Self, Health, and Romantic Processes research group (SHaRP)
The focus of the SHaRP group is squarely centered in the intersection of Self, Health, and Romantic Processes. The Spice Girls once sang “when two become one”, demonstrating the idea that when people partner up, they surrender a part of themselves to become “one”, a unit, with another person. Indeed, extensive research suggests that including the other in the self is a powerful predictor of relationship outcomes (Aron et al., 2013). However, a couple is still made up of two individual people, two selves, who reciprocally influence each other – that is, a couple is more than just the unit.
In SHaRP, we are interested in how individuals influence and shape each other in romantic relationships, the social context for these processes, and how they influence individual and couple health and well-being. Romantic Relationships are pivotal for human psychological and physical well-being, but can also pose a risk to health, including depression and anxiety, suicidality, disease onset and severity, and mortality. Thus, promoting (well-functioning) romantic relationships is crucial to public health.
Currently, the focus of SHaRP is to develop a deeper understanding of people’s perceptions of what is intimate partner violence (IPV), as well as the intra-personal, interpersonal, and social factors that lead people to become violent in their romantic relationships. Through our studies, we wish to advance the conceptualization and measurement of IPV by shedding additional light on the breadth of behaviors and dynamics that may be perceived as violent, thereby challenging common misperceptions of IPV being limited to physical violence within a dichotomous victim-perpetrator relationship.
The knowledge obtained from this program of study is directly applicable to Public Health. The information may be used to increase lay person awareness of IPV, and to develop public health intervention campaigns and large-scale prevention strategies. Additionally, the knowledge may be used to bolster service provider training for recognizing, intervening, and supporting survivors of IPV.
Current active group projects include:
Conceptualizations of IPV among experts:
Within clinical and scientific communities, ongoing debate about the conceptual structure and measurement of IPV centers around frequency and severity of IPV (e.g., how often and how severe must it be to be IPV?), motivations for the violence (e.g., was it done to control another? In the heat of an argument?), and directionality (e.g., who is the victim and who is the perpetrator? Is there only one of each?). Consequently, current theoretical models lack measurement that would allow for making meaningful determinations about these facets of IPV, thus hindering intervention and prevention work.
To fill gaps in this domain, our work will include several interrelated projects, such as: an analysis of existing measures, a Delphi study to develop consensus among clinical and research experts, and studies that develop and validate improved measurements of IPV that are consistent with theoretical conceptualizations.
Perceptions on IPV among non-experts:
Research generally suggests that lay-people may not classify experiences as IPV, even if experts do; that is, people report that they or their partner have belittled and ridiculed (psychological IPV) or thrown objects (physical IPV) during verbal conflicts, but do not label those instances as IPV. We therefore aim to better understand the extent to which, when, and under what circumstances people label relational events as IPV. Through research such as: a focus group study with gender-homogenous groups, and a normative documentation study, SHaRP will examine whether classification of relational events as IPV varies by the type of violence, frequency of violence, gender of victim and/or perpetrator, relationship type, perceptions of what is normative relationship behaviors, and the situational context.
Prevention of IPV:
We will examine whether affirming people’s sense of value and self-worth reduces their inclination to be violent, as well as the rate of conflict and IPV in daily life. This theoretical mechanism will be tested in two experimental study designs: 1) a web-based cross-sectional design and 2) an intensive longitudinal study design.
In addition to the above listed projects, the team members have various other on-going collaborations (please see their individual profiles)
SHaRP is funded by:
- Helsefonden (August 2023-ongoing)
- Carlsbergfondet (June 2024-ongoing)
Researchers
| Name | Title | Phone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search in Name | Search in Title | Search in Phone | |
| Angelo Michael DiBello | Guest Researcher | ||
| Camilla Stine Øverup | Associate Professor | +4535335174 | |
| Christina Mandrup Jäderholm | Postdoc | +4535333850 | |
| Freja Nannerup Kjærgaard | Student | ||
| Lalou Rostrup Holdt | PhD Fellow | +4535324584 | |
| Regitze Izabella Cristine Rothoff | Student FU |