Parental Division of Household Labour and Sibling Relationship Quality: Family Relationship Mediators

Research examining antecedents to sibling relationship quality have explored factors such as parenting and temperament (Brody, 1998); however, there has been no previous research on the topic of the current study. The present study used a cross‐informant approach to examine parent–child and marital relationships as potential mediators of links between parents' gendered attitudes and behaviours and sibling relationship quality. One hundred and twenty‐four families with older (M = 7.4 years) and younger (M = 5.2 years) siblings were assessed. Parents reported on division of household labour, gender‐role attitudes and marital satisfaction. Each child reported on sibling relationship quality and parental warmth and hostility. Results revealed a link between more egalitarian division of household labour and more positive sibling relationship quality. Furthermore, this association was not mediated by the marital nor parent–child relationship. We conclude that families with a more egalitarian division of household labour may model positive interactions for siblings. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Intercorrelations and developmental pathways of mothers' and fathers' loneliness during pregnancy,infancy and toddlerhood – STEPS study

Our aim was to study the inter‐correlations and developmental pathways of mothers' and fathers' social and emotional loneliness during pregnancy (20th pregnancy week), infancy (child aged 8 months), and early childhood (child aged 18 months). Moreover, we aimed to study whether mothers and fathers who have different developmental profiles (identified by latent growth curve mixture models) differ in their experiences of marital dissatisfaction (RDAS), social phobia (SPIN) and depression (BDI) during pregnancy. Both mothers' social and emotional loneliness and fathers' social and emotional loneliness were highly stable, and within individuals these loneliness factors were strongly correlated. However, the correlations between mothers' loneliness experiences and fathers' loneliness experiences were weaker than expected. Separate latent growth curve groups were identified, which differed in feelings of marital dissatisfaction, social phobia, and depression. These groupings revealed that the higher the loneliness was, the more the parents experience these other psychosocial problems.     

婚姻承诺与婚姻质量的关系:夫妻牺牲行为的中介作用

婚姻承诺和婚姻质量的关系近年来是婚姻研究领域关注的重要课题。承诺是保持婚姻的意愿,会导致婚姻中牺牲行为的产生。然而,承诺和牺牲对婚姻质量的影响至今并没有得到一致结论。那么,承诺对婚姻质量影响的不一致是否是因为牺牲所起作用的不一致导致?以往研究并没有得到探讨。为此,从北京选取389对夫妻,采用夫妻独立作答的方式,对他们的婚姻承诺,牺牲行为和婚姻质量进行测查,以探讨婚姻承诺、牺牲与婚姻质量的关系,以及牺牲在婚姻承诺和婚姻质量关系间的作用。结果发现:(1)丈夫对婚姻承诺和婚姻质量的感知显著高于妻子;并且丈夫比妻子报告有更多的"行动服务"上的牺牲行为。(2)夫妻的婚姻承诺对自身牺牲频率和婚姻质量均有显著预测作用,同时妻子的婚姻承诺还对丈夫的婚姻质量有显著预测作用。(3)丈夫的牺牲频率在丈夫婚姻承诺对自身婚姻质量的影响中起着完全中介作用。同时,丈夫的牺牲频率也能显著预测妻子感知到的婚姻质量,而妻子的牺牲频率在本身对双方的婚姻质量均无直接或间接的预测作用。说明丈夫的牺牲行为对婚姻关系有非常重要的作用。     

母亲感知的共同教养对幼儿行为问题的影响：一个有调节的中介模型

为探讨婚姻冲突在母亲感知的共同教养与儿童行为问题之间的中介作用,以及儿童心理韧性在其中的调节作用,本研究选取上海市2所幼儿园170名5岁儿童及母亲进行为期一年的追踪,结果发现:(1)母亲感知的共同教养与婚姻冲突、儿童行为问题呈显著负相关;(2)婚姻冲突在母亲感知的共同教养与儿童行为问题之间起中介作用;(3)儿童心理韧性在婚姻冲突影响儿童行为问题的关系中起调节作用,即儿童心理韧性调节了中介过程的后半段路径。上述结果表明,母亲感知的共同教养会通过婚姻冲突影响学龄前儿童行为问题,儿童拥有较高的心理韧性能够缓冲父母婚姻冲突对儿童行为问题的不良影响。     

Learning Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy: Four Clinicians' Perspectives

This study examined the experiences of four clinicians learning emotionally focused couple therapy (EFT). Two group interviews, separated by 6 years, explored topics that included emotion, gender, model differences, personal practitioner impact, and the long-term influence of EFT training on clinical work. Emotion emerged as a major theme, with three subthemes at each phase. Phase 1 results indicated an increase in personal awareness of emotions, a positive impact on close personal relationships, and challenges for males in learning to elicit and use emotion. Phase 2 results, 6 years later, revealed that focusing on emotions remained salient and that EFT continues to influence the work of each clinician to varying degrees. Limitations, future research suggestions, and clinical implications are discussed.     

Multiplicity Within and Between: Addressing Multiple Roles Through Role Profiles in Couples

The purpose of this study is to test the validity of a personality assessment, Role Profiles, by exploring the relationship between role balance and individual well-being and the relationship between couples’ role profiles similarity and their marital satisfaction. Twenty couples were recruited and completed the assessments. This study partially supported Role Profiles’ validity and the findings were consistent with previous studies: individuals with higher role confusion were more likely to report lower self-esteem, and couples who shared many identical roles in their roles profiles were more likely to report higher marital satisfaction. The utility of Role Profiles as a clinical assessment in couples therapy is discussed.     

Dysfunctional Beliefs and Marital Conflict in Distressed and Non-Distressed Married Individuals

To test the hypothesis that the irrational evaluative beliefs, postulated by Rational-emotive behavior therapy, are related to marital conflict, 17 individuals from distressed marriages and 20 from non-distressed marriages participated in the Articulated Thoughts during Simulated Situations procedure. Four scenes, representing different dimensions of marital conflict (power/control, boundaries, expressive investment and instrumental investment), were used. On all the scenes, the distressed group showed significantly more irrational cognitions than the non-distressed group, while the scenes elicited significantly more positive thoughts with the non-distressed individuals compared to the distressed group. The results also showed that the non-distressed group displayed significantly more positive than negative thoughts for all the conflict scenes combined. However, no significant difference between positive and negative thoughts was found for the distressed group.     

Problem Definition in Marital and Family Therapy: A Qualitative Study

This paper describes findings from a grounded theory study on the process of constructing problem definitions by marital and family therapists. Coding of the observations and interviews resulted in two meta-problem definition processes. In the first meta-process clinicians kept their definitions internal to themselves during the therapy session. In contrast, the second meta-definition process involved clinicians bringing forth their internal problem definitions and incorporating them into the therapeutic conversation. Implications for existing conceptualizations and marital and family therapy practice and supervision are discussed, as well as suggestions for further consideration.     

Narrative Process Coding System in Marital and Family Therapy: An Intensive Case Analysis of the Formation of a Therapeutic System

The aim of this study is to investigate whether the method (Narrative Processes Coding System) for studying the narrative sequences of individual psychotherapy developed by Angus and Hardtke (1994) can be applied in a family therapeutic process. According to the results narrative process coding system adds new dimensions and gives new depth in the narrative understanding of family therapeutic process. In micro-analytic interactional level it shows the complicated interactions between narration, plot, and narrative process type.     

Attributions for spousal behavior in relation to criticism and perceived criticism

This study examined relations between spousal attributions and criticism in a sample of 118 married couples. Spouses rated general perceived criticism (PC) and their own expressed criticism as well as interaction-specific PC from a videotaped discussion. Independent judges also coded criticism from the discussion. Spouses’ self-reported causal and responsibility attributions for hypothetical spousal negative behavior were related to all types of criticism. Attributions were also associated with unique variance in spouses’ reports of general PC and criticism, even after controlling either for judges’ or partners’ ratings of criticism and marital adjustment. General PC and expressed criticism appear to reflect more than either the amount of criticism present or feelings about the marriage; rather, general PC and expressed criticism are uniquely associated with the cause and responsibility ascribed to partners’ behavior.