Background: Empathy as a multidimensional construct is considered a basis of satisfying intimate relationships. The role of other-oriented focus in empathizing with a partner has been highlighted. The Interpersonal Reactivity Index for Couples (IRIC) measures emo-tional and cognitive empathy displayed in the context of a romantic relationship and expressed towards the partner.Participants and procedure: A total sample of 2339 individuals in intimate relationships (including 1006 couples) participated in the research. Three studies are presented on adaptation of the IRIC to Polish in the context of participants’ emotional and relational functioning.Results: The two-factor structure of the measure was confirmed. However, the specific content of two factors was modified to better fit the data. A reliable and valid measure of empathic tendencies in couples has been obtained. Emotional dyadic empathic concern and cognitive dyadic perspective taking were associated with general emotional and cognitive empathy as well as with relation-ship satisfaction. Correlations with emotional contagion, stress and attachment were also explored.Conclusions: The IRIC is a short, reliable and valid measure of empathic tendencies in couples to be easily implemented in research and prac-tice. Personal traits of both partners should be seen as predictors or correlates of dyadic empathy. The presented research results might be applied to the design of interventions and programs increasing quality of romantic relationships.

The transition to marriage is a normative task in the family life cycle and must be analyzed at the individual and couple levels. This longitudinal study explores the impact of partners’ empathy and their evaluation of their parents’ marriage on couples’ satisfaction with a relationship before and after the wedding. During the first stage of this study, 162 engaged couples who were planning to marry in the near future participated. During the second stage of the study, the couples were assessed after 6–7 months of marriage. The results of the study indicate that the empathy of both partners predicted relationship satisfaction for engaged couples and husbands. The female partners’ assessment of their parents’ marriage was a predictor of their relationship satisfaction before the transition to marriage. At the couple level, partners’ romantic satisfaction before the wedding mediated the association between their empathy and relationship satisfaction after the transition to marriage.

Patients with alcohol use disorders (AUD) have difficulties with certain aspects of higher-order language functions (HOLF) but there is no data on a wide range of these functions in this group. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare different aspects of HOLF in patients with AUD and healthy controls (HC). A total of 31 patients with AUD and 44 HC took part in the study. We assessed HOLF with the Right Hemisphere Language Battery (RHLB) and measured control variables: depression using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) as well as the speed of processing and executive functions with the Color Trails Test (CTT). Patients with AUD had lower results on nine RHLB tests. Moreover, AUD patients had higher scores on PHQ and longer reaction times on CTT. The differences in most RHLB results remained significant after co-varying the control variables. Patients with AUD have difficulties with making inferences from the text, understanding the meaning of individual words, metaphorical content, and prosody, which may impede the comprehension and production of discourse in which linguistic elements must be integrated with non-verbal cues and contextual information. These disturbances may impact various spheres of everyday life and negatively influence social, private, and professional functioning.

Introduction: Suicide is a major public health concern, particularly among people with alcohol use disorders (AUD). Rumination, as a dysfunctional emotion regulation strategy, and increased emotional reactivity may significantly influence suicide risk in this population.Aim: The aim of this study was to assess whether different emotional reactivity mediate the association between ruminations and suicide risk, and whether AUD or control group (HC) status moderates these relationships.Methods: A study was conducted with 152 participants, including 86 from AUD and 66 from HC. Self-report questionnaires measuring ruminations, emotional reactivity and suicide risk were used. Structural Equation Modeling, invariance analysis, and moderated mediation estimation were used in the analyses.Results: The mediation analysis in the full sample revealed a significant indirect effect of rumination on suicide risk via emotional reactivity. Multi-group analysis indicated no significant differences in the mediation effect between the AUD and HC groups, with neither group showing a statistically significant indirect effect.Conclusions: The findings indicate that emotional reactivity may serve as a key mechanism mediating the relationship between rumination and suicide risk. Therapeutic interventions should focus on reducing ruminations and emotion reactivity to effectively reduce suicide risk in this group. Further research is needed to better understand these mechanisms.

Mental toughness is a very complex construct which has attracted the attention of scientists, competitors, coaches, and psychologists. The aim of this study was to develop an abbreviated version of the Mental Toughness in Sport Questionnaire (MTSQ), reducing the original 42-factor structure to 19 factors, and to evaluate the psychometric properties of this abbreviated instrument. The study group consisted of 559 athletes. The presented model is appropriately tailored to the data obtained from the target population. Compared to the previous version, the simplified 19-item measure demonstrated a significantly better overall fit. Moreover, all additional absolute indices of misfit yielded lower values in the 19-item model, further supporting its superior structural adequacy. Those results support the assumption of higher validity of the 19-item simplified measure compared to the previous 42-item measure of mental toughness. The MTSQ-19 demonstrates good psychometric properties and addresses a methodological gap identified in previous research on mental toughness in sport.