Cross-cultural psychology can benefit from the incorporation of psychological situations and the investigation of how cultural influences are manifested in our daily lives. In this chapter, we review the current literature on cross-cultural assessments of situations under the framework of cues (objective attributes of a situation), characteristics (meaning or interpretation of cues), and classes (groups of situations based on cues or characteristics). Cultural situational cues, such as the weather or population density, vary both in frequency and in interpretation across countries. Characteristics of situations differ in the meaning individuals ascribe to cues, the affective response to situations based on culture socialization, and the amount of agency or autonomy perceived in situations. Lastly, classes of situations (e.g., education settings, the workplace, romantic relationships), provide a useful method of grouping common situations for understanding cultural differences.

The associations between couple members' personality and their relationship satisfaction can be conceptualized as reciprocal transactions. To better understand these transactions, we focused on both partners ' interpersonal vulnerabilities (i.e. neuroticism, low self-esteem, and insecure attachment); daily emotional, cognitive, and behavioural relationship components (i.e. perceived responsiveness, positive expectations, and self-disclosure); and relationship satisfaction. Specifically, we examined whether the average levels and within-person variability of the relationship components mediated the transactions between interpersonal vulnerabilities and relationship satisfaction. Data came from 689 female-male couples aged 18 to 81 years who participated in three measurement occasions across 12 months, including a 14-day diary phase. We used mediated dyadic bivariate latent change score models to test the level-change and change-change transactions and mediations. The findings partly supported our hypotheses: Couple members with interpersonal vulnerabilities had lower average levels (but not higher within-person variability) of the relationship components, and less satisfied couple members had lower average levels and higher within-person variability of these components. The lower average levels but not the variability mediated between a lower level of relationship satisfaction and an increase in avoidant attachment. No other mediations were observed. We discuss the importance of studying daily relationship components for better understanding reciprocal transactions in couples. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology

No abstract

Attachment orientations of anxiety and avoidance are associated with many important romantic relationship outcomes. An evolutionary perspective has informed research on the associations between attachment orientations and mate retention behaviors, which individuals perform to retain their romantic partner and maintain their relationship. In the current article, we report two dyadic studies (n = 104, United States; n = 978, Germany, Switzerland, Austria) that evaluated: (1) whether bivariate associations between attachment orientations and mate retention domains are replicable; (2) whether an individual’s attachment orientation predicts their partner’s mate retention behaviors; and (3) whether, over time, mate retention behaviors predict attachment orientations within couples. Results of both studies replicated previous bivariate associations between attachment anxiety and cost-inflicting mate retention behaviors. Longitudinal dyadic data from Study 2 demonstrated that cost-inflicting mate retention behaviors, specifically, can be predictive of future attachment anxiety in romantic partners. These results contribute to the emerging body of research on the associations between attachment orientations and mate retention behaviors, and suggest an important (bidirectional) role of attachment anxiety in predicting negative partner-directed behaviors in romantic relationships.