The Psychobiology of Dyadic and Interpersonal Processes across Adulthood
This special issue aims to advance our understanding of the specific dyadic and interpersonal processes and their biological mechanisms that drive the ties between close relationships and health, across adulthood and in context.
Guest editors:
Kuan-Hua Chen, University of Nebraska Medical Center,
Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Brigham Young University,
Rosie Shrout, Purdue University,
Stephanie Wilson, University of Alabama at Birmingham,
Special issue information:
Close relationships shape long-term health across the adult lifespan, both for better and worse. Yet, our knowledge about how these associations unfold in adulthood and older age remains incomplete. Thus, this special issue aims to advance our understanding of the specific dyadic and interpersonal processes and their biological mechanisms that drive the ties between close relationships and health, over time and in context.
We encourage submissions that examine these associations over varying timescales—moments, days, months, and years—and across adulthood, with a developmental perspective. These include both micro-level processes assessed with ecological momentary assessment (EMA) designs and macro-level change for which large population-based datasets may be suitable. Developmental perspectives may take many forms, including issues and contexts related to aging (e.g., caregiving, age-related diseases), developmental change/continuity, aging outcomes (e.g., biological, phenotypic, and functional aging from a geroscience perspective), and aging-related social-emotional changes and their physiological sequelae. Submissions should integrate a focus on dyadic phenomena (e.g., emotional spillover, physiological synchrony, as well as concordance in behaviors, health, and disease) and/or interpersonal processes (e.g., support, conflict) with a focus on biological and/or physiological processes.
Priority will be given to submissions that feature:
- Novel conceptualizations
- Theoretically sound methods
- Understudied populations and contexts (race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, disease context, relationship context)
- Open science practices (e.g., submitting a manuscript with pre-registered hypotheses)
Manuscript submission information:
A two-page letter of intent will be due on November 15, 2024. The letter should include:
- An overview of all aspects of the study, including objectives and hypotheses, along with a sufficiently detailed description of the methods, results, and conclusions
- How the proposed manuscript will address the goals of the special issue
Those who are invited to submit full manuscripts for further consideration will be notified in late 2024 or early 2025. Full manuscripts will be due on April 1, 2025.
You can find the full call for papers here. Inquiries related to the special issue, including questions about appropriate topics, may be sent electronically to the Guest Editor Dr. Stephanie Wilson at .
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