Individuals feel lonely when they perceive a discrepancy between their desired and their actually experienced quantity and quality of social relationships. Prior research has demonstrated the importance of loneliness for various health-related aspects. In the present article, we extend the existing literature on loneliness by investigating its…

Social approach and social avoidance goals (i.e., approach of positive and avoidance of negative outcomes in social situations) are important predictors of the feeling of being socially integrated or isolated. However, little is known about the development of these goals across adulthood. In a large diary study with N = 744 young (18-39 years),…

The study investigates age-related effects across the adult life span on spatial abilities (testing subabilities based on a distinction between spatial visualization, mental rotation, and perspective taking) and spatial self-assessments. The sample consisted of 454 participants (223 women and 231 men) from 20 to 91 years of age. Results showed…

Although becoming a grandmother represents an important transition in a woman's life, it has received scant research attention. This study used the model of growth developed by Schaefer and Moos in an attempt to identify personal and environmental resources that may contribute to a first-time maternal grandmother's mental health and her…

Examined the relationship between the qualitative aspects of marital intimacy among 20 couples and a quantitative microanalysis of their self-disclosing behavior. Results suggest that, although self-disclosure and intimacy are not synonymous, self-disclosing behavior is a major determinant of various aspects of marital intimacy. (Author/JAC)

While minor physical anomalies (MPAs), a set of 17 non-obvious but measurable characteristics of the hands, face and feet, have been linked to a number of behavioral syndromes in children, such personality correlates of MPAs in adults have not been studied. To explore the relationshp between MPAs and temperament in a college sample, 114 students…

The factors influencing development of basic skills from birth to age 37 were examined by analyzing a sample of 1,700 people who were part of the National Child Development Study (NCDS), a longitudinal study in which data on more than 17,000 people who were born in Great Britain in a single week in 1958 were collected when they were 7, 11, 16, 23,…