Journal of marital and family therapy最新文献

Family-of-origin systems are consequential for the emotional well-being of offspring. These influences are likely to last into adulthood, affecting adult children's romantic relationships. The mechanisms by which family-of-origin environments influence adult romantic relationships are not fully understood. In a sample of 118 different-sex couples, we tested the effects of negative family-of-origin conflict on adult offspring's provision of relationship maintenance to their romantic partner using structural equation modeling. We evaluated emotional dysregulation as a mediator of this effect, using two measures of emotional dysregulation. Results from structural models demonstrated a negative effect of family-of-origin conflict on the provision of relationship maintenance via higher levels of emotional dysregulation. Our results highlight emotional self-regulation as a valuable intervention point for couple therapists.

This study aims to conduct a systematic review and synthesis on the treatment of sexual violence victimization by an intimate partner evaluating specifically the impact of treatment on mental health outcomes of female sexual intimate partner violence (IPV) survivors. We followed the Cochrane Handbook for Systemic Reviews of Interventions guidelines for the process of conducting systematic reviews. We were unable to conduct meta-analyses due to the substantial heterogeneity of the interventions for IPV. A qualitative summary of 6 controlled studies identified no benefit to the treatment of sexual coercion, posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, or anxiety for female sexual IPV survivors. However, we are limited by a paucity of data for each outcome on this subject. In conclusion, sexual coercion is a complex issue that has adverse effects on mental health and the well-being of the survivors. More research is needed that investigates what kind of interventions are effective for this specific population.

Young women with breast cancer (BC) and their partners generally face greater psychosocial difficulties relative to older couples, justifying the need for targeted support for this group. Toward this end, we examined how couples facing BC responded to participating in a self-in-relationship observation exercise intended to improve the relationship. Participants (N = 60) were 30 women and 30 male partners who, over the course of a week, observed and textually described/reported their “turning-towards-and-away-behaviors” deemed to contribute to relationship closeness/distance. Text-based feedback on the exercise was thematically analyzed. Findings suggest an online exercise promoting in vivo awareness of relationship interactions was feasible and acceptable to the majority of couples. Language accounts reflected acting with and through the shared “turning-towards-and-away-framework” with the intention of increasing closeness with one's partner. We discuss differences in exercise engagement and how participants reported changes in their attending, understanding, and acting in relationship, primarily for the better.

Despite the common use of religious buffers, African Americans are disproportionately affected by depressive symptoms. Communal coping may serve as one factor in helping religious African American couples alleviate the symptoms of depression. This study examines the association between relational sanctification and depressive symptoms as mediated by the communal coping of 467 African American married and cohabiting couples. Data from the sampled couples were analyzed using a common fate model, and analyses revealed higher scores on the measure of sanctification were associated with more communal coping; more communal coping was associated with fewer depressive symptoms among women and men, and communal coping acted as a mediator between relational sanctification and depressive symptoms in both partners. Findings from this study underscore the importance of considering how the religiosity and cooperative action of African American couples relate to depressive symptoms.

Infidelity is a common reason couples seek therapeutic help as betrayed partners are often hurt and dismayed by their partners' decision to engage in an extradyadic relationship. Despite its common occurrence, there are very few empirical studies of the decision-making process behind infidelity. To address this gap, the current study used grounded theory, a qualitative approach commonly used to develop theories from participants' experiences, to explore men's processes in deciding to engage in infidelity. Analysis of interviews with participants (n = 13) resulted in a grounded theory of decision-making by cisgender men who participated in infidelity while in a committed, heterosexual relationship. The results suggest that the decision involves a continuous process of justification and rationalization. Major categories of the theory include the preaffair context, snowballing, motivated reasoning, and postaffair decisions. Clinical implications are also included.

When a parent is less able to meet their children's needs due to a severe and enduring mental health problem (MHP), other adult family members often help with childcare. We present a Grounded Theory of how children's family caregivers construct meaning about the parental MHP and communicate about it with children. Nineteen caregivers participated in qualitative interviews. Each supported at least one related child aged 4–17 years with a parent with MHPs. We found that caregivers engaged in a Core Social Process of providing protection in uncertainty. This comprised three categories as follows: shaping the interactional space, communicating through the developmental process, and engendering a sense of safety. Caregivers appeared to act from a Key Social Positioning of developing a caregiver identity. The findings implicate family-focused provision of mental health and social care. Clinical recommendations are made for whole-family interventions and the role of marital and family therapists.

Prevalence rates of anxiety and depression have increased among adolescents in recent years. The etiology of these internalizing symptoms is complex, but mothers can play a role in the mental health of their adolescent children. Using data from Year 15 of the fragile families and child well-being study, we analyzed associations between adolescent-reported maternal engagement, mother–adolescent relationship closeness, and adolescent depression and anxiety in a sample of 3146 mother–adolescent dyads. Using structural equation modeling, the four areas of engagement, closeness, anxiety, and depression were all modeled as latent variables to test the associations between these constructs. Higher levels of maternal engagement were significantly associated with higher levels of closeness between mother and adolescent, and higher levels of closeness were significantly associated with adolescents' lower levels of both depression and anxiety. Bootstrapped indirect effects were identified. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Relationship standards are beliefs about what is important in high-quality couple relationships. Clarifying standards cross-culturally informs theory about relationship quality and goals for culturally appropriate couple therapy. The current study assessed four standards (Couple Bond, Family Responsibility, Relationship Effort, and Religion) in n = 113 Malay Muslim couples, and the association of those standards with marital satisfaction. All four standards were strongly endorsed, Religion was the most strongly endorsed, and there were minimal sex differences. Separate actor–partner interdependence models showed actor effects of all four standards on own satisfaction for husbands and wives, partner effects of three of the four husbands' standards (not Relationship Effort) on wives' satisfaction, but no partner effects of female standards on male satisfaction. The findings underscore the importance of all four standards in Malay Muslim marriages and that attention to all these standards might need to be part of couple therapy with Malay couples.

This article examines how family and couple therapists respond to uneven alliances with their clients at the micro-level of therapeutic exchanges in the context of Interpersonal Process Recall (IPR) interviews. We operationalize uneven alliance with the interactional concept of asymmetry of affiliation. To this end, first, using conversation analysis (CA), we identify episodes of asymmetry of affiliation in the moment-by-moment conversation between the therapist and the client in therapy consultation. Second, applying CA to the IPR interview data, we examine how therapists orient to the episodes of the session in which the asymmetry of affiliation was identified. The findings demonstrate therapists' two key practices of orienting to the episodes of asymmetry of affiliation: (1) therapists' exclusive identification with one participant by typically invoking gender roles and (2) therapists' investigation of their agency in the emergence of asymmetry.

Relationship education (RE) efforts have been shown to help couples and individuals with a variety of family relationships. However, much still needs to be identified in terms of what factors are salient to outcomes. Drawing on therapeutic models of change, we have identified perceived need for change as one such potential factor. Using data from a couple RE course (n = 447 couples), we assessed how dyadic congruence and average ratings of each partner's need for change were associated with change in three RE outcomes: knowledge, communication, and commitment. In general, the more partners perceived that their partner needed to change, above and beyond what their partner thought, the less change occurred. Implications for RE programming and implementation are discussed, as well as the potential role of therapeutic models and techniques in RE.