Journal of marital and family therapy最新文献

Persistent ethnic–racial discrimination in the lives of minoritized clients requires a better understanding of effective practices for family therapists working with Latino families. Ethnic–racial socialization (ERS) can help mitigate the adverse effects of discrimination; however, ERS practices are less known as a therapeutic tool, resulting in a critical gap in the existing literature and limiting the support that family therapists can provide to Latino families. In response, the current study investigated family therapists' lived experiences facilitating ERS practices with Latino parents in therapy. Semi-structured interviews with family therapists (n = 20) from 10 US states were conducted. A rigorous thematic analysis revealed two key themes related to the approaches used by family therapists for explicitly naming and navigating ERS-related conversations when working with Latino parents and families. The results can inform recommendations for promoting conversations related to race, ethnicity, culture, ethnic–racial discrimination, and immigration with Latino parents in family therapy.

Role blurring has been associated with negative outcomes, such as anxiety and stress. Paulin et al.'s study found that role blurring is linked to lower relationship satisfaction through higher psychological distress. However, this link has not been explored from a dyadic perspective, neglecting the interrelation between partners in a couple. The current study aimed to address this limitation by examining the explanatory role of psychological distress in the link between role blurring and relationship satisfaction from a dyadic perspective. The sample comprised 382 Canadian participants (191 couples) over 18 years old who answered online questionnaires through the SurveyMonkey platform. The results showed that women's life–work role blurring is negatively associated with their own and their partner's relationship satisfaction through their own more significant psychological distress. These findings underscore the importance of researchers further investigating life–work role blurring in the future from a dyadic perspective.

This qualitative study explores the lived experiences of parent–child dyads to understand the occurrence of parentification in Chinese families affected by parental depression. Utilizing purposive sampling, families were recruited from community mental health services in Hong Kong, focusing on parents with major depressive disorder and their adolescent children. Data were collected from 14 families through in-depth, semistructured interviews with adolescents (n = 8) and parents (n = 12), as well as dyadic interviews (n = 8), and analyzed utilizing thematic analysis. The central theme, “Complementary Dynamic Interaction: Rippled Relationship,” captures the mutual, circular, and reciprocal interactions within parent–adolescent dyads in the context of parental depression. These findings highlight the unique dynamics of parentification in Chinese families affected by parental depression.

Latine couples, particularly those who are low-income and immigrant, often face significant challenges in relationship and financial functioning, areas in which they are frequently underserved by existing programs. This article aimed to test Juntos en Pareja (JEP), a linguistic and cultural adaptation of the TOGETHER program for Latine couples. JEP is a 20-h, evidence-based psychoeducational curriculum integrating relationship and financial education. This study assessed its acceptability, appropriateness, feasibility, and preliminary effectiveness. Self-report data from 23 Latine low-income, immigrant, heterosexual, Spanish-speaking couples in the Washington, D.C., area were collected in 2019–2020 before (T1) and after program participation (T2) and at 3-month follow-up (T3). Repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVAs) were used to analyze changes across time in relationship and financial functioning using self-report instruments and observable data from three 8-min discussions. Results indicate that the JEP program is successful in reducing Latine partners’ financial stress and emotional dysregulation and improving their financial management abilities, relationship satisfaction, and dyadic coping, but with some important gender differences. JEP is a beneficial program for Latine couples, improving relationship and financial functioning and ultimately fostering greater equity and stability in areas where this population is often underserved.

Despite collective conversations about the need for more racial diversity, the field of couple/marriage and family therapy (C/MFT) continues to be occupied predominantly by White individuals. Within the C/MFT literature, several scholar–practitioners have highlighted what the lack of racial representation means for our profession and, more importantly, our clients. C/MFT scholars have also shed light on the distinctive experiences of racially minoritized students and therapists traversing a racially homogeneous discipline. However, a smaller, and often overlooked, demographic in these conversations is supervisors of color. This modified Delphi study enlisted the expert perspectives of eight supervisors of color who each have at least a decade of supervisory experience. Consensus among the panelists emphasized the unique, but often inadequate training needs for supervisors of color and the sociocultural factors that often affect the supervisory relationship. This study provides implications that are critical to fostering the professional development of systemic supervisors of color.

Intergenerational family conflict is a commonly identified issue in the Asian diaspora; however, there are limited interventions designed to address this concern. Given this gap in the literature, the authors present a practice article outlining the conceptualization, development, and delivery of a dyadic life review intervention called (Re)Cultivating Family Stories (RFS). RFS is a clinician-facilitated family intervention designed to promote connection and foster successive communication through the joint activity of developing a family story. Life review is a structured approach for reminiscing and evaluating one's life experiences and includes dyadic variants. RFS builds on dyadic life review by facilitating collaborative dialogs between a parent and adult offspring, incorporating culturally responsive elements, and focusing on developing family stories. This article provides an overview of the intervention and its theoretical foundations, along with formative feedback from a field test. Considerations for future implementation and research directions are described.

Telehealth is a promising means for expanding access to mental health treatment. Yet, more research is needed to ensure that telehealth service delivery is no less effective than in-person treatment in real-world service delivery contexts. In the current study, we compared telehealth delivery of the GenerationPMTO parenting intervention to in-person delivery in the context of the public mental health system. Using a noninferiority approach with a sample of n = 1452 caregivers, we found telehealth delivery to be noninferior to in-person delivery on all caregiver outcomes: parenting practices, parenting confidence, and caregiver depressive symptoms. We were unable to conclude that telehealth delivery was noninferior to in-person delivery for child behavior problems. Our findings add to the literature suggesting the utility of using telehealth to provide services to families—particularly for delivering evidence-based parenting interventions to enhance caregiver outcomes. Implications for couple and family therapy are discussed.

Tracking therapeutic processes and outcomes session to session, known as feedback-informed treatment (FIT), has shown many significant benefits for systemic family therapists. However, more clinically useful FIT measures are needed in our field. In response, we conceptualize core dimensions of the therapeutic change process and propose a measure—the Change Process Questionnaire (CPQ)—based on some of those dimensions to provide a clinically useful FIT measure. Developed as a 25-item measure, this study evaluated the measure's psychometric properties, resulting in a refined version with 18 items organized into four subscales (client relationships, client well-being, therapist regard, and therapeutic effect) that demonstrate some alignment with core dimensions of the change process. In this article, we provide a preliminary overview of the CPQ's psychometric validity and potential to contribute to the therapeutic change process and its accompanying scholarly literature.

Chapman's claim that the key to marital happiness is “speaking” your partner's primary “love language” has been highly influential in pop culture and incorporated into therapeutic practice. However, the theory has not yet been empirically validated. The current study tests his theory, examining the hypothesis that satisfaction with one's partner's primary love language behavior predicts relationship satisfaction better than satisfaction with one's partner's nonprimary love language behavior. We recruited a sample (n = 696, M = 43.8 years, 70% married, 97.3% cohabitating) through Amazon CloudResearch. Chapman's hypothesis was not supported. Participants' satisfaction with their partners' primary love language behavior no better-predicted relationship satisfaction or perceived love than the lower-ranked love languages. Words of Affirmation and Quality Time better predicted perceived love and relationship satisfaction than participants' primary love language. These results replicate previous research and suggest that these should remain targets of intervention for relationship therapists.

This study explores whether marital quality mediates the effects of a parenting intervention on preschoolers' conduct problems and effortful control. Using data from 209 children in a two-wave randomized controlled trial of the Hitkashrut program, participants were assigned to either a 14-session co-parent training group or a minimal intervention control group. Intent-to-treat analysis revealed that improvements in marital quality significantly mediated the intervention's impact on both conduct problems and effortful control. An alternative model, which hypothesized that changes in child behavior would lead to improvements in marital quality, was not supported, reinforcing the importance of targeting marital dynamics to achieve better child outcomes. These findings highlight the potential of marital-focused strategies within parenting interventions to foster healthier family environments and improve long-term developmental trajectories in children.