Despite concerns about bias, student evaluations of teaching continue to be significant to faculty career advancement in academia. In a recent study, attachment representations were shown to be associated with students’ perceptions of instructors (Henson & Scharfe, 2011); students with insecure-anxious representations were more likely to rate their professors negatively. These data, however, were cross-sectional, and the role of distress in this association was not examined. To examine the influence of anxiety and depressive symptoms on the association between attachment representations and evaluations of instructors’ teaching performance, 102 undergraduate students (91% female, 17–38 years old) completed questionnaires at two time points during the semester. Interestingly, both attachment anxiety and avoidance measured at the beginning of the semester were negatively associated with teaching evaluations at the end of the semester, and this effect was stronger for participants who reported high anxiety and depressive symptoms. The findings are consistent with previous work exploring the perception of others of depressed and non-depressed individuals, and provides some support for Bowlby's original proposals concerning the importance of distress in understanding the effects of attachment. Strategies to support students’ transition to post-secondary education and to promote positive teaching evaluations are discussed.

Little research exists on how partners of sex offenders are perceived. Using attachment theory, we hypothesised that one's attachment would generalise to perceptions of sexual offenders and their partners. One hundred and six British adults’ attachment styles were assessed, as well as perceptions of sex offenders and their partners. Generally, perceivers’ attachment avoidance was associated with positive perceptions of both partners and offenders, while attachment anxiety was associated with negative perceptions of partners but positive perceptions of sex offenders. Perceptions of sex offenders and their partners were highly correlated and negative in nature, and sex offenders were more negatively perceived.

A generalisability study examined the hypotheses that avoidant attachment, reflecting the representation of others, should be more relationship-specific (vary across relationships more than across individuals), while attachment anxiety, reflecting self-representation, should be more generalisable across a person's relationships. College students responded to 6-item questionnaire measures of these variables for 5 relationships (mother, father, best same-gender friend, romantic partner or best opposite-gender friend, other close person), on 3 (N = 120) or 2 (N = 77) occasions separated by a few weeks. Results supported the hypotheses, with the person variance component being larger than the relationship-specific component for anxiety, and the opposite happening for avoidance. Anxiety therefore seems not to be as relationship-specific as previous research suggested. Possible reasons for discrepancies between the current and previous studies are discussed.

Relational turbulence theory (RTT) proposes causal relationships across cognitive, emotional and communicative variables. Although many tenets of this theory have been tested individually, there has not yet been a comprehensive, predictive examination of RTT. Using structural equation modelling, this study longitudinally tested several propositions and axioms of RTT. Results are largely in line with many of RTT's predictions. Time 1 relational uncertainty predicted time 2 biased cognitions. Time 1 facilitation from a partner predicted time 2 negative emotions. Negative emotions cross-sectionally related to both the enactment and valence of relational communication episodes. Relational turbulence theory's proposed feedback loop received partial support, such that time 1 communication valence (but not engagement) predicted time 2 partner uncertainty, relationship uncertainty and partner facilitation. Results are discussed in terms of theory expansion and refinement.

Seeking to understand how emerging adult couples frame unmet needs viewed as a threat to their relationship, we examined narratives in which both partners (12 couples) or only one partner (37 couples) expressed break-up anxiety (BUA). The unmet need of Autonomy was more common in partners with BUA whereas Affiliation was more common in those without it. Overlap in narrating the same unmet needs related to BUA was common when both partners expressed BUA, modest when only the female and low when only the male partner expressed BUA. Female partners were more likely to mention BUA and intimacy problems related to BUA than male partners. Couple interventions that target how to disclose and process BUA may help partners develop more effective intimacy skills and, when need be, skills to end relationships in more adaptive ways.

We propose a transactional model of romantic sensory interactions, according to which male and female intimates adapt to the specific context of their romantic relationships by adopting different sensory domains of interactions with their partners. To test this model, we measured romantic couples’ orientations toward using sensory modalities of romantic relating, and the importance of these modalities (N = 137 couples). Although not all hypotheses were supported, the findings suggest that men's relationship satisfaction, passionate love, and liking were driven by a stronger orientation toward touch, whereas women's relationship satisfaction, passionate love, liking, and commitment were predicted by a stronger preference for hearing. Higher differential valuing of touch and bodily sensations predicted higher passionate love for both men and women, suggesting that these sensory modalities have similar functions for both genders — to maintain sexual desire and passionate love for the partner. These findings underscore the importance of romantic couples’ differential sensory orientations in maintaining satisfying relationships.