Positive and Negative Timelines: A Technique for Restorying

Families or individuals requesting therapeutic consultation often present in the context of an overwhelming history of stressful and negative life events. Frequently, the pressure of such events obliterates memories of strengths and successes. This is particularly true by the time people reach inpatient psychiatric settings. This article outlines a technique designed to help people bring these events into perspective and to develop positive life stories. The use of Positive and Negative Timelines helps to reinforce competency-based themes in people's lives. A clinical case is used to highlight the technique.     

Late Adolescent and Parent Perceptions of Attachment: An Exploratory Study of Personal and Social Well-Being

Research in the area of late adolescent attachment and adjustment has focused almost exclusively on adolescent reports of the quality of their relationships with parents. The purpose of this study was to extend the attachment literature through examining the correspondence between late adolescent children and their parents when assessing aspects of parental bonds with children. After completing a set of questionnaires, a sample of older undergraduate students (mean age = 21 years) identified parent figures who subsequently were sent a similar packet of questionnaires. Parents were asked to complete measures of parental bonds as they believed their child would complete the same measure. Regression analyses revealed that parent reports of attachment added nonsignificant portions of unique variance to the prediction of student self-esteem and social self-efficacy. Student perceptions of attachment accounted for significant unique variation in self-esteem but not in social self-efficacy.     

Attachment,caregiving, and relationship functioning in couples: Effects of self and partner

We examined the links among attachment, caregiving, and relationship functioning in both dating (Study 1) and married couples (Study 2), assessing both partners' perspectives. We found that (1) men and women generally evidenced caregiving characteristics similar to those of their parent% especially their same-sex parent; (2) individuals who reported giving more care to their partner evidenced less fearful-avoidant attachment (Studies 1 and 2) and less preoccupation with attachment (Study 2); and (3) individuals' own attachment models and their partner's attachment models and caregiving jointly predicted relationship functioning, but individuals' own attachment models remained strong predictors even after the partner's attachment and caregiving were taken into account. The results suggest that caregiving learned in childhood attachment relationships may be carried forward into adult romantic relationships, and they support the idea that attachment and caregiving are central components of romantic love.