Significance: What predicts how happy people are with their romantic relationships? Relationship science—an interdisciplinary field spanning psychology, sociology, economics, family studies, and communication—has identified hundreds of variables that purportedly shape romantic relationship quality. The current project used machine learning to directly quantify and compare the predictive power of many such variables among 11,196 romantic couples. People’s own judgments about the relationship itself—such as how satisfied and committed they perceived their partners to be, and how appreciative they felt toward their partners—explained approximately 45% of their current satisfaction. The partner’s judgments did not add information, nor did either person’s personalities or traits. Furthermore, none of these variables could predict whose relationship quality would increase versus decrease over time.

Interpersonal touch seems to promote physical health through its effects on stress-sensitive parameters. However, less is known about the psychological effects of touch. The present study investigates associations between touch and romantic partners’ affective state in daily life. We hypothesized that this association is established by promoting the recipient’s experience of intimacy. Both partners of 102 dating couples completed an electronic diary 4 times a day during 1 week. Multilevel analyses revealed that touch was associated with enhanced affect in the partner. This association was mediated by the partner’s psychological intimacy. Touch was also associated with intimacy and positive affect in the actor. Finally, participants who were touched more often during the diary study week reported better psychological well-being 6 months later. This study provides evidence that intimate partners benefit from touch on a psychological level, conveying a sense of strengthened bonds between them that enhances affect and well-being.

Zusammenfassung. Im Beitrag wird die deutsche Adaptation des Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) vorgestellt. Das LIWC ist ein computergestütztes Textanalyseprogramm mit integriertem Wörterbuch, das von Pennebaker und Kollegen (2001) entwickelt wurde, um Essays aus Experimenten zum expressiven Schreiben zu untersuchen. Es werden zwei Studien zur Güte und Praktikabilität des deutschen LIWC berichtet: (1) An einer Stichprobe zweisprachig vorliegender Texte (N = 122) wird die Äquivalenz der deutschen Übersetzung mit dem Original überprüft. (2) An einer Stichprobe von N = 104 E-Mails wird die Robustheit des Verfahrens gegenüber Schreibfehlern untersucht. Für die meisten LIWC-Kategorien zeigt sich eine gute Äquivalenz. Des Weiteren erweist sich das LIWC als robust gegenüber Schreibfehlern. Diese Befunde sprechen für die Brauchbarkeit des LIWC für die Analyse deutscher Texte. Die beobachtete Robustheit ist von erheblicher praktischer Bedeutung für die Analyse natürlicher geschriebener Sprache aus der computervermittelten Kommunikation.

Depressive disorders in adolescents are a widespread problem with extensive psychosocial consequences. The authors designed a school-based program to prevent the increase in depressive symptoms. The authors expect the program to reduce dysfunctional automatic thoughts and improve social skills and thus prevent the increase in depressive symptoms. The design includes a training group and a nontreatment control group with pre- and post-measurement and 3- and 6-month follow-up. The authors followed up 324 eighth graders in both groups. School classes were randomly assigned to one of the two groups. The prevention program, LISA-T, is based on cognitive-behavioral therapy concepts and targets of cognitive and social aspects. It comprises 10 meetings of 1.5 hours in a regular school setting. Increases in depressive symptoms in nondepressed adolescents in the training group were prevented over a 6-month period. Furthermore, adolescents with subsyndromal depression in the training group reported fewer symptoms, whereas depressive symptoms within the control group did not change. However, the groups did not differ with regard to social skills, frequency of negative automatic thoughts, and depressive symptoms before the prevention program. LISA-T is an effective school-based prevention program for eighth graders with minimal to mild depressive symptoms, but further research is needed.