Relational Turbulence Theory: Explaining Variation in Subjective Experiences and Communication Within Romantic Relationships

This essay extends the relational turbulence model as a framework for understanding communication in romantic relationships. Following the relational turbulence model, relational turbulence theory identifies relational uncertainty and interdependence as parameters that shape subjective experiences, but the theory clarifies the theoretical processes underlying their distinctive effects. In addition, relational turbulence theory articulates causal processes linking cognitive appraisals and emotions to communication. Relational turbulence theory also describes how episodes characterized by biased appraisals, intense emotions, and volatile communication coalesce into global evaluations of relationships as turbulent. In turn, the theory addresses the effect of relational turbulence on personal, relational, and social outcomes. Finally, the theory explains how communication can contribute to the development of both turbulence and resilience in romantic relationships.     

Adding a baby to the equation. married and cohabiting women's relationship satisfaction in the transition to parenthood

The trajectory of relationship satisfaction among married and cohabiting women in their transition to parenthood was compared in a potential sample of 71,504 women taking part in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). Prospective longitudinal data were collected in 4 waves over a 2-year period starting 6 months prebirth. Results from latent curve models suggested that married and cohabiting women experience similar negative change in relationship satisfaction during the transition to parenthood. However, cohabiting women start off and stay less satisfied throughout the transition period, suggesting the presence of a negative cohabitation effect that prevailed after controlling for various covariates. Extending investigation on the cohabitation effect to the transition to parenthood, and replicating it in a Scandinavian context, is discussed in relation to the understanding of what causes the cohabitation effect, and its clinical implications.     

Female Receptivity and Secondary Traumatization in the Family

This paper addresses the question of gendered receptivity to Secondary Traumatic Syndrome (STS) in the family. Unlike other manifestations of distress in the family, where gender comparisons are a matter of course, very few such comparisons are made in studies of STS. Review of the findings of 12 studies, the only studies, to date, that provide data enabling the comparison of STS in males and females, shows that females in the family, whether daughters, wives, or mothers, are consistently more likely than the males, whether sons, husbands, or fathers, to experience the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms of a traumatized family member without having experienced the traumatic event itself. This pattern pertains to whether the event that precipitated the primary trauma was a collective or individual trauma and whether the STS sufferer was a child or adult or living or not living with the PTSD casualty. The Discussion points out that gender is an important factor in the development of STS, whether in interaction with role, beyond role, or both.     

Conceptual and measurement issues of the complementarity dimension of the coach–athlete relationship across cultures

ObjectivesGrounded in the 3Cs model of the coach–athlete relationship, this multi-study outlined the development of two scales that measure coaches' dominant behaviors and athletes' submissive behaviors.Method & resultsIn study 1, a pool of items was generated based on relevant literatures and interviews. The item pool was then assessed by an expert panel including academics, athletes and coaches. In Study 2 and Study 3, construct and criterion validity, as wells as internal reliability of the refined items were tested with a sample of elite coaches and athletes. Analyses revealed that Coach Dominant Behavior Scale (CDB-S) and Athlete Submissive Behavior Scale (ASB-S) possessed sound psychometric properties. In Study 4, the measurement invariance of the 10-item ASB-S was assessed across gender and five countries: Britain, China, Greece, Spain, and Sweden. Results supported the full structural invariance of the ASB-S.ConclusionOverall, the items of both CDB-S and ASB-S were found to be psychometrically sound. The discussion highlights the contributions these findings make on both conceptual and measurement levels as well as the opportunities it opens up for research with practical relevance.     

Working with countertransference

The transference-countertransference relationship is only one of five modalities of relationship that research has identified as potentially present in the therapeutic encounter. This paper gives the background and definition to one aspect of this - the countertransference - and traces the development of the concept from Freud's first use of the term in 1910 to the contemporary view that it is a useful tool of psychotherapy. The first part explains its connection with the Kleinian concept of projective identification and discusses its elaboration by the object relations school. There is general acceptance nowadays that the countertransference contains a great deal of information about the client's psychological world. It is therefore important to understand this process and the authors have identified three main dimensions to countertransference. These are its vector (or direction and force), its variance (the quality it represents), and its valence (its effect on the client). The second part of the article illustrates, through the use of example and metaphor, how these three dimensions are defined and can be recognized. Common themes and paradigms of countertransference are identified and discussed along with some ways in which experience has shown how these might be contained and worked with constructively. Finally, a clinical vignette is presented in which some of the dimensions of countertransference are identified and used to understand the client's psychic world and foster therapeutic change.     

Narrating attachment: Some lessons learned from Charles Dickens' novel ‘Little Dorrit’

In this paper the author aims to explore the way in which contemporary society is informed by the values of technology, and how this ‘technological milieu’ influences the practice of counselling and therapy. The philosopher Albert Borgmann identifies some of the values of technology as efficiency, speed of results and ease of availability. While acknowledging technology's undoubted benefits, Borgmann warns that allowing these values to dictate ever more aspects of life threatens to impoverish us. In contrast with technological devices, the ‘focal’ experiences which give our lives meaning are rich and complex, as much to do with the journey as with reaching a goal. In this paper, the author argues that it is important to try and preserve counselling and psychotherapy as focal experiences, despite increasing pressure to conform to a more technological approach. In the light of this, the drive towards evidence-based treatments, the promotion of time-limited focused approaches to treatment and current trends such as the interest in neuropsychological approaches to attachment theory are examined.     

Body talk: somatic countertransference

This article focuses on a clinically observed event: the impact of the analytic session on the corporeality of the psychotherapist. The author sees this as an example of countertransference, in this instance ‘somatic countertransference’. Short and long clinical extracts are used to detail these events. The author touches on some early ideas on somatizing. The Kleinian concept of projective identification is itself explored and then used to explore further the idea of somatic countertransference.     

Measuring the quality of the sibling relationship during middle childhood: The psychometric properties of the Sibling Relationship Inventory

To address a significant gap in the literature on sibling relationships, the present study examined the psychometric properties of the Sibling Relationship Inventory (SRI) in an Italian sample. The study had three main aims: (i) to investigate the factorial structure of the SRI; (ii) to evaluate the invariance of the SRI's factorial structure across birth order; and (iii) to test the SRI's validity. To this end 385 children, 213 first-borns and 172 second-borns (aged 6 to 12) were recruited. Confirmatory factor analyses showed a three-factor structure identical to that reported by the authors of the SRI. Critically, the SRI structure was stable when first- and second-borns were considered separately. Overall, the Italian version of the SRI showed good psychometric properties.     

When love is not blind: Rumination impairs implicit affect regulation in response to romantic relationship threat

The present research examined how rumination influences implicit affect regulation in response to romantic relationship threat. In three studies, the disposition to ruminate impaired the ability to maintain positive feelings about the romantic partner in the face of explicit or implicit reminders of relationship threatening events. In Study 1, a high disposition to ruminate was correlated with impaired down-regulation of negative feelings toward the partner in response to a hurtful relationship incident. Two follow-up studies manipulated relationship threat explicitly through an experiential recall procedure (Study 2) or implicitly through a subliminal evaluative-conditioning procedure (Study 3). In both studies only individuals with low disposition to ruminate were able to ward off negative feelings and maintain positive feelings toward the partner. These findings illuminate the role of implicit affect regulation in the context of relationship threat—and how it is inextricably connected with the processes underlying rumination.     

Social anxiety and self-protective communication style in close relationships

People with higher social anxiety tend to reveal less information about themselves in interactions with strangers, and this appears to be part of a self-protective strategy adopted in situations in which the risk of negative evaluation is judged to be particularly high. This research examined whether a similar style of communication may be adopted by people with higher social anxiety in their close relationships, and whether it may be associated with decrements in the quality (support, depth, conflict) of these relationships. Over 300 people from the community completed a series of online questionnaires measuring social anxiety and depression, and disclosure in and quality of their close friendships and romantic relationships. After controlling for levels of depression, social anxiety was associated with a paucity of disclosure in both romantic relationships and close friendships in females, but not males. There was an indirect association between higher social anxiety and lower relationship quality (lower support, with a trend towards greater conflict) via lower self-disclosure in women's romantic relationships, but not their close friendships. Addressing disclosure in the context of close relationships may assist socially anxious women to develop more fulfilling and harmonious close relationships.