Developing the couple perspective in parenting support: evaluation of a service initiative for vulnerable families

The importance of the relationship between parents is frequently underestimated by those designing and developing services to support parents in bringing up their children. Instead, the primary focus of recent family support initiatives in the United Kingdom has been on improving parenting skills. This article describes the outcomes of a project designed to maximize the effectiveness of parenting support to vulnerable families through sensitizing the workforce of a community‐based adult mental health agency to take account of the parental couple in providing postnatal support groups, parenting workshops and relationship counselling. Evaluating outcomes from these services suggests that a couple orientation adds significant value to the effectiveness of parenting support.     

夫妻沟通模式与婚姻质量的关系

本文拟采用主-客体互倚模型(Actor-partner interdependence model,APIM)的方法深入探讨夫妻双方感知到的夫妻间的沟通模式与其自身及配偶感知到的婚姻质量之间的关系。以方便取样的方式在澳门地区选取130对成年夫妻,采用Christensen等人修订的沟通模式调查问卷(Communication Pattern Questionnaire,CPQ)和Spanier编制的婚姻质量问卷(Dyadic Adjustment Scales,DAS),要求夫妻双方分别以自陈问卷的方式报告其感知到的沟通模式和婚姻质量。通过配对t检验、相关分析和结构方程模型统计分析发现:(1)夫妻间的沟通以建设性沟通为主,双方回避和要求/回避型沟通较少;丈夫感知到的婚姻质量总体上优于妻子感知到的婚姻质量。(2)夫妻双方在沟通模式和婚姻质量的感知上具有一致性,在沟通模式中的两个和婚姻质量中的三个分量表上的得分不存在显著差异。(3)夫妻间建设性沟通可以显著地正向预测自身感知到的婚姻质量;而双方回避和要求/回避型沟通则显著地负向预测自身感知到的婚姻质量。(4)在控制了丈夫、妻子感知到的沟通模式对其自身婚姻质量的主体效应之后,丈夫感知到的沟通模式可以显著地预测妻子感受到的婚姻质量;然而妻子感知到的沟通模式并不能显著地预测丈夫的婚姻质量。     

Ties that Bind: A Qualitative Study of Happy Long-Term Marriages

An abundance of literature exists concerning the marital relationship. While most research focuses on divorce and the social consequences of this phenomenon, more recently social scientists have focused on the marriages that remain intact. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into what factors make marriages last. This study used qualitative methodology to gain further insight into long-term marriages. Interviews were conducted with 15 heterosexual couples who had been married for at least 35 years and who identified their marriage as happy. Results indicate that for each couple the factors contributing to the longevity of their happy marriage were numerous and unique. While the most commonly mentioned factors included friendship, love, and similar backgrounds or interests, a wide range of responses were elicited.     

The Drama of Couples Therapy

In the author's view, the intensity of couples/family treatment arises from a suppressed acknowledgment of reciprocity, of interconnectedness among family members, beyond the often familiar dynamics of blaming and deprivation. Eliciting a recognition of profound interdependence raises anxiety, and stands in opposition to culturally prescribed concepts of autonomy and independence. To this end, a dramaturgical model of couples/family is proposed and discussed, involving the therapist's participation as director, witness or audience, and protagonist.     

An Ounce of Prevention: A Model for Working with Couples At-Risk for Battering

Literature on preventing spousal battering before it starts is virtually non-existent. This article describes a prevention of abuse program that targets couples at-risk for battering. At-risk couples and the process of engaging them in couples counseling are described. The prevention model is based on a Bowenian approach that focuses on partner differentiation and reducing emotionality and promoting rational thinking. It is assumed that increasing differentiation decreases the risk of spousal battering. The various techniques used to facilitate differentiation are presented as well as a case example illustrating a successful prevention of abuse experience.     

A Couple-Based Psychological Treatment for Chronic Pain and Relationship Distress

Chronic pain impacts individuals with pain as well as their loved ones. Yet, there has been little attention to the social context in individual psychological treatment approaches to chronic pain management. With this need in mind, we developed a couple-based treatment, “Mindful Living and Relating,” aimed at alleviating pain and suffering by promoting couples’ psychological and relational flexibility skills. Currently, there is no integrative treatment that fully harnesses the power of the couple, treating both the individual with chronic pain and the spouse as two individuals who are each in need of developing greater psychological and relational flexibility to improve their own and their partners’ health. Mindfulness, acceptance, and values-based action exercises were used to promote psychological flexibility. The intervention also targets relational flexibility, which we define as the ability to interact with one’s partner, fully attending to the present moment, and responding empathically in a way that serves one’s own and one’s partner’s values. To this end, the intervention also included exercises aimed at applying psychological flexibility skills to social interactions as well as emotional disclosure and empathic responding exercises to enhance relational flexibility. The case presented demonstrates that healthy coping with pain and stress may be most successful and sustainable when one is involved in a supportive relationship with someone who also practices psychological flexibility skills and when both partners use relational flexibility skills during their interactions.     

Couples' Disease: The Experience of Living with a Partner with Chronic Depression

This study is concerned with the impact of chronic depression on partners. Thirteen male and female participants who lived with a partner with chronic depression were interviewed. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings highlighted a need for caregivers to be more centrally involved in their partner's care, given that they face stigma, shifts in role identity, and uncertainty, which all potentially threaten the level of support they can give their partner. In this sense, depression might be described as a “couples disease,” suggesting that couples therapy and group support for partners should be more widely available to help reduce the burden on partners and potentially prevent relationship breakdown.     

Participant Perceptions of Relationship Education Programs Adapted for Same-Sex Couples

Mixed methods data were collected from 57 couples who participated in the Strengthening Same Sex Relationships (SSSR) Programs, relationship education programs adapted for same-sex couples. Quantitative and qualitative data yielded key themes, including high program satisfaction, appreciation that the program was designed specifically for same-sex couples, and requests for more detailed content addressing same-sex couples' unique needs. Participants expressed preferences for specialized programs for male or female same-sex couples. Women strongly preferred female sexual minority program leaders; men valued leader competency over match in gender or sexual orientation. Results can inform efforts to provide culturally sensitive relationship education to same-sex couples.     

The relation of family cohesion to marital adjustment

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between family cohesion and marital adjustment. The sample consisted of 70 married graduate students from the State University of New York at Buffalo. The Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale was used to measure family cohesion. The Dyadic Adjustment Scale was used to measure marital adjustment. The Demographic Data Sheet was used for demographic characteristics. Overall, the result of ANOVA with planned comparison revealed that high marital adjustment was not only associated with a moderate level of family cohesion but also associated with a high level of family cohesion.This article is based on the first author's doctoral dissertation at State University of New York at Buffalo.