Several childhood factors are reported to be associated with a homosexual orientation in men, including gender nonconformity and rejection by parents and peers. The purpose of this study was to explore the associations between these childhood factors and attachment anxiety (the tendency to experience anxiety regarding potential loss and rejection in close relationships) and attachment avoidance (the tendency to avoid versus seek out closeness in relationships) in gay and bisexual men. A community sample of 191 gay and bisexual men completed questionnaires and an attachment interview. Gender nonconformity was significantly associated with paternal, maternal, and peer rejection in childhood. In addition, paternal and peer rejection, but not maternal rejection, independently predicted attachment anxiety. Peer rejection and, to a lesser extent, paternal rejection mediated the association between gender nonconformity and attachment anxiety. Finally, peer rejection mediated the association between paternal rejection and attachment avoidance. Findings highlight the role of gender nonconformity in contributing to childhood rejection and the importance of peer relationships in the socialization of gay men.

The current study used an attachment framework to explore postrelationship rumination and adjustment. Young adults (N= 231) involved in a romantic relationship that (a) was of 3 months duration or longer and (b) ended in the last 12 months participated in the study. The study assessed rumination generally (brooding, regret, and reflection), and specifically concerning the ended relationship (relationship preoccupation and romantic regret). At the general level, brooding and regret were associated with more negative adjustment, whereas reflection was associated with more positive adjustment. At the relationship level, both relationship preoccupation and romantic regret were associated with more negative adjustment. Models tested indicated that rumination largely mediated the association between attachment anxiety and adjustment.

What do people think about the emotion of regret? Recent demonstrations of the psychological benefits of regret have been framed against an assumption that most people find regret to be aversive, both when experienced but also when recalled later. Two studies explored lay evaluations of regret experiences, revealing them to be largely favorable rather than unfavorable. Study 1 demonstrated that regret, but not other negative emotions, was dominated by positive more than negative evaluations. In both studies 1 and 2, although participants saw a great deal of benefit from their negative emotions, regret stood out as particularly beneficial. Indeed, in study 2, regret was seen to be the most beneficial of 12 negative emotions on all five functions of: making sense of past experiences, facilitating approach behaviors, facilitating avoidance behaviors, gaining insights into the self, and in preserving social harmony. Moreover, in study 2, individuals made self-serving ascriptions of regret, reporting greater regret experiences for themselves than for others. In short, people value their regrets substantially more than they do other negative emotions. KeywordsRegret; Counterfactual; Affect; Emotion At first glance, it would seem uncontroversial to make the claim "regret is bad." After all, regret is a negative emotion hinging on the recognition that a personal action could have made the past better (Landman 1993;Zeelenberg 1999). Regret typically implies self-blame for unfortunate events (Connolly and Zeelenberg 2002). Individuals who ruminate on their regrets are more likely to report reduced life satisfaction and to experience difficulty coping with negative life events (e.g., Lecci et al. 1994;Schwartz et al. 2002). Regret is additionally problematic because of its biasing effect on decision-making, an idea central to regret theories in economics (e.g., Bell 1982; Connolly and Butler 2006). At a more basic level, regret (like any negative emotion) is intrinsically aversive, hence individuals are motivated to avoid it, even if this means sacrificing an objectively superior reward (Zeelenberg et al. 1996).Although early depictions of regret emphasized various dysfunctional aspects, newer conceptions additionally have emphasized its functional basis, particularly in terms of triggering behavior change aimed at remediation (Landman 1993;Roese and Summerville Correspondence to: Neal J. Roese. Markman et al. 2008;Roese 1994Roese , 1997. Counterfactual inference, by identifying a cause of a problem, helps make sense of negative experience. For example, a student thinking "If only I had studied harder" may on subsequent exams study harder and hence perform better. Counterfactual thinking may be useful both for approach behaviors (e.g., studying harder) as well as avoidance behaviors (e.g., staying away from parties the night before an exam). Further, in seeing causal connections between past actions and outcomes, counterfactual thinking and hence regret may help people to place events into context, thereby making ...

This study investigated whether self-and partner-perceptions of interpersonal problems predicted relationship functioning. Partners' understanding of one another's interpersonal problems, projection of their own problems onto their partners, and positive perceptions of their partners' problems were assessed. Individuals from 76 couples completed selfreport measures of their own interpersonal problems and of their perceptions of their partners' interpersonal problems. Relationship functioning was assessed by self-reported satisfaction and by expert ratings of relationship quality. Partner-perceptions more strongly and consistently predicted relationship functioning than did self-perceptions. There was evidence of understanding of interpersonal problems, but degree of understanding did not predict relationship satisfaction or quality. Similarly, there was evidence of projection of level of interpersonal problems, but degree of projection did not predict relationship functioning. In contrast, positive perceptions of interpersonal problems were associated with positive relationship functioning. KEY WORDS: couples • interpersonal problems • partnerperceptions • relationship satisfaction Journal of Social and Personal Relationships

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