Gender, relationship power, and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal reactivity to couple conflict

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Title Gender, relationship power, and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal reactivity to couple conflict
Publication Type thesis
School or College College of Social & Behavioral Science
Department Psychology
Author Rith, Kendrick A.
Date 2014-08
Description The present study investigates how individuals' gender and their perceptions of power in romantic relationships relate to hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) activity during and after a conflict with their romantic partner. We assessed HPA activity (via salivary cortisol) in 120 same-sex and heterosexual couples before, during, and after a laboratory assessment of couple conflict. Women in both same-sex and heterosexual couples showed greater HPA reactivity to conflict and poorer HPA recovery from conflict, independent of their perceptions of power in their relationship. Gender differences in conflict reactivity were greatest among individuals whose partners reported having low power. Among both women and men, those whose partners reported taking on fewer household responsibilities had greater baseline HPA activity. Individuals in same-sex couples had greater HPA conflict reactivity and poorer conflict recovery than individuals in heterosexual couples. The findings have implications for investigating power, gender, and social marginalization as influences on health-related processes in couples.
Type Text
Publisher University of Utah
Subject Cortisol; HPA, Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical; Relationship conflict; Relationship power; Sexual orientation
Dissertation Institution University of Utah
Dissertation Name Master of Science
Language eng
Rights Management Copyright © Kendrick A. Rith 2014
Format application/pdf
Format Medium application/pdf
Format Extent 1,191,972 bytes
Identifier etd3/id/3272
ARK ark:/87278/s6zh01g2
Setname ir_etd
ID 196837
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6zh01g2
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