Gendered Power in Cultural Contexts: Part I. Immigrant Couples

Immigration is a world-wide phenomenon and practitioners are increasingly called on to work with issues related to it. The authors examine the experience of couples who are immigrants to the United States in regard to gender and power issues. Although the study limited participation to one religious group in order to hold that aspect of culture and gender attitudes constant, the experiences of these couples help to make visible the link between microlevel couple interaction and larger social processes. The results show how the couples manage a delicate balance between the push for gender change and avoiding too much conflict as male power is challenged.     

Gendered Power in Cultural Contexts: Part II. Middle Class African American Heterosexual Couples with Young Children

When race and gender intersect, understanding gendered power may be complicated. The authors first describe the historical context that serves as important background for understanding gender and power in heterosexual African American relationships. Then they show how family solidarity in the face of social injustices often overrides gender equality as a goal for middle class African American couples with young children. The findings illustrate pragmatic equality within couple relationships and the willful suspension of gender roles for the well-being of the family as a whole. However, gendered power impacts couples in a variety of ways. Sometimes a woman's fear that the man might leave, for example, diminished her power in the relationship. Often a woman accommodated a man's greater power in the family because of her perception that he was often denied power in the larger society. Societal discrimination of women was less visible to couples. Implications for practice are provided.     

Cultural, Gender, and Socioeconomic Contexts in Therapeutic and Social Policy Work

The contention of this paper is that the context of social and therapeutic problems is critical to their resolution, and that many of them stem from historical and structural injustice. It focuses on the contextual issues of cultural, gender, and socioeconomic equity as providing important insights into authentic notions of social inclusion and well-being, and encourages therapists, service providers, researchers, and policy makers to take responsibility to ensure that these injustices are addressed, and become part of the public discourse about the sources and solutions of endemic social problems. Critique and deconstruction of institutional power in our public, private, and voluntary services is encouraged in a manner that honors diversity and enables sensitive therapy, other forms of service delivery and policy making that genuinely reflect the range of cultural, gender, and socioeconomic experiences of citizens.     

Culture as situated cognition: Cultural mindsets,cultural fluency,and meaning making

Culture is a human universal, a “good enough” solution to universal needs. It is also a specific meaning-making framework, a “mindset” that influences what feels fluent, what is attended to, which goals or mental procedures are salient. Cross-national comparisons demonstrate both universality and between-group difference (specificity) but cannot address underlying process or distinguish fixed from context-dependent effects. I use a situated cognition framework and experimental methods to address these gaps, demonstrating that salient cultural mindsets have causal downstream consequences for meaning making, self-processes, willingness to invest in relationships, and complex mental procedures. Moreover, individualistic and collectivistic mindsets are accessible cross-culturally so both can be primed. Between-group differences arise in part from momentary cues that make either individualistic or collectivistic mindset accessible.     

The Brief Accessibility,Responsiveness, and Engagement (BARE) Scale: A Tool for Measuring Attachment Behavior in Couple Relationships

This article describes the purpose, reliability, validity, and potential clinical applications of the Brief Accessibility, Responsiveness, and Engagement (BARE) scale. In addition to focusing on the central attachment behaviors of accessibility and responsiveness, this instrument highlights the key role of engagement in couple bonding. The BARE is a short, systemic, self‐report measure of attachment behaviors in couple relationships. Both classical testing theory and Item Response Theory were used to test the psychometric properties of the instrument. The BARE demonstrated appropriate reliability and validity while maintaining its brevity and potential usefulness for clinicians and researchers. The BARE also accurately predicted the key relationship outcomes of stability and satisfaction. The data for this study were collected from the RELATE assessment (see www.relate-institute.org ).     

Beyond the Binary: Trans‐Negotiations in Couple and Family Therapy

Dualistic notions about gender and sexuality have permeated the field of couple and family therapy. These binary constructions have been limiting for everyone, especially those who fall outside the male/female dichotomy. This article examines the impact of these binary notions, especially on transgender and gender‐creative individuals, couples, and families. Current theory and research in the field as they relate to gender identity, sexuality, and gender minority stress in couples and families are presented. Case examples are used to illustrate affirmative approaches to treatment issues such as coming out, safety, grief and loss, redefining relationships, and social/medical transitions that may arise for transgender or gender nonconforming (TGNC) individuals, couples, and families.     

The effects of culture and gender on perceived self-other similarity in personality

Gender and culture may influence individuals’ perceptions of their similarity to others. 391,454 individuals from 20 countries rated their own personality traits and the personality traits they attribute to other people in general. A multilevel analysis on distinctive profile similarity (Furr, 2008) demonstrated that both gender and culture play a role in perceived self-other similarity. Specifically, women and those from highly collectivistic cultures saw themselves as more similar to others. Country-level analysis based on self-other similarity correlations (e.g., Srivastava, Guglielmo, & Beer, 2010) within each country revealed that cultural assertiveness uniquely predicted this assumed similarity. The findings shed light on how people construe themselves in relation to others and contribute to the understanding of personality within cultural contexts.     

Power Differentials in Relationships

Abstract

The issue of sharing power affects many relationships. Many couple theorists and therapists believe that most marital distress is the result of power imbalances between the partners yet the influence of perceived power differentials in relationships is largely ignored in the therapy journals. The focus of this paper is on power differentials in couples. Different types of power are explored and assessment issues are examined. Therapeutic considerations are then presented and illustrated by case material. These issues are explored against a backdrop of gender sensitivity.     

Beyond the Couple: A Qualitative Analysis of Successful In‐law Relationships in Iran

In‐laws can play a significant role in the success or failure of marriages around the world. In the Middle East, recent quantitative research indicates that having trouble with in‐laws is a major predictor of divorce in Iran. To explore this further, we undertook a qualitative (grounded theory) analysis of in‐depth interviews with 17 Iranian daughters‐in‐law, five sons‐in‐law, three mothers‐in‐law, three fathers‐in‐law, and three expert family clinicians. Emergent concepts, themes, and coding categories were consistent with a Family Triad Model (FTM) of successful marital and in‐law relationships, wherein each spouse must (a) form we‐ness with their partner, (b) establish flexible boundaries between themselves and their families of origin, and (c) join their in‐laws. A higher‐order core category suggested that optimal couple and family functioning depends on the coherence or balance of these functions across the triadic role components of spouse, child‐in‐law, and family‐in‐law (or family‐of‐origin). In the changing cultural context of Iran, where blood relations have traditionally held primacy over marital relations, such triadic coherence appears crucial to marital success, at least from the perspective of many women. Our FTM results also highlight the importance of taking in‐laws into account when planning educational, preventative, or clinical interventions.     

Culture, power, authenticity and psychological well-being within romantic relationships: A comparison of European American and Mexican Americans

This study investigated possible cultural differences in the association of power, authentic self-expression, and well-being within romantic relationships. Participants (N = 314) included European American students from a central Texas university and Mexican American students from a border university. Results indicated that power inequality was associated with a lack of authentic self-expression among men and women in both populations, although a three-way interaction between sex, culture, and power indicated that Mexican American men responded differently than other groups. Results also indicated that a lack of authenticity negatively impacted psychological health, especially for Mexican Americans. Findings suggest that authentic self-expression is one of the primary ways in which power inequality impacts close interpersonal relationships, and that gender and cultural variables must be examined simultaneously when considering the link between power and authenticity.     

The Dyadic Relationships Test: Creation and Validation of a Model-Derived,Visual-Verbal Instrument to Evaluate Couple Relationships. Part II

The second part of this article adds evidence to support the psychometric properties of the Dyadic Relationships Test (DRT), designed to evaluate dyadic relationships from a theoretical Selfhood model. This model was presented in an early publication (Cusinato & L'Abate, 2003) and in the first part of this article.     

Heterosexual, lesbian, and gay male relationships: a comparison of couples in 1975 and 2000

This study examined the differences among lesbians, gay men, and heterosexuals at two points in time (1975 and 2000) using responses of 6,864 participants from two archival data sets. Groups were compared on variables representing equality of behaviors between partners in seven realms: traditionally "feminine" housework, traditionally "masculine" housework, finances, support, communication, requesting/refusing sex, and decision-making. In addition, the current study compared monogamy agreements and monogamy behaviors reported by the two cohorts of couple types. Overall, the results indicate that on the equality variables, there have been many statistically significant behavioral shifts among the different sexual orientations across 25 years. In addition, all couple types reported substantially greater rates of monogamy in the year 2000 than in 1975. The present study has important clinical implications for therapists working with couples because it provides new baseline evidence regarding how couples now interact with one another (especially about monogamy) and how this has shifted over time. In addition, it elucidates the differences that still exist between different couple types, which could serve to inform couple therapists as they strive to become more culturally competent working with same-sex couples.     

Relationships between Self- and Peer-reported Integrative Self-knowledge and the Big Five Factors in Iran

An Integrative Self-Knowledge (ISK) Scale measures tendencies to engage in a cognitive process of uniting past, present, and desired future self-experience into a meaningful whole. In the present project, 288 Iranian university students responded to the ISK and Big Five scales and rated their dormitory roommates on these characteristics as well. These procedures most importantly revealed a positive correlation between self- and peer-reported ISK. Self-reported ISK also predicted higher levels of self-reported Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Openness to Experience, and this pattern of relationships appeared with the peer-report data as well. In these results and also in correlations of the self- with peer-report scales, associations of ISK with greater Emotional Stability and Openness to Experience were especially noteworthy. This study confirmed the validity of the ISK scale and the adaptive behavioral significance of what it measures.     

En-Gendering the Couple-Deity Relationship: Clinical Implications of Power and Process

Spiritual practices are increasingly accommodated by therapists working with religious couples. While research documents potential benefits, spiritual practices such as prayer may invoke an interpretive couple-God relationship distorted by pathogenic processes in one or both spouses. A survey administered to 78 religious couples examined the influence of power/gender as it relates to couples’ harmful triangulation with Deity. Results suggest that harmful triangulation with Deity does occur to some degree in couple relationships, that there are significant differences by gender, and that spouses’ tendencies to triangulate are correlated with one another. We discuss these results from a systemic-feminist perspective, and offer some clinical applications for working with religious couples.

Negative thoughts in depression: A study in Iran

The cognitive theory of depression proposes significant relations between negative thoughts and depression. Evidence for the model has been widely observed in Western countries. However, despite the high prevalence of depression in the Middle East (ME), there has been limited research that has evaluated the cognitive profiles of people living in this region, and especially in non-Arab countries like Iran. The current research examined these relationships in Iran. Convenience sampling was used to recruit 80 depressed and 80 non-depressed individuals via advertising in clinics and public areas, respectively. Depression status was checked with a structured interview, the Major Depressive Disorder subscale of the Psychiatric Diagnostic Screening Questionnaire, and the Beck Depression Inventory-II. All participants completed the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire-Negative to examine the frequency of negative automatic thoughts. Unlike other results from Arab countries, depressed participants indicated significantly more negative thoughts towards self and future compared with the non-depressed group. The results of the present study are consistent with the negativity hypothesis of the cognitive theory of depression. Further research is needed in the in ME, to investigate other hypotheses of this theory in this region. Strengths and limitations of the present study are discussed.     

Counseling in Iran: History,Current Status,and Future Trends

As a growing profession, counseling in Iran was first established within the Iranian educational system. Counselors in Iran have provided mental health services during natural disasters and war. The counseling profession in Iran currently faces challenges in addressing the needs of women; ethnic minorities; and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals. In this article, the authors focus on the historical background, current trends, and future challenges of the counseling profession in Iran.     

Social axioms in Iran and Canada: Intercultural contact, coping and adjustment

A comparison was made between Iranian participants living in Iran, Iranian immigrants to Canada, and Canadian-born participants on the Social Axioms Scale (SAS), including a sixth dimension, Harmony. The Iranian immigrants to Canada endorsed views that were intermediate between the other two groups. In the data from Iran, the relationships between social axioms on the one hand and measures of active coping and adjustment on the other were examined. Belief in Reward for Application predicted Active Coping; acknowledgment of Social Complexity predicted Life-Satisfaction; and endorsement of belief in Harmony predicted Mastery. Those whose beliefs on Harmony and Social Complexity were closer to their country mean were higher on Mastery and Self-Esteem, but those whose beliefs on Fate Control were closer to the country mean showed lower Life-Satisfaction.     

The limits of religion: liberalism and anti-liberalism in the Islamic Republic of Iran

This essay investigates the ways that ‘religion,’ as a particular category of discourse, organised Muslim debates in the Islamic Republic of Iran during the 1990s and early 2000s. Recent work in the study of religion has highlighted not only liberalism’s privatised and largely protestant notion of religion, but also the ways that understanding of religion affects the representation of Islam in the West. Studies of Islam, continuing the critique of liberal assumptions regarding religion, often uphold a traditionalist understanding of Islam as an equally valuable way of being in the world. This article, in contrast, explores the ways that liberal religion figures in both liberal and anti-liberal Muslim debate. Specifically, it traces the ways that Muslim theology (kalām) draws upon and contests the rationality and secularity of the world and, in so doing, turns the gaze back to continuing discontents with liberalism in the West.