kellie Brisini on having their article be one of the Top 10 most cited articles in Personal Relationships over the last decade! Read more about them and the article below.

Join us in congratulating Dr. Jeffery Aspelmeier! Dr. Aspelmeier is currently a Full Professor in the Department of Psychology and Interim Dean of the College of Humanities and Behavioral Sciences at Radford University, where he has been teaching since 1999.

This study adapts a relationship commitment measure for singlehood, showing that satisfaction, investment, and alternatives predict singlehood commitment. As singlehood grows globally, understanding its dynamics is vital. These findings deepen insights into what drives commitment to being single.

Join us in congratulating Dr. Harry Blatterer! Dr. Blatterer is a sociologist who works on the intersection of the social and human sciences, and the humanities.

Join us in congratulating Dr. Amy Rauer! Amy Rauer (Ph.D., Developmental Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor) is a Professor in Counseling, Human Development, and Family Science at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

This publication by Denes et al. (2023) dives into using more positive emotion words when managing conflict with a romantic partner. They link this to how conversation are perceived as less threatening to the relationship for women. Look on our website to read more!

This week we’re highlighting a publishing by Kredl et al. that found that individuals lower in self-concept clarity find it more challenging to navigate partner selection and reported dating incompatible others more often.

Join us in congratulating Dr. Chopik! Dr. Bill Chopik is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology at Michigan State University. He studies how close relationships—and the people in them—change over time and across situations.

Want to add to our 2025 publications? We take publications from all over the world.☺️

We have some exciting metrics to share!

Congratulations to Dr. David Rodrigues on being one of Personal Relationships Top 10 Reviewers of 2024. Dr. Rodrigues is an Assistant Researcher with Habilitation and Vice-Director of CIS-Iscte in Lisbon, Portugal.

New December articles are here! This meta-analysis of studies measuring infidelity highlights variability in infidelity definitions and research methods. Findings reveal gaps in infidelity research, demographic biases, and methodological concerns, urging clarity and inclusivity in future studies.

Come learn something new about us every Friday!

Would you like to build your CV, assist our international colleagues, become involved in the review process, learn about diversity and inclusion in relationship science, AND have fun, AND get paid for it? Follow the link in our bio to get more information.

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New article! (Apostolou et al., 2024) #Onlinefirst A global study of 7,181 people from 14 countries reveals the strategies that people employ in order to become more desirable as mates. The top tactics include enhancing looks and flaunting talents, while less frequently resorting to hiding flaws.

New article! (Frampton, 2024) #Onlinefirst This experiment tested predictors of two types of romantic jealousy. Findings show that perceived threat to expectations of specialness predict both types of jealousy, and it is the only predictor of retroactive jealousy...

New article! (Karen Wu and Olajide Bamishigbin, 2024) #Onlinefirst We interviewed 29 ghostees, finding common themes including attributions of incompatibility, stages of grief, lost respect for the ghoster, and empathy for the ghoster, often from experiencing both sides.

New article! (Körner et al., 2024) #Onlinefirst Self-compassion, i.e. a caring and kind attitude toward yourself regardless of your own shortcomings, has a positive influence not only on your own relationship satisfaction but also on that of your partner.

New article! (Young et al., 2024) #Onlinefirst This study used cubic polynomial regression and response surface analysis to examine how mate value discrepancies (self vs. partner perceptions) relate to mate retention behaviors.

Marital strain is linked to lower emotional intimacy in midlife couples, but empathy may help. Our study finds that higher empathy in husbands, but not wives, buffers against strain’s effects on intimacy. Empathy may be an important resource when relations are strained (Carasso & Segel-Karpas, 2024)

New article! #onlinefirst This study explored how the desire for power mediated the relationship between narcissism and romantic relationship functioning (Zeigler-Hill et al., 2024). Read more in the comments. #IARR #relationships #research #narcissisminrelationships

New Article! #Onlinefirst The Red Pill (TRP) community advocates for using the Dark Triad (DT) personality constructs as part of seduction strategy (Zapcic, 2024). Read full article with the link in our bio! #IARR #relationships #research #emotionanalysis

Couples’ arguments accumulate over time to create bad blood between partners. This study by Wilder, Prager, & Garapati examined problem-solving discussions and couples' efforts to reconcile after conflict to discover what helps most for maintaining satisfaction and intimacy (Wilder et al., 2024).

This mixed methods study explores the impact of COVID-19 on skipped generation family ties in U.S. grandparents and grandchildren. We saw a nuanced, simultaneous strengthening and weakening of family resilience processes, highlighting the complex influence of crises on intergenerational connections.

New article! #Onlinefirst Check out this article by Hague, Martinez, and Robbins (2024) that compared the ways women with women couples coped with breast cancer differently than women with men couples. Link in Bio #IARR #relationships #gendercopingwithcancer

Alvarez (2024) When engaging with international scholarship, we should embrace cultural humility. Cultural humility is an intercultural approach that requires a lifelong commitment to self-evaluation and critique, redressing power imbalances, and developing relationships with communities.

Personal Relationships is an international, interdisciplinary journal, published on behalf of the IARR. The team is now accepting abstracts for Contextual Factors in Expressing and Regulating Emotions in Close Relationship Interactions. Due December 1st, 2024, the link in bio.