Contact: Sally Schwader, 541-485-2711
Eugene, OR – Deborah M. Capaldi, PhD, a Senior Scientist at the Oregon Social Learning Center, has been awarded a $3 million grant entitled “Risk for Dysfunctional Relationships for Adults” from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). Romantic relationship conflict is a major cause of unhappiness and stress in adulthood, as well as national problems of domestic violence, divorce, and poor health. The 5-year study will examine the associations of relationship functioning to these outcomes over time. The prior years of the Couples study followed close to 200 young men in the Oregon Youth Study, (who have been studied since 4th Grade) and their romantic partners from the senior year of high school through ages 31-32 years, and made ground-breaking observations on the emergence of aggression in young couples. The new study will extend the study of romantic relationships until the men are well into their mid-thirties, with a new focus on stress and health.
In addition to more traditional measures, the study will continue observations of the couples’ conflicts, and biological measures of stress (both during conflict discussions and daily patterns) will be assessed from saliva, with immune function assessed from blood samples. Questionnaires and interviews will also gather information about diet, exercise, sleep patterns, physical impairment, and other measures of health. In concert with measures of relationship quality, support, and interpersonal aggression, both the positive and negative impacts of romantic relationships on health outcomes will be explored. The study is the first of its kind to follow couples over such a prolonged period and to include such comprehensive measures of functioning, stress, and health. Dr. Capaldi said that “In recent years we are coming to understand that our daily behavior and health are the result of an orchestrated development over time of our inborn capacities, daily experiences, and biological and psychological responses. The themes and variations continue throughout adulthood, and are intimately related to our daily social interactions with loved ones. We believe that increasing understanding of couples’ relationships in these areas will have tremendous benefits for couples and for their children.”
The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development was founded in 1963, and is a division of NIH (National Institutes of Health). Its mission “…is to ensure that every person is born healthy and wanted, that women suffer no harmful effects from the reproductive process, that all children have the chance to fulfill their potential to live healthy and productive lives free from disease or disability, and to ensure the health, productivity, independence, and well-being of all people through optimal rehabilitation.”
Oregon Social Learning Center is an independent non-profit research organization located in Eugene, Oregon. The organization began in 1977 and currently employs 200 employees, with an approximate annual budget of $10 million.