Recoupling in Mid‐Life and Beyond: From Love at Last to Not So Fast

Divorce rates have dropped in the United States, except for couples over 50 where they are rising steeply, along with rates of late‐life recoupling. Both stepcouples and their young adult and adult children in new older stepfamilies are often surprised to find themselves facing many of the same challenges that younger stepfamilies do. Some challenges are even intensified by the decades‐long relationships and additional layers of extended family that come with recoupling after mid‐life. Stepfamilies formed in later life must also negotiate decisions about estate planning and elder care among stakeholders who often have sharply divergent agendas before there is time to establish trusting relationships. This article describes the “normal” challenges facing stepcouples who come together over age 50. It provides evidence‐informed guidance for therapists in meeting these challenges on three levels of clinical work: Psychoeducational, Interpersonal, and Intrapsychic/Intergenerational. As in younger stepfamilies, “family therapy” must usually begin in subsystems—often the adult stepcouple and parent–adult child. The article then describes a particularly fraught subgroup of recouplers: over‐50 fathers and their new partners, where the dad's young adult or adult daughter is very unhappy with his new relationship. In these latter stepfamilies, father–daughter repair must precede stepfamily bonding. Stepfamilies that are preceded by a partner's death and those that begin with affairs are also discussed. Finally, some “easy wrong turns” for therapists are described.     

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.     

A Population‐Based Comparison of Female and Male Same‐Sex Parent and Different‐Sex Parent Households

This investigation compared Dutch same‐sex parent and different‐sex parent households on children's psychological well‐being, parenting stress, and support in child rearing. It was also assessed whether associations among children's well‐being, parenting stress, and support in child rearing were different in the two household types. Data were based on a nationally representative survey (N = 25,250). Matching was used to enhance similarity in background characteristics between both types of families. Parental and child characteristics were matched for 43 female same‐sex parent, 52 male same‐sex parent, and 95 different‐sex parent households with offspring between 5 and 18 years old. No significant differences were found on children's well‐being, problems in the parent–child relationship, being worried about the child, or the use of formal and informal support between mothers in same‐sex and different‐sex parent households or for fathers in same‐sex and different‐sex parent households. Regarding perceived confidence in child rearing, fathers in same‐sex parent households and mothers in different‐sex parent households felt less competent than their counterparts. Neither the associations between children's well‐being and the predictors (parenting stress variables) nor those between support and the predictors (parenting stress and children's well‐being) differed along household type. In this population‐based study, the similarity in child outcomes regardless of household type confirms the results of prior investigations based on convenience samples. These findings are pertinent to family therapists, practitioners, court officials, and policymakers who seek information on parenting experiences and child outcomes in female and male same‐sex parent families.     

Co‐Occurring Trajectory of Mothers’ Substance Use and Psychological Control and Children's Behavior Problems: The Effects of a Family Systems Intervention

This study examined the effects of a family systems therapy (Ecologically‐Based Family Therapy [EBFT]) on the co‐occurring trajectory of mothers’ substance use and psychological control, and its association with children's problem behaviors. Participants included 183 mothers with a substance use disorder who had at least one biological child in their care. Mothers were randomly assigned to one of the three intervention conditions: EBFT—home, n = 62; EBFT—office, n = 61; or Women's Health Education, n = 60. Participants were assessed at baseline, 3, 6, 12, and 18 months post‐baseline. A dual‐trajectory class growth analysis identified three groups of mothers in regard to their change trajectories. The majority of the mothers exhibited a synchronous decrease in substance use and psychological control (n = 107). In all, 46 mothers exhibited a synchronous increase in substance use and psychological control. For the remaining 30 mothers, substance use and psychological control remained stable. Mothers in the family therapy condition were more likely to show reduced substance use and psychological control compared to mothers in the control condition. Moreover, children with mothers who showed decreased substance use and psychological control exhibited lower levels of problem behaviors compared to children with mothers showing increased substance use and psychological control. The findings provide evidence for the effectiveness of family systems therapy, EBFT, in treating mothers’ substance use, improving parenting behaviors, and subsequently improving child behavioral outcomes.     

Sacred Practices and Family Processes in a Jewish Context: Shabbat as the Weekly Family Ritual Par Excellence

The present article provides a deep and more focused look at the utility, meaning, processes, and power involved in a specific, family‐level, sacred practice or ritual from Judaism: Shabbat (Sabbath). Content analysis of in‐depth interviews with 30 diverse, marriage‐based Jewish families living in the United States (N = 77 individuals) yielded three emergent themes: (a) “Shabbat brings us closer together”; (b) How Shabbat brings the family together; and (c) The Power of Blessing the Children. These themes will be discussed respectively, along with related verbatim data from participants’ in‐depth qualitative interviews.     

Coparenting Conflict and Academic Readiness in Children of Teen Mothers: Effortful Control as a Mediator

Children's exposure to coparenting conflict has important implications for their developmental functioning, yet limited work has focused on such processes in families with diverse structures or ethnically and culturally diverse backgrounds. This longitudinal study examined the processes by which Mexican‐origin adolescent mothers' coparenting conflict with their 3‐year‐old children's grandmothers and biological fathers (N = 133 families) were linked to children's academic and social skills at 5 years of age, and whether children's effortful control at 4 years of age mediated the link between coparenting conflict and indices of children's academic readiness. Findings revealed that adolescent mothers' coparenting conflict with their child's biological father was linked to indices of children's academic and social school readiness through children's effortful control among girls, but not boys, whereas conflict with grandmothers was directly linked to boys' and girls' social functioning 2 years later. Findings offer information about different mechanisms by which multiple coparenting units in families of adolescent mothers are related to their children's outcomes, and this work has important implications for practitioners working with families of adolescent mothers.     

Couples with Intimate Partner Violence Seeking Relationship Help: Associations and Implications for Self‐Help and Online Interventions

In‐person conjoint treatments for relationship distress are effective at increasing relationship satisfaction, and newly developed online programs are showing promising results. However, couples reporting even low levels intimate partner violence (IPV) are traditionally excluded from these interventions. To improve the availability of couple‐based treatment for couples with IPV, the present study sought to determine whether associations with IPV found in community samples generalized to couples seeking help for their relationship and whether web‐based interventions for relationship distressed worked equally well for couples with IPV. In the first aim, in a sample of 2,797 individuals who were seeking online help for their relationship, the levels and correlates of both low‐intensity and clinically significant IPV largely matched what is found in community samples. In the second aim, in a sample of 300 couples who were randomly assigned to a web‐based intervention or a waitlist control group, low‐impact IPV did not moderate the effects of the intervention for relationship distress. Therefore, web‐based interventions may be an effective (and easily accessible) intervention for relationship distress for couples with low‐intensity IPV.     

Marital Interactions,Family Intervention,and Disagreements: A Daily Diary Study in a Low‐income Sample

Little research has examined associations between low‐income married couples’ daily interactions and severity of disagreements. Similarly, few researchers have considered how family‐strengthening interventions for low‐income couples may affect the quality of daily interactions and associations between interactions and conflict experiences. This study aims to fill these gaps in the literature by leveraging daily diary data from a random assignment study of a family‐strengthening intervention with low‐income husbands and wives 30 months postenrollment. Married couples randomly assigned to the intervention participated in 10 weeks of relationship education services. Control group couples received no services. Thirty months postrandom assignment, participants reported on the severity of daily marital disagreements over a 15‐day period, as well as their positive and negative emotions during inter‐spousal interactions. Multi‐level models demonstrated associations between reports of emotions in interactions and severity of disagreements. In addition, wives assigned to the family strengthening program reported fewer negative emotions during interactions at follow‐up than wives in the control condition. Finally, negative associations between positive emotions in interactions and severity of disagreements were stronger for wives assigned to the intervention, while positive associations between negative emotions in interactions and severity of disagreements were weaker for wives assigned to the intervention. Implications for future research and intervention development are discussed.     

Brain activation patterns in response to complex triggers in the Word Association Test: results from a new study in the United States

C.G. Jung's theory of psychological complexes lies at the root of analytical psychology theory and practice. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) provides a powerful tool to validate the theory of complexes and eludicate the neuropsychologic mechanisms underlying the unconscious activation of significant memories. In this study, using fMRI, we identify two brain circuits which are activated in response to complex triggering words. Circuit one involves brain regions involved in episodic memory and somatic (body) responses and the experience of uncertainty. A second circuit involves episodic memory, emotion, visual and language association, and semiotic meaning. Specific brain regions include the right prefrontal cortex, SMA cortex, left temporal cortex, and the caudate and cingulate. These brain circuits may be thought of as the biological form in which complexes are experienced. Implications for analytic psychology practice and theory are discussed.     

L’anormalité du dommage : une notion juridique stabilisée ?

Medical liability, in accordance with liability law, is traditionally based on the triad of operative event, causal link and damage. The emergence of systems of no-fault liability gave rise to the concept of abnormal damage, which is a necessary condition for liability. In terms of medical liability, in 1958 the administrative courts ruled that this criterion was necessary in order to compensate medical damage in situations of liability for alleged misconduct, then from 1990 in situations of no-fault liability. This condition was extended to compensate medical hazard from 1993. The Court of Cassation refused to adopt a no-fault liability system, leading to unequal treatment. Thus, the law of March 4, 2002 created a system which, in situations of no-fault liability, allowed national solidarity to be engaged in the event of abnormal damage. However, the legislation did not clearly set out the character of this abnormality, and jurisprudential hesitation over this criterion has made compensation uncertain. In 2014, the administrative and judicial courts clarified their jurisprudence by adopting a more specific definition of this criterion of abnormality. However, a very restrictive view taken of this criterion means that many victims now risk being excluded from the scope of compensation. As such, this jurisprudential stability is perhaps but temporary.