Lab Website

Flicker Relationships Lab

Courses That I Teach

PSYC 4: Navigating Psychology: The Major and Careers

PSYC 168: Abnormal Psychology

PSYC 268: Advanced Psychopathology

Research Interests

Individuals who practice consensual non-monogamy (CNM) have an interest in multiple romantic, intimate and/or sexual relationships with the knowledge and consent of all parties involved (Vaughan & Schesinger, 2018). Consensual non-monogamy includes various types of relationships, including open relationships, swinging, and polyamory. Although more than 20% of U.S. Americans have been involved in CNM relationships at some point in their life and 4-5% are currently engaged in a CNM relationship (Levine et al., 2018), relatively few studies have examined them. Furthermore, individuals in CNM relationships often experience stigma and discrimination. Our lab seeks to fill some of the gaps in the literature with an eye toward better understanding healthy functioning in these relationships and reducing stigma.

Current Projects

Comparing relationship satisfaction and romantic attachment across various types of consensually non-monogamous relationships and various ways that consensual nonmonogamy is practiced.

Identifying personality predictors of attitudes towards and willingness to engage in various forms of consensual non-monogamy.

Creating a quantitative measure of compersion, an informal term well-known in polyamorous communities that connotes the positive emotion one experiences at witnessing their partner’s happiness with another partner.

Publications

Most of the pdfs of these articles can be downloaded through my Googlescholar page

Thouin-S., M. I. & Flicker, S. M. (2023). Compersion. In T. K. Shackelford (Ed.) Encyclopedia of Sexual Psychology and Behavior. Springer Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08956-5_2472-1

Flicker, S. M., & Sancier-Barbosa, F. (2022). Personality predictors of attitudes, willingness to engage, and actual engagement in consensual non-monogamy. Archives of Sexual Behavior.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-022-02393-6

Flicker, S. M., Thouin, M., & Vaughan, M. D. (2022). Factors that facilitate and hinder the experience of compersion among individuals in consensually non-monogamous relationships. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 51, 3035–3048. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-022-02333-4

Flicker, S. M., Sancier-Barbosa, F., Browne, L., & Moors, A. C. (2021). Relationship satisfaction and attachment security in polyamorous individuals who do and do not endorse partner hierarchy. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 50(4), 1401-1417. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-020-01875-9 

Moors, A. C., Schechinger, H. A., Balzarini, R., & Flicker, S. M. (2021). Internalized consensual non-monogamy negativity and relationship quality among people engaged in consensual non-monogamy. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 50(4), 1389-1400. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-020-01885-7

Flicker, S. M., Vaughan, M. D., & Meyers, L. S. (2021). Feeling good about your partners’ relationships: Compersion in consensually non-monogamous relationships. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 50(4), 1569-1585. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-021-01985-y

Flicker, S. M. (2019). Reducing Barriers to Care for Consensually Non-Monogamous Patients. Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Flicker, S. M., Sancier-Barbosa, F., Afroz, F., Saif, S. N., & Mohsin, F. (2019). Marital quality in arranged and love marriages: The role of perceived influence over partner selection. International Journal of Psychology.

Flicker, S. M., Sancier-Barbosa, F., Afroz, F., Saif, S. N., & Mohsin, F. (2019). Attachment hierarchies in Bangladeshi women in love and arranged marriages. International Journal of Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.12619

Flicker, S. M., Ayoub , H. J. S., & Guynn, M. J. (2019). Emotional display rules in Palestine: Ingroup/outgroup membership, status of interaction partner and gender. International Journal of Psychology, 54(1), 33-41. doi: 10.1002/ijop.12429

Flicker, S. M. & Bui, L. T. T. (2018). Cross-cultural differences in interpersonal and intrapersonal understandings of forgiveness. In M. Karasawa, M. Yuki, K. Ishii, Y. Uchida, K. Sato, & W. Friedlmeier (Eds.), Venture into cross-cultural psychology: Proceedings from the 23rd Congress of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology. https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/iaccp_papers/147/

Bui, L. T. T. & Flicker, S. M. (2013). The relationship between analytic and holistic styles of thinking and forgiveness. The Asian Conference on Psychology & the Behavioral Sciences 2013 Official Conference Proceedings, 529-542.

Flicker, S. M., Cerulli, C., Swogger, M., & Talbot, N. (2012). Depressive and post-traumatic symptoms among women experiencing intimate partner violence: Relations to coping strategies, social support, and ethnicity. Violence Against Women, 18, 420-36. 

Flicker, S. M., Cerulli, C., Zhao, X., Tang, W., Watts, A., Xia, Y., & Talbot, N. L. (2011). Concomitant forms of abuse and helpseeking behavior among White, African American, and Latina Women who experience intimate partner violence. Violence Against Women, 17, 1067-85.  

Flicker, S. M., Waldron, H. B., Turner, C. W., Brody, J., & Hops, H. (2008). Ethnic matching and treatment outcome with Hispanic and Anglo substance-abusing adolescents in family therapy. Journal of Family Psychology, 22, 439-447

Flicker, S. M., Turner, C. W., Waldron, H. B., Brody, J., & Ozechowski, T. J. (2008). Ethnic background, therapeutic alliance and treatment retention in Functional Family Therapy with substance abusing adolescents. Journal of Family Psychology, 22, 167-170.

Meyers, R. J., Apodaca, T. R., Flicker, S. M., & Slesnick, N. (2002). Evidence-based approaches for the treatment of substance abusers by involving family members. The Family Journal: Counseling and Therapy for Couples and Families, 10, 281-288.

Waldron, H.B. & Flicker, S.M. (2002). Alcohol and drug abuse. In M. Hersen (Ed.), Clinical behavior therapy: Adults and children (pp. 474-490). New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Professional Associations

American Psychological Association

Western Psychological Association