Browsing by Author "Harvey, Ashley, committee member"
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Item Open Access Becoming relationally effective: high-risk boys in animal-assisted therapy(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2011) Schneider, Abbey Ann, author; Biringen, Zeynep, advisor; Barrett, Karen, committee member; Harvey, Ashley, committee member; Kogan, Lori, committee memberThis study was conducted to formally evaluate the effectiveness of the Human Animal Bond in Colorado (HABIC, 2010), an animal-assisted therapy (AAT) intervention based in 23 elementary schools in the Front Range; these terms are used interchangeably in this report. Previous research on the benefits of human and dog relationships has provided support for using measures of attachment to rate the quality of connection within this dyad (Kurdek, 2008; Melson, 2003; Triebenbacher, 1998). The Emotional Availability (EA) Scales 4th Edition (Biringen, 2008), an attachment-derived system, were used to objectively evaluate the interactions in the human-animal team, representing the first use of the EA system to assess the quality of the human-animal bond. In addition, the Bonding Scale (Angle, Blumentritt, & Swank, 1994) was used to assess the child's report of bonding to the dog, the Child Behavior Checklist and the Teacher Report Form (Achenbach, 1991) were used to assess behavior problems, and school records yielded information about attendance and disciplinary referrals. All of the participants in this study were boys considered to be at high-risk for internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Paired-sample t-tests revealed that EA (child-dog and child-adult) significantly increased from pre- to post-test. (Child-adult EA scores apply to the child's display of EA towards both the adult dog trainer and the school professional on the HABIC team.) In addition, a significant decrease was seen in student disciplinary referrals from pre- to post-test.Item Open Access "Can we fix it?": Bob the Builder as a discursive resource for children(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2010) Freed, Brianna, author; Broadfoot, Kirsten, advisor; Aoki, Eric, advisor; Harvey, Ashley, committee member; Aoki, Eric, committee memberThis thesis examines the discourses and representations constructed in the popular children's television series Bob the Builder--a discursive resource that engages work as its central theme. Through a critical cultural lens, the study uses critical discourse analysis and visual semiotics to explore the constructions of work/er, organization, non-work activities, family, gender, and diversity as they are (re)presented in the show. The study found that Bob the Builder distinctly (re)presents values of the postmodern, postindustrial worker of Western, advanced corporate capitalism. Leisure and play are portrayed as activities which, ideally, do not affect work. Family is equally placed in the periphery as family members are either placed entirely outside the organization--as with Wendy's family--or as contributing members to its operation--as with Bob's family. Gender representations are problematized by Wendy's denied occupational identity as a builder equal to her male counterpart. Diversity in the show is problematic with minimal non-White ethnic representation and two overtly stereotypical representations of supporting characters. Directions for future research are offered in the conclusion.Item Open Access Collected fragments(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Gabriel, Katie, author; Osborne, Erika, advisor; Sullivan, Patrice, committee member; Lundberg, Tom, committee member; Harvey, Ashley, committee memberThis paper explores the connections between memory and identity existing in my artworks that reimagine family photographs. I am interested in the ability of photographs, objects, and patterns to prop up, and in many cases, form our understanding of past moments that connect family members who are both absent and present. My work explores how these connections forge a family's collective memory. As photos within an album create a disjointed narrative with reoccurring actors, my work questions how in time our understanding of a person, or group of people, may change. Hierarchy among the various elements captured in a photograph becomes dependent upon my emotional and aesthetic response, allowing objects or patterns to act as visceral representations of a person, and at times catalysts for masking and presenting.Item Open Access Danger signs in romantic relationships: the role of mindfulness(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Walton, Veronica O., author; Quirk, Kelley, advisor; Harvey, Ashley, committee member; Harman, Jennifer, committee memberDanger signs in romantic relationships signal relational distress, dissolution, and dissatisfaction (Gottman, 1993; Markman, Stanley, & Blumberg, 2010b). Little is known about how mindfulness may improve danger sign identification and how important experiences may be influential in detection including one's betrayal trauma, interparental conflict, social isolation, and attachment style. Participants viewed videos of couples interacting and were instructed to identify negative interaction patterns through a digital analogue assessment via key presses. Half of participants were randomized to a mindfulness condition. Results revealed that mindfulness engagement was significantly related to the identification of danger signs, as compared to the control group. Additionally, results showed that higher reports of betrayal trauma and interparental conflict were significantly negatively associated with ability to recognize danger signs, including mindfully-induced participants. Interestingly, insecure attachment was significantly related to greater danger sign identification for both the main effect and moderation, and social isolation appeared insignificant. Importantly, this study lends support for the notion that early exposure to unhealthy relationship dynamics may be influential for future recognition of danger signs in intimate partnerships, and that mindfulness appears to play a key role in detection.Item Open Access Detection of unhealthy communication patterns in romantic relationships(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Smith, Amy D., author; Quirk, Kelley, advisor; Faw, Meara, committee member; Harvey, Ashley, committee member; Lucas-Thompson, Rachel, committee memberUnhealthy communication expressions are predictive of distress and poor functioning in romantic relationships yet the ability to detect these expressions is understudied. Study 1 presents the validation of a new procedure allowing for the objective assessment of detection abilities producing a final set of 15 videos (11 unhealthy interactions and 4 neutral conflict interactions). Six real-life couples volunteered to film four two-minute videos each for the creation of this procedure. Each couple was asked to portray three interactions including an assigned unhealthy communication expression and one neutral interaction on topics of their choice. The total sample of 24 videos were viewed by Gottman Couple Therapy Level 1 or Level 2 certified couples' therapists currently enrolled in or recently graduated from a COAMFTE-accredited Marriage and Family Therapy graduate program. Each therapist rated the videos on whether the video showed unhealthy communication expressions, their concern for the relationship based on the interaction, and the level of satisfaction they perceived the couple had with their relationship. Nine videos failed to be validated with two videos having contradictory ratings in their portrayal of unhealthy communication patterns from what was intended, two for having low levels of internal reliability related to concern for the relationship, two for ratings of level of concern inconsistent with the hypothesis, and three for ratings of level of satisfaction inconsistent with the hypothesis. Implications for the use of this procedure in future research are provided. In Study 2, binary logistic regression models were used to explore individual level predictors of observed detection abilities based on four of the videos validated in Study 1. Participants were asked to view the series of four videos, two of which portrayed unhealthy communication patterns and two of which portrayed neutral conflict interactions. Based on Social Learning Theory and documented errors in directed attention, three early childhood variables (attachment, interparental conflict, and betrayal trauma) and two attention related variables (dissociation and mindfulness) were tested. Results revealed that self-blame related to interparental conflict predicted lower detection abilities, including both over- and under-detection and trait dissociation predicted under-detection. Attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, betrayal trauma, and trait mindfulness were not significant predictors of detection ability. A discussion of the findings and implications for future research are provided. Study 3 was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of a mindfulness-based relationship education program for individuals at improving the ability to form healthy relationships including the ability to detect early warning signs of unhealthy relationships, confidence in making decisions in relationships, use of skillful communication, and relationship satisfaction. . Participants were undergraduate students currently enrolled in a college course on intervention and prevention programs and were randomly assigned to two conditions: (1) relationship education program with a mindfulness component or (2) standard relationship education program. Repeated-measures ANOVAs revealed significant pre-/post-test differences related to confidence in the ability to detect early warning signs of unhealthy relationship functioning and trend level differences in confidence in decision making and skillful communication. No significant differences were found between groups. Implications for future research are provided.Item Embargo Emotional availability (EA) brief: single session feedback and coaching for improving fathers' emotional availability across a wide developmental spectrum(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Lincoln, Michael, author; Biringen, Zeynep, advisor; Prince, Mark, committee member; Harvey, Ashley, committee memberFathers are a historically underrepresented population in developmental research and must be considered for their modern presentation in parenting processes. Emotional Availability (EA) is a construct that captures the parent-child relationship quality and predicts positive outcomes for children. A recently developed intervention, the EA Brief, is a program conceptualized for easy administration that may be utilized to improve father-child dyadic functioning across a range of child ages. The final sample of interested fathers was 18 fathers with children between 4-months and 13.5-years. For pretest sessions, all fathers completed surveys (demographic information, the Emotional Availability Self Report, and the Flourishing Scale) via Qualtrics, followed by a 20-minute filmed interaction via Zoom which was later coded for EA. Immediate Intervention Group (IIG) received one pretest before the intervention and one posttest after the intervention over a 3-5 week intervention delivery. The intervention involved a 2-hour interactive Zoom workshop where information about EA, attachment, and mindfulness was provided, a 1-hour individualized, Zoom EA feedback/coaching session, and two weeks of text reminders about the covered content. In contrast to the IIG, the Waitlist Control (WC) participants received two pretests (same assessments as above) separated by the 3-5 week time period corresponding to the timing of intervention delivery for the IIG. After the second pretest, they received the same intervention as the IIG. All IIG and WC fathers received posttest sessions (exact same assessments as for the pretests noted above). Across 16 target variables assessing EA, six observed variables showed post-intervention improvement (a < .05) though no significant findings were found on self-reported measures. These findings suggest that fathers respond to programs that provide guidance for clinically informed, research-based parenting despite the program having limited effect on their self-perceptions of how they parent.Item Open Access Emotional availability (EA) brief: single session feedback and coaching with mothers of children 0-17 years old(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Russell, Frances Elizabeth, author; Biringen, Zeynep, advisor; Harvey, Ashley, committee member; Yoder, Jamie, committee memberThe focus of this study was to determine if a brief parenting feedback and coaching session (along with background information) could provide the context for helping mothers to support optimal self-reported and observed emotional availability, as well as maternal wellbeing. Participants in this study (n = 25) were middle income mothers and their children (ages 0-17 years). Participants were sorted into two blocks: Parents in the first block of participants (i.e., the "immediate intervention group") (IIG) were asked to complete all pre-test assessments and immediately given the intervention. Parents in the second block (i.e., the "waitlist control" group) (WC) were asked to complete all pre-test assessments (pre-test 1) and then put on a waitlist, completing a second set of pre-test assessments (pre-test 2) approximately 4 weeks later and then given the intervention. All parents (in the IIG and WC) were then administered post-test assessments. Pretest and posttest assessments included observed emotional availability as well as questionnaires (Emotional Availability Self Report (EA-SR; Vliegen et al., 2009) and the Flourishing Scale (Diener et al., 2010). To compare differences in pre-post changes for IIG vs. WC participants before receiving the intervention, we conducted a One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) on the difference scores (post-test minus pre-test) for the IIG and difference scores for the WC (pre-test 2 minus pre-test 1). Finally, to examine child age as a predictor of change in our outcome variables, we regressed the pre-post difference scores on child age, pooling observations from the IIG and WC groups. Results indicated that those receiving the single session intervention showed more improvement in EA and other study variables over time when compared to those who did not receive the intervention. The child's age did not predict the effectiveness of the intervention. Results are discussed in terms of a single session of parent feedback and potentially "planting a seed."Item Open Access Emotional availability of adult interpersonal relationships questionnaire (EA-AIRQ): validation and implications for research and practice(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Herndon, Erandi, author; Biringen, Zeynep, advisor; Harvey, Ashley, committee member; Henry, Kimberly, committee memberEmotional Availability (EA) is commonly known as a parent-child construct used to describe the level of healthy emotional connection in the dyadic relationships (Biringen et al., 2014). Stemming from John Bowlby's (Bowlby, 1969) work on attachment, EA provides a gauge to the level of parent's receptiveness to a child's emotional feedback, both positive and negative (Biringen et al., 2014). In addition to relationships between the parent and child, EA conceptually should be applicable to a wide array of relationships. This paper will define the construct of EA and its foundations in attachment theory. It will then focus on the development and validation of a brief EA Adult Interpersonal Relationships Questionnaire (EA-AIRQ). A total of 215 Amazon Mechanical Turk workers were administered this measure (with request for participants to complete the measure for 'friends' and then for 'romantic partners'). Participants also completed the measures of attachment and mental well being. The EA-AIRQ was composited in two ways: 1-unit-weighted, with each item equally weighted (by adding all items), and 2-regression-weighted, that is, from a factor analysis for friends and romantic partners separately with the aim of obtaining a one-factor solution. Correlations between these composites and the other administered measures revealed meaningful patterns. Implications for research and clinical practice are discussed.Item Open Access Inside and out: individual and relational outcomes of contemplative practice(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Schaeffer, Amanda, author; Quirk, Kelley, advisor; Harvey, Ashley, committee member; Carlson, Laurie, committee memberThis study explored the relationships between two prevalent forms of contemplative practice (mindfulness and prayer) and their connection to wellbeing, both individual and relational. Furthermore, this study incorporated mindfulness and prayer into the unified construct of contemplative practice, divided according to direction of attention: inward-focused and outward-focused. Research has previously dealt with mindfulness and prayer separately, overlooking their functional similarities, yet associating them with similar outcomes. This study serves as a preliminary bridge between mindfulness literature and prayer literature, comparing their relationships to individual and relational wellbeing, and proposing the more inclusive category of contemplative practice. Using a sample of 262 college students, this study compared mindfulness to prayer, and inward-focused contemplative practice to outward-focused contemplative practice, in terms of each variable's association with individual wellbeing and relationship wellbeing. Results indicate that mindfulness is associated with both individual and relationship wellbeing, while prayer (when controlling for mindfulness) is not. The results also indicate that inward-focused contemplative practice is more closely linked to individual wellbeing than outward-focused contemplative practice, and that outward-focused contemplative practice is more closely linked to relationship wellbeing than inward-focused contemplative practice.Item Open Access Meaning making in romantic relationship conflict: a scale creation and theory application considering adult attachment(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Najman, Natalie, author; Quirk, Kelley, advisor; Harvey, Ashley, committee member; Hastings, Pat, committee memberWhile existing literature on conflict and attribution theory reveal valuable information about the relationship between cause of conflict and blame, a new theory of meaning making of relationship conflict may offer a focused lens to examine the ways couples make sense of an argument and provide a more complete assessment of conflict. The goals of the first study presented here were to establish the meaning making of relationship conflict theory (MORC) as a framework for understanding relationship-specific meaning making tendencies and introduce a new MORC scale. The MORC scale was hypothesized to identify three theoretically distinct categories of meaning making following relationship conflict: self-focused, partner-focused, and couple-focused. Results confirmed that people make meaning of relationship conflict by focusing on themselves, their partner, or their relationship more broadly. The second study aimed to establish MORC scale validity and explore adult attachment as a potential predictor of meaning making tendencies. Individuals (N = 214) were assessed using the Experiences in Close Relationship Scale (ECR-SF), Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale (CAMS-R), Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire (PTQ), and the Meaning Making of Relationship Conflict Scale (MORC). Results found a significant, strong, positive correlation between rumination and the MORC scale and a significant, strong, negative correlation between mindfulness and the MORC scale. Next, results revealed support of attachment as a potential mechanism that influences meaning making. Individuals with greater insecure attachment styles (dismissive and anxious/preoccupied) reported higher scores for meaning making of conflict. Individuals with higher avoidant or anxious scores were found to be more likely partner-focused in their meaning making. Secure attachment was not found to be a predictor for meaning making of conflict.Item Embargo Mother-child and father-child emotional availability during the COVID-19 pandemic(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Dungan, Maggie Elise, author; Biringen, Zeynep, advisor; Harvey, Ashley, committee member; Yoder, Jamie, committee memberWhile the body of literature on COVID's impact to family life is rapidly expanding, most studies are based entirely on self-report data, leaving a critical gap in observational studies of parent-child interactions. The goal of this study was to evaluate parent-child relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic using the observational Emotional Availability (EA) construct. Parents (N = 43) were assessed using the Epidemic Pandemic Impacts Inventory (EPII), the Flourishing Scale (FLS), and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) questionnaires. The subcategories of the EPII were used to develop an EPII negative and an EPII positive for each parent. EA (sensitivity, structuring, nonhostility, nonintrusiveness, child responsiveness, and child involvement) was coded from filmed parent-child interactions. Separate hierarchical multiple regressions (HMRs) were run to evaluate each of the variables of interest (EPII and FLS) as predictive of EA. Child age and ACEs were added in subsequent steps for EPII negative and positive if the initial step was significant. For mothers, results demonstrated EPII negative as a significant predictor of EA with child age and ACEs adding only small amount of variance to the prediction. The same HMR process was repeated for flourishing, with the covariate child age alone. For fathers, flourishing was a significant predictor of EA and child age added only a small amount of variance to the prediction. Results indicate that experiencing high COVID-related stressors is associated with lower EA for mothers, but not fathers. Having high levels of flourishing during the pandemic was predictive of higher EA for fathers, but not mothers.Item Open Access Parental alienation and targeted parents: loss, coping, and social support(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Kline, Chelsea L., author; Biringen, Zeynep, advisor; Harman, Jennifer, committee member; Harvey, Ashley, committee memberAs the phenomenon of parental alienation becomes more prevalent and recognized by professionals who work with families, focusing on the impact of parental alienation on the alienated parent is becoming progressively more important. Alienated parents often suffer some sort of loss of their child (e.g., emotional connection, physical contact, or both) as a consequence of parental alienation. Due to the nature of this loss, we argue that parental alienation can lead to ambiguous loss that the targeted parent must learn to cope with. The purpose of this study was to further understand the experiences of parents who are targeted in alienation cases, specifically their feelings of loss and grief through the loss of emotional and/or physical connection with their children, as well as the various social supports that may be used by these parents in an effort to cope with this loss. The original interview data was obtained from parents who claim to have been alienated from their child after a separation or divorce. In order to quantify the qualitative data, two researchers coded the transcripts based on the operational definitions. The researchers coded a subsample of 45 interviews with these alienated parents. The researchers tested correlations between physical contact and emotional connection between the alienated parent and child, as well as between the contact and social supports utilized. Zero order (Pearson) correlations revealed no significant associations. However, some interesting results and themes from this subsample were noted.Item Open Access Parenting styles and the intergenerational transmission of gender ideology(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014) Jones, Kaitlin, author; Lucas-Thompson, Rachel, advisor; Harvey, Ashley, committee member; Canetto, Silvia, committee memberThe present study investigated the similarity between parents and children in gender ideology, and whether parenting style moderated the intergenerational transmission (i.e. similarity) of gender ideology between parents and children. Past research suggests that parents and children are similar in terms of overall gender ideology and that authoritative parenting promotes the best outcomes for children. Given this knowledge, the present study sought to investigate the relationship between these two concepts while examining whether the relations between gender ideology and parenting style differ based on parent and child gender. A sample of 76 adolescents from the United States and their parents were asked to complete questionnaires surveying parenting style and gender ideology. Analyses assessed the similarity of parents and their children in terms of gender ideology as well as examined parenting style as a moderator of this association. Results indicated that parent and child gender ideologies are similar, but parenting style does not consistently moderate the transmission of gender ideology from parent to child. Results also revealed that paternal gender ideology is more consistently related to teen, particularly male, gender ideology than maternal gender ideology.Item Open Access Predicting and protecting postpartum relationship functioning among heterosexual parents: results from a conflict communication intervention(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Murray, Samantha A., author; Braungart-Rieker, Julie, advisor; Brown, Samantha, committee member; Cummings, E. Mark, committee member; Harvey, Ashley, committee member; Luong, Gloria, committee memberPostpartum parenting is a critically vulnerable period for parents. Adjusting to life with a new baby often comes with a variety of added stressors, for both new and experienced parents. This family turbulence with which parents must continue to maintain their romantic relationship commonly results in relationship decline. Despite these challenges, parent relationship functioning serves as the bedrock to a healthy family system. Understanding antecedents of the interparental relationship, such as parenting experience (new versus experienced parenthood), parent mental health, and initial relationship functioning, was the preliminary goal for this dissertation. Previous studies have highlighted several factors related to parents' postpartum relationship behavior and satisfaction often from mothers' perspectives; however, gaps remain in our knowledge of fathers' relationship experiences over this life transition. This study fills this gap by specifically investigating predictors of relationship appraisals and behaviors in terms of romantic attachment and constructive conflict behavior for both mothers and fathers. A dynamic change score modeling approach was used to address the secondary goal of the current study: to evaluate whether one parent is driving relationship trajectories for both parents. The third goal of this study was to examine the degree to which a conflict communication intervention, involving mothers and fathers, impacts relationship functioning postpartum. Results suggest an important divergence of the effects of the transition to parenthood for mothers compared to fathers, wherein having additional children may have a more negative impact on mothers' relationship experiences compared to fathers'. Furthermore, these results validate previous research linking parents' mental health to their relationship appraisals (romantic attachment), but not relationship behaviors (constructiveness), and highlight the need to further explore how each parent's mental health influences the other parent's relationship experience over time. In addition, mothers' and fathers' racial profiles played a unique role in their postpartum relationship appraisals and behavior in unexpected ways. Dynamic change score modeling further revealed that changes in mothers' and fathers' romantic attachment over time were co-driven by both parents, while changes in constructive conflict behavior occurred independently. Lastly, the conflict communication intervention appeared to alleviate problematic effects of certain variables for parents' relationship functioning, such as fathers' depressive symptoms on the trajectory of mothers' attachment security. Moreover, mothers may have been particularly benefited by the conflict intervention if they reported more depressive symptoms at the beginning of the study. Overall, the intervention had important protective effects on mothers' and fathers' postpartum behavioral constructiveness but had a limited impact on romantic attachment security. Implications for future interparental relationship and intervention research are discussed.Item Open Access School-based individual therapy for children with behavior problems(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2011) Rosenberg, Josie, author; Biringen, Zeynep, advisor; Barrett, Karen, committee member; Harvey, Ashley, committee member; Kogan, Lori, committee memberThis study was conducted to assess the impact of individual child therapy for children aged 5-11 who exhibit classroom misbehavior. We hypothesized that the emotional availability of children would significantly increase and that reports of behavior problems would significantly decrease over the course of a school-based child therapy intervention. The Emotional Availability (EA) Scales (Biringen, 2008) were used to assess child therapeutic engagement. (Biringen & Easterbrooks, 2000). Therapy sessions were taped monthly to assess the child's EA. Disciplinary referral data and teacher reports of behavior problems using the Teacher Report Form (TRF) (Achenbach,1991) were collected pretest and posttest. Results indicated a significant reduction in disciplinary referrals, but no significant changes in teacher reports or EA scores. Implications and future directions for research are discussed.Item Open Access The association between autism symptom severity and parental marital satisfaction(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2013) Heyman, Sofie M., author; Lucas-Thompson Graham, Rachel, advisor; Harvey, Ashley, committee member; Rosén, Lee A., committee memberStudies have suggested that parents of children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) experience many stressors and a decrease in marital quality relative to parents of children without an ASD. Severity of the ASD symptoms have also been found to be associated with increased parenting stress and decreased social support, factors that predict decreases in marital quality. Associations between child autism symptom severity and parental marital quality were examined in the current study, and stress and social support were tested as potential mediators of that association. These associations were also compared for mothers and fathers. Parents with a child(ren) with an ASD (N = 18) were recruited through various different avenues and filled out surveys regarding marital quality, ASD symptom severity, levels of social support, and levels of parenting stress. Results suggested negative associations between child autism symptom severity and parental marital quality that did not appear to be mediated by stress or support. These findings suggest that parents who have a child with more severe symptoms are more likely to have poorer marital quality and there may be other mediators that help to explain the association. The marital quality of mothers also appeared to be more strongly and consistently associated with child symptom severity than fathers'. This study highlights the importance of further understanding how parents are affected in order to guide clinicians with how best to assist them.Item Open Access The development of the Young Love Scales(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2015) Park, Stacey S., author; Rosén, Lee A., advisor; Bloom, Larry, committee member; Gibbons, Alyssa, committee member; Harvey, Ashley, committee memberResearch on romantic relationships in emerging adulthood is essential to better understanding the trajectory of romantic relationships in adults, and the identity development of emerging adults. Measures of romantic relationship quality demonstrate flaws in a few ways: some are based on an atheoretical structure, which limits interpretation of the measure, some define relationship quality as multiple constructs (e.g., satisfaction and commitment) simultaneously, and some are limited to couples in marital relationships. The present study outlined the development and validation of the Young Love Scales, three measures of relationship commitment, satisfaction and adjustment. This study also examined the theoretical structure of these constructs, and the results showed that the first-order factors for the Young Love Scales appear to be subsumed under a second-order factor, which was labeled relationship quality. The results of this study also showed that adjustment (daily behaviors) predicts one’s commitment to the relationship, but that satisfaction fully mediates this link. Overall, this suggests that individuals’ actions in the relationship must add to a sense of satisfaction in order for them to feel that the relationship should continue. These results have implications for couple therapy interventions, and for better understanding the trajectory of romantic relationships in emerging adults.