Low-level relationship aggression and couple therapy outcomes.

Increasing evidence supports the efficacy of conjoint therapies that focus on intimate partner violence for couples who engage in mild to moderate physical aggression but want to preserve the relationship and end the aggression. However, there has been no examination of how this population responds to couple therapy that does not have a specific focus on aggression. This lacuna in the research literature is of concern because couples with a history of low-level aggression often seek couple therapy, but couple therapy without a focus on violence is thought to potentially exacerbate aggression. In the current study, the authors examined the efficacy of non-aggression-focused behavioral couple therapy for couples with and without a history of mild physical aggression. One hundred thirty-four couples, 45% of whom had experienced low-level aggression in the year prior to therapy, completed up to 26 sessions of couple therapy and 2 years of follow-up assessments. Results demonstrated no significant differences in relationship and individual outcomes by history of aggression. In addition, couples maintained very low levels of physical aggression during and after treatment and showed reductions in psychological aggression when relationship and individual functioning improved.     

Universal processes and common factors in couple therapy and relationship education

Across nearly all cultures, sharing a lifelong committed relationship with an intimate partner comprises an almost universal and strongly held ambition. Nevertheless, cross-national data reliably indicate a high prevalence of relationship distress and dissolution, with adverse emotional and physical health consequences for adult partners and their children. This introduction to the special section summarizes findings regarding the effectiveness of couple therapy for treating general relationship distress, couple-based interventions for individual mental or physical health problems, and couple relationship education programs aimed at helping couples sustain a healthy committed relationship. Within each of these approaches, evidence regarding potential mediators of interventions' effectiveness is reviewed, and critical unanswered questions are highlighted. Discussion concludes with a brief introduction to each of the articles comprising this special section on universal processes in couple therapy and relationship education.     

A comparison of attachment outcomes in enactment-based versus therapist-centered therapy process modalities in couple therapy

Attachment issues are viewed by many therapists as lying at the heart of couple distress. It is critical to empirically validate therapy processes that facilitate couples in responding to each other's attachment needs. This study examined enactments as a therapy process and change mechanism to promote secure attachment in couple therapy. Sixteen couples were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 experimental groups--1 group received 3 therapist-centered sessions followed by 3 enactment-based sessions, and a second group received 3 enactment-based sessions followed by 3 therapist-centered sessions. To measure between-session and within-session change, each spouse completed presession and postsession measures of attachment security each week. Results showed that couples who received enactment-based sessions first reported greater increases in attachment security than those receiving therapist-centered sessions first. These same couples continued to show improvement after switching to the therapist-centered sessions. Conversely, couples who received therapist-centered sessions first did not increase attachment after switching to enactment-based sessions. For wives, enactment-based sessions produced the greatest improvement in attachment, yet both therapy process modalities led to some improvement. Conversely, for husbands, attachment improved only when they received enactment-based sessions first. Enactment-based sessions may therefore be more important for husbands than wives. Overall, with some qualification it appears that enactment-based therapy process may improve attachment more than a therapist-centered process. These observed trends and findings are generally consistent with previous research supporting use of enactments in couple therapy.     

The relationship between sex role characteristics,couple satisfaction and couple problem-solving skills

Abstract

This study explored the association between sex roles and relationship adjustment and communication skills. Baucom's (1976) sex role inventory was administered to couples who also reported on their relationship satisfaction and engaged in problem-solving exercises. Stepwise multiple regression analyses showed a significant positive relationship between femininity and satisfaction as well as between femininity and positive problem-solving behavior, and a significant negative relationship between femininity and aversive problem-solving strategies. Additional tests revealed no significant relationship between androgyny and either relationship satisfaction or problem-solving strategies. Results suggest that clinical interests might be better served by studies less focused on attempts to validate Bem's model of androgyny.     

the relationship between career and couple burnout: Implications for career and couple counseling

The importance of work and love for healthy functioning is well documented. This article addresses the relationship between them. The authors argue, based on a psychoanalytic‐existential perspective, that people's choice of work and love is related to similar unresolved childhood issues and that career burnout and couple burnout are related to failure in the existential quest aimed at solving these issues. The existence of a relationship between career burnout and couple burnout is demonstrated by several clinical examples and the results of an exploratory cross‐cultural study involving Israeli, Spanish, Portuguese, American, British, and Finnish students. Implications for career and couple counseling are drawn.     

Anxiety and chronic couple relationship stress moderate adrenocortical response to couple interaction in expectant parents

The study examines whether anxiety or chronic relationship stress alter the way that couple conflict affects cortisol levels for women and men during the transition to parenthood. Saliva samples, assayed for cortisol, were collected before and after couple interaction from 128 heterosexual couples expecting their first child. Confirming prior research, expectant mothers had higher cortisol levels than their spouses, and gestational age was linked to women's cortisol level. Negativity during couple interaction was associated with greater cortisol reactivity for men, but not women. Tests of moderation indicated little relation between negativity and cortisol recovery for individuals with a low level of anxiety or little history of chronic arguing with the partner. However, among individuals with elevated levels of either of these two factors, negativity was linked to less cortisol recovery for men, but more cortisol recovery for women. Consistent results were also found for the relation between low warmth in the couple interaction and both reactivity and recovery for men and women high in anxiety. Future research should examine whether pregnancy is responsible for these different gender patterns, or whether the inhibition of negativity is stressful for women with high levels of risk.     

Aggression and love in the relationship of the couple

In this paper I examine the interplay of love and aggression in a couple's emotional relationship. I explore the activation of dominant repressed or dissociated object relations with the parental figures, and the unconscious collusion of both partners to enact these past relationships in the present. I then examine the couple's relationship as determined by differences in male and female development, as well as the counterpart of these differences--unconscious moves toward "twinship" and complementarity. Unresolved oedipal conflicts are explored as a major cause of invasion of the couple's sexual boundaries, and a vehicle for the expression of dissociated aggression from many sources. Perversity--the "recruitment of love at the service of aggression"--as a threat to the basic fabric of a couple's love life is one alternative to the normal channels for elaboration of aggression in their relationship. Protective functions of the couple's interaction with their social network are examined in the context of their elaborating and integrating aggression with love.     

Congruity of observed social support behaviors and couple relationship quality

This study examined the role of congruity in couples' social support behaviors on relational outcomes. Participants (N = 123 couples, M_age = 26.91, SD = 8.46) completed surveys on relationship satisfaction and discord. Positive and negative behaviors were then observed during supportive interactions. Results revealed that the detrimental effect of negative behaviors on satisfaction was buffered by a partner's engagement in fewer negative behaviors or intensified by more negative behaviors. Further, the beneficial effect of positive behaviors on reducing discord was amplified by a partner's engagement in more positive behaviors or offset by fewer positive behaviors. Last, the detrimental effect of negative behaviors on discord was buffered by a partner's engagement in more positive behaviors. These findings highlight the complex nature of dyadic relationships and provide insights for developing interventions focused on improving romantic relationship quality.     

The relationship of sex-role norms to couple and parental demographics

Four underlying, common sex role factors were identified via separate factor analyses on husbands' and wives' responses to a battery of Likert items tapping sex role norms. Canonical correlation analyses showed that sex role norms were significantly related to couple and parental demographics. Modern sex role norms were positively related to wife's education, occupational status and income, to wife's mother's occupation and work experience, and to husband's education, but negatively related to presence of young children.     

The relationship of career goal and self-esteem among adolescents

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of career goal and self-esteem among adolescents. A sample of 221 high school sophomores and juniors was administered the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE). Their teachers also were asked to rate the students' self-esteem using the Self-Esteem Rating Scale for Children (SERSC). It was found that, on both the RSE and SERSC, adolescents with some career goals had significantly higher self-esteem than did those without any career goal.     

A gender-informed model of couple and family therapy: Relationship enhancement therapy

The key elements of gender-informed couple therapy are discussed with an emphasis on the significance of empathy and dialogue and the structuring of a context in which both can occur. Relationship Enhancement therapy, a psycho-educational and client-centered approach developed by Guerney (1977) is described and illustrated as one method of operationalizing a constructivist-systemic approach to couple therapy in which a conversation toward profound changes in gender relationships can take place.     

Placement of responsibility and moral reasoning in couple therapy

Within the past two decades there has been a growing awareness of the importance of moral and ethical judgements in family and couple therapy. In this article we provide a detailed analysis of placements of responsibility related to blame in one couple therapy session. We suggest that it is important to study therapeutic interaction in situ , when searching for an understanding of moral reasoning in couple therapy and an ethical evaluation of the practice. A detailed analysis of discursive tools used by clients and therapists makes it possible to look at moral reasoning in action as it unfolds within the flow of therapeutic conversation. The findings are discussed in relation to two discourses of moral justification: autonomy and relationality. The principle guiding the therapists' actions in the studied conversation could be called 'relational autonomy'.     

The relationship between learning goal orientation,goal setting,and performance: a longitudinal study

In an educational setting, we examined the relationship of learning goal orientation with goal setting and performance over time. At the first time point, we assessed levels of trait learning goal orientation and asked participants to set performance goals. At each follow‐up time point, we reported to participants their current course grade and allowed them to revise their goals. Learning goal orientation was associated with both setting higher goals and maintaining higher performance over time. Additionally, the relationship of learning goal orientation and performance was found to be mediated by goal setting.     

The Adult Attachment Interview and observed couple interaction: implications for an intergenerational perspective on couple therapy

One of the assumptions of intergenerational family therapy is that how a person thinks and talks about family-of-origin experiences has important implications for current family relationships. The Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) is a measure of attachment security based on how coherently the person can discuss attachment experiences in childhood. This study examined the relationship between attachment security, as measured by the AAI, and couple interaction, as measured by the Georgia Marriage Q-Sort (GMQ), in a sample of 28 couples in therapy for relationship problems. During a conflict resolution discussion, those individuals who were less coherent in discussing their family of origin expressed more negative affect, less respect, less openness, more avoidance, and less willingness to negotiate when interacting with their partner. No evidence of intra-couple effects or "buffering" was found. The findings support a key assumption of intergenerational approaches to family therapy and suggest that applying attachment theory is a promising direction for refining and developing new interventions for couples.     

Patient and partner correlates of couple relationship functioning in bipolar disorder

Extensive research in unipolar depressed and population-based samples has shown cross-partner associations between depressive symptoms and relationship adjustment. Yet despite evidence that bipolar disorder (BPD) is a more chronic and severe illness than unipolar depression, that individuals with BPD are at risk for interpersonal dysfunction, and that critical, unsupportive relationships are predictive of the course of depressive symptoms in BPD, there have been limited efforts to understand the correlates of relationship functioning within BPD. The current study addresses this gap in the literature by examining the associations between the depressive and manic symptoms of individuals with BPD, their partner's depressive symptoms, and relationship functioning, using a multimethod, multi-informant approach. Results revealed that the depressive symptoms of the individual with BPD were associated with poorer relationship functioning, particularly when the partner without BPD also had elevated depressive symptoms. In addition, an interaction between the individual with BPD's depressive and manic symptoms was observed, such that manic symptoms were associated with increased observed hostility and poorer partner relationship adjustment, but only when depressive symptoms were also elevated. These effects persisted even after overall mental health of both partners was controlled.     

Therapeutic alliance and progress in couple therapy: multiple perspectives

Therapeutic alliance research in couple therapy using multiple perspectives and longitudinal data has been sparse. This study used structural equation modelling to explore relationships between changes in alliance and in progress from clients' and therapists' perspective in a fairly large sample of couples (N=195) during the initial stage of therapy at an on‐campus training clinic. Self‐rated alliance was measured after sessions 2 through 4 with the Working Alliance Inventory. There was very little change in alliance over the early sessions of therapy, and changes in alliance did not always account for changes in relationship satisfaction. Husbands' perceptions of satisfaction and alliance seem to play an important role in the dynamics of the therapeutic process. Findings suggest a reciprocal relationship between perceptions of alliance and progress in therapy when combining perceptions of therapists and couple clients. Clinical implications and future research are discussed.     

Guidelines for classifying evidence-based treatments in couple and family therapy

Guidelines for Evidence-Based Treatments in Family Therapy are intended to help guide clinicians, researchers, and policy makers in identifying specific clinical interventions and treatment programs for couples and families that have scientifically based evidence to support their efficacy. In contrast to criteria, which simply identify treatments that "work" and have been employed in the evaluation of other psychotherapies, these guidelines propose a three-tiered levels-of-evidence-based model that moves from "evidence-informed," to "evidence-based," to "evidence-based and ready for dissemination and transportation within diverse community settings." Each level reflects an interaction between the specificity of the intervention, the strength and readth of the outcomes, and the quality of the studies that form the evidence. These guidelines uniquely promote a clinically based "matrix" approach in which the empirical support is evaluated according to various dimensions including strength of the outcomes, the applicability across cultural contexts, and demonstration of specific change mechanisms. The guidelines are offered not only as a basis for understanding the evidence for diverse clinical approaches in couple and family therapy within the systemic tradition of the field, but also as an alternative aspirational model for evaluating all psychotherapies.