A socio-emotional relational framework for infidelity: the relational justice approach

Current clinical models for addressing infidelity tend not to make social context issues a central focus; yet, societal gender and power structures, such as female responsibility for relationships and limited male vulnerability, affect the etiology of affairs and create power imbalances in intimate relationships. How therapists respond to these societal influences may either limit or enhance the mutual healing of both persons in the relationship. Thus attention to these societal processes is an ethical issue. This paper presents one perspective, the Relational Justice Approach, for working with infidelity. It places gender, power, and culture at the center of intervention in couple therapy, and includes three stages: (1) creating an equitable foundation for healing, (2) placing the infidelity in a societal context, and (3) practicing mutuality. Each stage is illustrated with case examples and contrasted with current practice regarding infidelity.     

Relationship Quality,Commitment, and Stability in Long‐Distance Relationships

Using a nationally representative sample (N = 870), the present study compared long‐distance romantic relationships to close‐proximity romantic relationships in terms of relationship quality, commitment, and stability. Individuals in long‐distance relationships generally reported higher levels of relationship quality on a number of relationship quality variables, as well as higher levels of dedication to their relationships and lower levels of feeling trapped (i.e., felt constraint), but were similar to individuals in close‐proximity relationships in terms of perceived and material constraints. Although individuals in long‐distance relationships perceived a lower likelihood of breaking up with their partner at the initial time point, they were as likely as the individuals in close‐proximity relationships to have broken up by the follow‐up assessment.     

From Fathers to Sons: The Intergenerational Transmission of Parenting Behavior among African American Young Men

This study examined the intergenerational transmission of fathering among young, African American fathers in rural communities. A sample of 132 African American young men living in the rural South reported on the quality of their relationship with their biological and social fathers in the family of origin, their own involvement with their young children, and relational schemas of close, intimate relationships. Results of path analyses supported the hypothesized mediational model, such that a better relationship with one's biological (but not social) father predicted increased father involvement in the next generation, and this association was partially mediated through positive relational schema after controlling for a range of covariates. Tests of moderated mediation indicated that the link between relational schema and father involvement was significantly stronger among fathers of girls than fathers of boys. Findings highlight the unique influence of close, nurturing father–child relationships for downstream father involvement, and the role of relational schemas as a mechanism for intergenerational transmission among young, rural, African American fathers of girls.     

Unequally into “Us”: Characteristics of Individuals in Asymmetrically Committed Relationships

This study examined characteristics of individuals that are associated with being in asymmetrically committed relationships (ACRs), defined as romantic relationships in which there was a substantial difference in the commitment levels of the partners. These ACRs were studied in a national sample of unmarried, opposite‐sex romantic relationships (N = 315 couples). Perceiving oneself as having more potential alternative partners was associated with increased odds of being the less committed partner in an ACR compared to not being in an ACR, as was being more attachment avoidant, having more prior relationship partners, and having a history of extradyadic sex during the present relationship. Additionally, having parents who never married was associated with being the less committed partner in an ACR but parental divorce was not. Although fewer characteristics were associated with being the more committed partner within an ACR, more attachment anxiety was associated with increased odds of being in such a position compared to not being in an ACR. We also address how some findings change when controlling for commitment levels. Overall, the findings advance understanding of commitment in romantic relationships, particularly when there are substantial asymmetries involved. Implications for both research on asymmetrical commitment as well as practice (e.g., therapy or relationship education) are discussed.     

Marital Expectations in Strong African American Marriages

The current exploratory study utilized a family strengths framework to identify marital expectations in 39 strong African American heterosexual marriages. Couples reflected on their marital expectations over their 10 or more years of marriage. Three themes emerged through qualitative analysis and the participants' own words were used in the presentation of the themes. African Americans indicated that there was growth in marital expectations over time, with marital expectations often beginning with unrealistic expectations that grew into more realistic expectations as their marriages progressed. Participants also indicated that core expectations in strong African American marriages included open communication, congruent values, and positive treatment of spouse. Finally, participants explained there is an “I” in marriage as they discussed the importance of autonomy within their marital relationships. Results are discussed in association with existing research and theory.     

Couples' cultural values, shared parenting, and family emotional climate within Mexican American families

This study tested a model of shared parenting as its centerpiece that incorporates cultural values as predictors and family emotional climate as the outcome variable of interest. We aimed to assess the predictive power of the Mexican cultural values of familismo and simpatia over couples' shared parenting practices. We anticipated that higher levels of shared parenting would predict family emotional climate. The participants were 61 Mexican American, low income couples, with at least one child between 3 and 4 years of age, recruited from a home-based Head Start program. The predictive model demonstrated excellent goodness of fit, supporting the hypothesis that a positive emotional climate within the family is fostered when Mexican American couples practice a sufficient level of shared parenting. Empirical evidence was previously scarce on this proposition. The findings also provide evidence for the role of cultural values, highlighting the importance of family solidarity and avoidance of confrontation as a pathway to shared parenting within Mexican American couples.     

African American Couples in the 21st Century: Using Integrative Systemic Therapy (IST) to Translate Science into Practice

The complexity of the African American community in the United States continues to evolve. The growing number of professional African Americans who grew up in the postcivil rights era combined with the persistent reminders of inequity paints a complex backdrop for understanding African American relationships. The majority of our knowledge about African American couples disproportionately comes from nonclinical social science fields such as sociology and demography. Unfortunately, the scholarly literature on how to work with African American couples is relatively scant. This paper seeks to add to this limited literature by providing clinicians and scholars with a proposed set of issues to consider when conceptualizing and treating African American couples. In particular, the complexity and nuance needed to work with African American couples are best done by using an integrative model. Thus, this paper will discuss how the Integrative Systemic Therapy (IST) model is particularly well suited for working with African American couples. This paper will summarize the science on African American marriages with a focus on salient factors such as gender, SES, and trust, which will then be translated into clinical practice by utilizing a case example. The case example will be of a middle‐class couple in order to delineate the challenges and the growing heterogeneity of African Americans. The article will conclude with a commentary on the evolving heterogeneity of African Americans, which sheds light on how an integrative perspective is important for disentangling and embracing the growing complexity of African American couples.     

Father Knows Best: Paternal Presence and Sexual Debut in African‐American Adolescents Living in Poverty

Adolescents found within single‐parent families without a residential father have reported higher levels of sexual debut and higher levels of reported pregnancy. Using data from the Mobile Youth Survey, the purpose of this study is to determine the impact of the presence of a father figure on the sexual debut of African‐American adolescents living in poverty and to determine if gender moderates the relationship between the presence of a father figure and sexual debut. Additionally, this study will examine the family processes in which the presence of a father figure can affect the sexual debut of African‐American adolescents who live within economically and socially disadvantaged communities. The results revealed that African‐American adolescents reporting a father figure had lower rates of sexual debut than those youth reporting no father figure. Gender was not found to be a significant moderator in the relationship between father figure presence and sexual debut. However, existing curfews and family rules did account for some of the effects of presence of a father figure and sexual debut. The results suggest that when adolescents have a father figure in their lives, it may reduce the possibility of early sexual debut.     

Relationship Quality with Parents: Implications for Own and Partner Well‐Being in Middle‐Aged Couples

Relationships with parents have significant implications for well‐being throughout the lifespan. At midlife, these ties are situated within both developmental and family contexts that often involve the adult offspring's spouse. Yet, it is not known how ties with aging parents are related to psychological well‐being within middle‐aged couples. This study examined how middle‐aged wives’ and husbands’ views of the current quality of relationships with their own parents (positive and negative) are linked to their own and their partner's psychological well‐being. Using a sample of 132 middle‐aged couples from Wave 1 of the Family Exchanges Study, we estimated actor–partner interdependence models to evaluate these dyadic associations while controlling for each spouse's marital satisfaction. Both actor and partner effects were observed. With respect to actor effects, wives who reported more negative relationship quality with their own parents had elevated depressive symptoms and lower life satisfaction. Husbands who reported more negative relationship quality with their own parents had lower life satisfaction. In terms of partner effects, husbands had lower depressive symptoms and greater life satisfaction when wives reported more positive relationship quality with their own parents. Finally, the link between wives’ positive ties with parents and husbands’ lower depressive symptoms was intensified when husbands had less positive relationships with their own parents. Findings suggest that relationship quality with wives’ aging parents has implications for both spouses’ well‐being and may serve as a critical social resource for husbands.     

Providing therapy to children and families in foster care: a systemic-relational approach

Foster care is a system created to protect children from an unsafe home environment yet multiple foster home placements, conflictual or nonexistent relationships between foster parents and birth parents, long, drawn out court battles, and living in an on-going state of not knowing when or if they will be going home are just some of the challenges many children in care are expected to manage. This paper presents a guide for therapists working with families involved in foster care. Utilizing ideas from the postmodern therapies and structural family therapy, suggestions will be provided about who needs to talk to whom about what, when to have these necessary conversations, and how to talk to people in a way that mobilizes adults to take action for the children, with the goal of minimizing postplacement trauma, strengthening and repairing relational bonds, and moving children out of foster care and into permanent homes as quickly as possible.     

Worried About us: Evaluating an Intervention for Relationship‐Based Anxiety

Although romantic relationships are commonly a source of pleasure and comfort, for some individuals they can be a source of persistent anxiety. The aim of the current investigation was to explore the construct of relationship‐based anxiety and to evaluate the effectiveness of a brief couple‐based psychoeducational session for this issue. Common behavioral patterns and cognitive tendencies seen among individuals with relationship‐based anxiety were examined, including excessive reassurance‐seeking, self‐silencing, and partner accommodation. In the current investigation, a single psychoeducational session was developed to address these maladaptive interactive patterns of behavior specifically. The session was administered to a sample of 21 couples and was found to decrease levels of reassurance‐seeking and self‐silencing significantly among individuals with relationship anxiety, and to decrease levels of maladaptive accommodation behaviors significantly in their partners.     

Individual‐Oriented Relationship Education: An Evaluation Study in Community‐Based Settings

The effects of relationship education aimed at individuals, rather than couples, have not yet been widely investigated. However, increasingly, relationship education is provided to large and diverse groups of individuals who may be in varying stages of relationships. Several programs have been developed to strengthen relationship competencies among single individuals as well as among partnered individuals who, for a variety of reasons, seek relationship education without their partners. The current study is an exploratory evaluation study that examined self‐reported outcomes for 706 single and partnered individuals who attended Within My Reach classes delivered in community‐based agencies. Participants were from diverse backgrounds and exhibited many of the risk factors for poor relationship outcomes including unemployment, low income, and childhood experience of abuse or neglect. Pre‐post analyses indicated that the program was beneficial for both singles and partnered individuals. Singles reported increased belief in ability to obtain healthy relationships. Partnered individuals reported increased relationship quality, relationship confidence, and reduced conflict. Regardless of relationship status, participants also reported improvement in general relationship and communication skill. Results support the utility of individual‐oriented relationship education for singles and partnered individuals with diverse background characteristics.     

Collaborative helping maps: a tool to guide thinking and action in family-centered services

This article highlights "disciplined improvisation" as a metaphor for community-based work with multi-stressed families. It introduces Collaborative Helping maps as a tool that both helps workers think their way through complex situations with families and provides a structure to support constructive conversations between workers and families about challenging situations. The article illustrates this map through a clinical vignette and uses interviews with workers to highlight ways in which the map can both enhance worker thinking and support constructive conversations between workers and families about problems that could easily divide them and lead to polarization and escalating tension.     

Discrimination,Internalized Homonegativity,and Attitudes Toward Children of Same‐Sex Parents: Can Secure Attachment Buffer Against Stigma Internalization?

With increasing numbers of same‐sex couples raising children in the United States, discriminatory attitudes toward children of same‐sex parents (ACSSP) are of increasing concern. As with other forms of stigma and discrimination, lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals are at risk for internalizing these societal attitudes, which can negatively affect parenting‐related decisions and behaviors and the mental and physical health of their children. Secure attachment is characterized by positive views of the self as loveable and worthy of care that are understood to develop in early relationships with caregivers. Secure attachment has been associated with positive mental and physical health, including among LGB individuals and couples. This study aimed to test the potential buffering role of secure attachment against stigma internalization by examining associations among secure attachment, discrimination, internalized homonegativity (IH), and ACSSP in an online survey study of 209 U.S. adults in same‐sex relationships. Bootstrap analyses supported our hypothesized moderated mediation model, with secure attachment being a buffer. Greater discrimination was indirectly associated with more negative ACSSP through greater IH for individuals with mean or lower levels, but not for individuals with higher than average levels of secure attachment, specifically because among those with higher levels of secure attachment, discrimination was not associated with IH. These findings build on and extend past research, with important implications for future research and clinical work with LGB individuals, same‐sex couples, and their families, including potential implementation of interventions targeting attachment security.     

A narrative evaluation of a psychoeducation and a therapeutic alliance intervention for parents of persons with a severe mental illness

Most attempts to study the impact of psychosocial interventions on parents of persons with severe mental illness (SMI) are quantitative. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the subjective experience of parents of persons with SMI who participated in either a psychoeducational intervention which emphasized providing information on the illness and support, or a therapeutic alliance focused intervention (TAFI) which emphasized the alliance between the group members and group leaders. Ninety-three parents, who participated in either one of these two interventions, were interviewed using the Narrative Evaluation of Intervention Interview. Results show that participants found both interventions to be beneficial with no statistical differences in the level of perceived change. Themes describing change in relating to illness were significantly more frequently mentioned by participants in the TAFI group, whereas significantly more participants in the family psychoeducation interventions reported that implementation and information provided contributed to positive change. Also participants in the TAFI reported significantly more often that group regulation contributed to change. As both interventions were perceived as contributing, the findings support the relationship orientation to psychosocial interventions, which stresses the quality of the social support and interpersonal interaction as the source of positive outcomes of intervention.     

Family factors associated with self‐harm in adults: a systematic review

The aim of this study was to systematically review the literature pertaining to family dynamics in the adult self‐harming population. PsycINFO, Medline, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) and Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts (ASSIA) were searched for studies containing two keywords, one relating to self‐harm and the second relating to a family relationship. The final search was run on 4 August 2017. The electronic search yielded a total of 2,623 studies; 119 texts were selected for full review and twenty‐seven articles were included in the analysis. Thematic analysis was used to synthesize the results. Results indicated that insecure parental attachments, neglectful, overprotective, disempowering and abusive parenting were associated with self‐harm. Similarly, insecure attachments and abusive relationships with romantic partners were linked to self‐harm. Finally, self‐harm was found to be related to poor family functioning.     

Deployment‐Related Benefit Finding and Postdeployment Marital Satisfaction in Military Couples

Extensive research has evaluated potential negative effects of military deployments on romantic relationships. Comparatively few studies have examined potential positive effects of such deployments. In stressful situations, benefit finding (BF) has been found to be linked with better functioning on both individual and interpersonal levels. This study reports on deployment‐related BF in a sample of 67 male service members (SMs) who deployed at least once since 9/11/2001 and their wives. Couples completed measures of marital satisfaction at baseline (an average of 1 year postdeployment) and follow‐up 4–6 months later. At follow‐up, SMs also provided data on symptoms of posttraumatic stress, and both partners provided reports of deployment‐related BF. Multivariate path analysis controlling for SMs' PTSD symptom severity revealed that wives' BF was positively associated with increases in SMs' relationship satisfaction. These findings suggest that wives' responses to deployment may be more influential than SMs' responses to deployment on military couples' relationships. This pattern indicates that support for spouses during deployments is essential; furthermore, such support should include an emphasis on trying to facilitate personal growth in spouses.     

Ethnic, gender, and socioeconomic differences in young adults' self-disclosure: who discloses what and to whom?

Self-disclosure of feelings, thoughts, experiences, and beliefs is central to our lives as social beings and has numerous implications for relationships and health. Although prior research suggests that men and underrepresented groups disclose less, ethnicity is conflated with socioeconomic status and there are few data regarding the types of information that different groups disclose and whether this information is disclosed equally to different people. The current study measured self-disclosure in 203 young adults (50% African American, 50% female), in respect of seven domains and 10 interpersonal targets. As expected, disclosure was not lower among African Americans once income was controlled, although both ethnicity and gender interacted with domain of disclosure and interpersonal target. Importantly, young men and African Americans reported disclosing less in the context of more intimate relationships. Together, these results suggest that income may be as important in predicting low disclosure as ethnicity or gender and that lower disclosure in low-disclosing groups is particularly evident in intimate relationships. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for patterns of interpersonal relating and physical and mental health processes.     

The Dynamic Interplay Between Satisfaction With Intimate Relationship Functioning and Daily Mood in Low‐Income Outpatients

Substantial research supports bidirectional links between intimate relationship discord and individual psychopathology, including depressive symptoms. However, few studies have utilized daily diary methods to capture the micro‐level processes underlying the association between couple discord and depression, particularly among populations that are at elevated risk for both interpersonal and individual dysfunction. To address this gap, we examined whether daily changes in satisfaction with relationship functioning were associated with daily changes in negative affect and positive affect over the span of 2 weeks among mental health outpatients of low socioeconomic status. Participants were 53 low‐income outpatients from community mental health clinics who completed a semi‐structured interview about the quality of their intimate relationships followed by 14 daily reports of positive and negative mood and satisfaction with relationship functioning across several domains. Growth curve analytic techniques revealed the hypothesized bidirectional relations. Decline in satisfaction with relationship functioning predicted escalation in negative affect and deterioration in positive affect over 2 weeks, and deterioration of mood predicted declining satisfaction with relationship functioning. This study extends existing knowledge about couple dysfunction and individual psychopathology by highlighting the immediate nature of this dynamic process as it unfolds over time.