Public and Private Physical Affection Differences between Same-Sex and Different-Sex Couples: The Role of Perceived Marginalization

Despite its connection with relationship satisfaction, research on physical affection is scarce and fails to disentangle private and public displays of affection. It is important to examine both types if marginalized couples are less comfortable displaying affection publicly. The present study exam...

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Main Authors: Amani El-Alayli, Erin Kent
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: PsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for Psychology 2011-12-01
Series:Interpersona: An International Journal on Personal Relationships
Subjects:
Online Access:http://interpersonaabpri.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/03_kent-el-alayli1.pdf
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author Amani El-Alayli
Erin Kent
author_facet Amani El-Alayli
Erin Kent
author_sort Amani El-Alayli
collection DOAJ
description Despite its connection with relationship satisfaction, research on physical affection is scarce and fails to disentangle private and public displays of affection. It is important to examine both types if marginalized couples are less comfortable displaying affection publicly. The present study examined whether same-sex couples display less public (but not private) physical affection than different-sex couples due to stronger feelings of relationship marginalization. It also examined how public/private affection and marginalization relate to relationship satisfaction. Women in committed same-sex and different-sex relationships completed surveys of public affection, private affection, marginalization, and relationship satisfaction online. As predicted, women in same-sex relationships displayed less public affection than those in different-sex relationships, an effect mediated by general societal marginalization. Both private and public affection predicted higher relationship satisfaction, whereas feelings of marginalization by friends/family predicted lower relationship satisfaction. We discuss implications for relationship counseling and propose new ways of looking at marginalization.
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spelling doaj.art-62fb5e640f2d4b8ea33ee598fd5d98302023-01-02T18:57:32ZengPsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for PsychologyInterpersona: An International Journal on Personal Relationships1981-64722011-12-0152149167Public and Private Physical Affection Differences between Same-Sex and Different-Sex Couples: The Role of Perceived MarginalizationAmani El-AlayliErin KentDespite its connection with relationship satisfaction, research on physical affection is scarce and fails to disentangle private and public displays of affection. It is important to examine both types if marginalized couples are less comfortable displaying affection publicly. The present study examined whether same-sex couples display less public (but not private) physical affection than different-sex couples due to stronger feelings of relationship marginalization. It also examined how public/private affection and marginalization relate to relationship satisfaction. Women in committed same-sex and different-sex relationships completed surveys of public affection, private affection, marginalization, and relationship satisfaction online. As predicted, women in same-sex relationships displayed less public affection than those in different-sex relationships, an effect mediated by general societal marginalization. Both private and public affection predicted higher relationship satisfaction, whereas feelings of marginalization by friends/family predicted lower relationship satisfaction. We discuss implications for relationship counseling and propose new ways of looking at marginalization.http://interpersonaabpri.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/03_kent-el-alayli1.pdfphysical affectionpublic affectionmarginalizationrelationshipshomosexual relationships
spellingShingle Amani El-Alayli
Erin Kent
Public and Private Physical Affection Differences between Same-Sex and Different-Sex Couples: The Role of Perceived Marginalization
Interpersona: An International Journal on Personal Relationships
physical affection
public affection
marginalization
relationships
homosexual relationships
title Public and Private Physical Affection Differences between Same-Sex and Different-Sex Couples: The Role of Perceived Marginalization
title_full Public and Private Physical Affection Differences between Same-Sex and Different-Sex Couples: The Role of Perceived Marginalization
title_fullStr Public and Private Physical Affection Differences between Same-Sex and Different-Sex Couples: The Role of Perceived Marginalization
title_full_unstemmed Public and Private Physical Affection Differences between Same-Sex and Different-Sex Couples: The Role of Perceived Marginalization
title_short Public and Private Physical Affection Differences between Same-Sex and Different-Sex Couples: The Role of Perceived Marginalization
title_sort public and private physical affection differences between same sex and different sex couples the role of perceived marginalization
topic physical affection
public affection
marginalization
relationships
homosexual relationships
url http://interpersonaabpri.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/03_kent-el-alayli1.pdf
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