A Personal Viewpoint on Training in Marital and Family Therapy.

In this article the author discusses some ideas about his philosophy of family therapy training, the place of the contextual approach in psychology, some of his experiences doing training in different settings, and some thoughts about national developments in family and marital therapy training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Marital Violence, Co-Parenting, and Family-Level Processes in Relation to Children's Adjustment.

Amultimethod approach was used to examine relations between marital violence, coparenting, and family-level processes and children's adjustment in a community-based sample of marital violence. Two hypotheses were tested, one in which family-level and co-parenting processes mediate relations between marital violence and child functioning and one in which marital violence and family-level/co-parenting processes function relatively independently in influencing children's adjustment. Observations of family processes were made within a triadic parent-child interaction, and several dimensions of children's socioemotional adjustment (i.e., peer relations, behavior problems) were examined. Results indicated that hostile-withdrawn co-parenting mediated the relations between marital violence and children's anxiety and depression. Marital violence, co-parenting, and family-level processes also functioned independently in predicting child outcome. Findings are discussed in terms of the family dynamics present in maritally violent homes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Survival Analysis in Family Research.

Within the field of family psychology, questions regarding the risk of event occurrence may be common. Such questions, about whether and when events occur and what predicts these occurrences, pose particular methodological challenges and are often best addressed via a statistical method known as survival analysis. This article provides a brief overview of that method, explicating through a data example the major components of a discrete-time survival analysis. Readers not familiar with this method are encouraged to use this article as an introduction to survival analysis and recognize its potential usefulness within the field of family psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Using Multilevel Models to Analyze Couple and Family Treatment Data: Basic and Advanced Issues.

Couple and family treatment data present particular challenges to statistical analyses. Partners and family members tend to be more similar to one another than to other individuals, which raises interesting possibilities in the data analysis but also causes significant problems with classical, statistical methods. The present article presents multilevel models (also called hierarchical linear models, mixed-effects models, or random coefficient models) as a flexible analytic approach to couple and family longitudinal data. The article reviews basic properties of multilevel models but focuses primarily on 3 important extensions: missing data, power and sample size, and alternative representations of couple data. Information is presented as a tutorial, with a Web appendix providing datasets with SPSS and R code to reproduce the examples. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adult Attachment and Marital Interaction as Predictors of Whole Family Interactions During the Transition to Parenthood.

This study examined the role of parental adult attachment and couples' prenatal and postnatal marital interactions in predicting the quality of family interactions 24 months after the birth of the couple's first child. Father's prenatal marital withdrawal and mother's postnatal marital withdrawal were associated with less adaptive family interactions at 24 months. Families with fathers who had an insecure attachment, as assessed by the Adult Attachment Interview, showed less positive and more negative interactions at 24 months, but only when there were higher levels of negative escalation in the couple's marriage prenatally. Findings are discussed in terms of the importance of exploring the transition to parenthood at the broader family level. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Narratives in and About Families: An Examination of Coding Schemes and a Guide for Family Researchers.

This article aims to provide the reader with a general overview of narrative methods as they apply to the study of family relationships. How narratives are collected and issues pertaining to training raters are considered. Scoring systems have been developed that code for thematic content, relative coherence, and co-constructive processes. Validity for these methods is examined through (a) concordance between narrative codes and directly observed behavior within similar domains, (b) links between narratives and self-report measures, and (c) the relation between narratives and psychological functioning. A guide for researchers in their consideration of adopting narrative methods is offered. The article concludes with a consideration of linking different coding schemes and challenges for future researchers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Representations of Early Family Relationships Predict Marital Maintenance During the Transition to Parenthood.

Marital maintenance, which involves engaging in behaviors that maintain closeness and is critical to sustaining marital satisfaction, was examined in 234 husbands and wives across the transition to parenthood. Prenatal assessments of adults' attachment representations and memories of their parents' marriage during childhood predicted perceptions of maintenance in their own marriage prenatally and 24 months postpartum. Adults who dismiss the importance of early attachment and lack believable memories of their parents' marriage reported the lowest levels of prenatal maintenance. Adults who are preoccupied with their early relationships with parents and have negative memories of their parents' marriage reported the sharpest declines in maintenance postpartum. Family interventions that can help couples recognize and explore problems that may accompany parenthood are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Methodology in Family Science: Introduction to the Special Issue.

Methodology influences every facet of scientific inquiry including the processes of framing questions, operationalizing constructs, sampling individuals within populations and observations within persons, analyzing data, and bringing meaning to the results. This introduction to the special issue on methodology emphasizes the recursive interaction of research methodology and theories underlying family science. Because the science of family psychology is richly complex, so too must the methods for examining couple and family phenomena be equally diverse. Articles comprising this special issue vary in their emphasis on research design versus data-analytic techniques and on confirmatory versus discovery-oriented strategies. The special issue is intended to advance not only the conduct of family science but also the understanding and integration of an increasingly complex research literature by those engaged in education and clinical interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multilevel Methods for Modeling Observed Sequences of Family Interaction.

Observation of interaction plays a central role in family research. This article discusses how to analyze sequential data generated by discrete microcoding methods to test hypotheses about family interaction. Current methods for studying sequential data are presented, and their limits are discussed. Building on recent applications of contingency table analysis to such data, a multilevel log-linear model is presented that can specify and estimate indicators of individual behavioral tendencies and antecedent-consequent relationships among behaviors, both within and across samples of families. An example of this method is presented using data from a study of couples facing job loss. Potential extensions of this framework for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Associations Between Coparenting and Marital Behavior From Infancy to the Preschool Years.

This study examined the associations between coparenting and marital behavior from infancy to the preschool years. Coparenting and marital behavior were assessed in 46 families during observations of family play and marital discussions at 6 months and 3 years. Both coparenting and marital behavior showed moderate stability from 6 months to 3 years. In addition, coparenting and marital behavior were more consistently associated at 3 years than at 6 months. When the predictive capabilities of early coparenting and marital behavior for later coparenting and marital behavior were considered, early coparenting predicted later marital behavior but not vice versa. This study highlights the importance of early coparenting behavior, especially undermining coparenting behavior, for understanding both subsequent coparenting behavior and subsequent marital behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Change Process Research in Couple and Family Therapy: Methodological Challenges and Opportunities.

In our field, the study of therapeutic change processes lags behind the study of treatment efficacy. Nonetheless, in the past 10 years major strides have been made in delineating change process mechanisms in couple and family therapy. To focus the efforts of future change process researchers, the authors discuss 5 critical needs: (a) more well-articulated, midrange theory about systemic change processes; (b) more attention to client change processes; (c) more attention to covert intrapersonal processes (emotion, cognition, and clients' experience of the alliance); (d) better articulation of strategies for analyzing data from multiple participants; and (e) more focus on the degree to which various change processes work similarly (or not) for diverse couples and families. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family Functioning and Children's Adjustment: Associations Among Parents' Depressed Mood, Marital Hostility, Parent-Child Hostility, and Children's Adjustment.

Relations between parents' depressed mood, marital conflict, parent-child hostility, and children's adjustment were examined in a community sample of 136 ten-year-olds and their parents. Videotaped observational and self-report data were used to examine these relations in path analyses. A proposed model was tested in which mothers' and fathers' depressed mood and marital hostility were associated with children's adjustment problems through disruptions in parent-child relationships. Results showed that both mothers' and fathers' marital hostility were linked to parent-child hostility, which in turn was linked to children's internalizing problems. Fathers' depressed mood was linked to children's internalizing problems indirectly through father-child hostility. Fathers' depressed mood was directly linked to children's externalizing problems and indirectly linked through father-child hostility. For mothers, marital hostility was directly linked to children's externalizing problems, and marital hostility in fathers was indirectly linked to children's externalizing problems through father-child hostility. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family Processes Within Three-Generation Households and Adolescent Mothers' Satisfaction With Father Involvement.

This investigation used a family systems perspective to examine how family dynamics within 3-generation households were associated with mothers' satisfaction with father involvement. The participants were low-income African American adolescent mothers (n=148) and grandmothers recruited at delivery and followed over 6 months. The overall model explained 68% of the variance in satisfaction with father involvement. Fathers who were involved with caregiving activities had positive relationships with adolescent mothers and grandmothers. Grandmothers served as gatekeepers; when grandmothers reported positive relationships with the 2 young parents, adolescent mothers reported positive relationships with their male partners. Mothers who reported positive partner relationships also reported high parenting efficacy and satisfaction with father involvement. Efforts to increase paternal involvement should focus on role clarification for grandmothers and fathers and on parenting activities for mothers and fathers, regardless of their romantic relationship. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mixed Methods Research Designs in Counseling Psychology.

With the increased popularity of qualitative research, researchers in counseling psychology are expanding their methodologies to include mixed methods designs. These designs involve the collection, analysis, and integration of quantitative and qualitative data in a single or multiphase study. This article presents an overview of mixed methods research designs. It defines mixed methods research, discusses its origins and philosophical basis, advances steps and procedures used in these designs, and identifies 6 different types of designs. Important design features are illustrated using studies published in the counseling literature. Finally, the article ends with recommendations for designing, implementing, and reporting mixed methods studies in the literature and for discussing their viability and continued usefulness in the field of counseling psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Time and Place for Qualitative and Mixed Methods in Counseling Psychology Research.

The authors are pleased to present this special issue of the Journal of Counseling Psychology (JCP) on qualitative and mixed methods research. The major goal of the special issue is to introduce a variety of qualitative and mixed methods approaches to counseling psychologists and to encourage their increased application in research. This special issue of JCP is a call to counseling researchers to increase their dialogue over philosophy of science, research paradigms, and methodological diversity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cluster Analysis in Family Psychology Research.

This article discusses the use of cluster analysis in family psychology research. It provides an overview of potential clustering methods, the steps involved in cluster analysis, hierarchical and nonhierarchical clustering methods, and validation and interpretation of cluster solutions. The article also reviews 5 uses of clustering in family psychology research: (a) deriving family types, (b) studying families over time, (c) as an interface between qualitative and quantitative methods, (d) as an alternative to multivariate interactions in linear models, and (e) as a data reduction technique for small samples. The article concludes with some cautions for using clustering in family psychology research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Marital conflict typology and children's appraisals: The moderating role of family cohesion.

Intense and frequent marital conflict is associated with greater appraisals of threat and self-blame in children, but little else is known about contextual factors that might affect appraisals. Systemic family theories propose that to understand child adaptation, it is necessary to understand the interconnected nature of family subsystem relationships. In a sample of 257 families with 8- to 12-year-old children, this study examined whether a four-level typology of marital conflict management was related to children's perceptions of marital conflict and their appraisals of perceived threat and self-blame. In addition, family cohesion was tested as a moderator of the relationship between marital conflict style and children's appraisals. Observational coding was used to group couples into Harmonious, Disengaged, Conflictual-Expressive, and Conflictual-Hostile groups. Children's report of the intensity, frequency, and degree of resolution of interparental discord corresponded well with observers' ratings. The relationship between marital conflict style and appraisals of threat and self-blame was moderated by family cohesiveness. At high levels of family cohesiveness, no group differences were found for either perceived threat or self-blame, whereas when family cohesiveness was low, threat was higher for the Harmonious and Conflictual-Hostile groups, as compared to the Conflictual-Expressive group, and self-blame was higher for both conflict groups (expressive and hostile), as compared to the Disengaged group. The results provide further evidence of interconnected nature of family subsystem relationships and the importance of distinguishing among different approaches to marital conflict management for understanding the complex and perhaps subtle but meaningful effects different family system factors have on child adaptation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Marital interaction and depression": Correction to Schmaling and Jacobson.

Reports an error in "Marital interaction and depression" by Karen B. Schmaling and Neil S. Jacobson (Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1990[Aug], Vol 99[3], 229-236). In this article, the measures in Table 1 were incorrectly listed. The third and fourth measures ought to read "Wife DAS" and "Husband DAS," respectively. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1991-01471-001.) In this article, patterns of marital interaction as a function of depression and marital satisfaction are examined. The purpose of the study was to separate dysfunctional marital interaction patterns that were unique to depression from those that were associated with marital distress. The presence or absence of a depressed wife was crossed with level of marital satisfaction (distressed or nondistressed) to produce four groups of subject couples. Couples in which the wife was depressed exhibited more depressive behavior than did nondepressed couples, but only during discussion of a high conflict (as opposed to neutral) topic. Sex?×?Depression Level?×?Marital Satisfaction interactions were found for aggressive behavior: Depressed women in nondistressed relationships exhibited behavior that was characteristic of maritally distressed couples (high rates of aggression). In contrast, the husbands of these women exhibited behavior that one would expect in happily married couples (low rates of aggression). We failed to replicate previous findings that depressive behavior served a coercive function, although distressed couples, regardless of depression status, exhibited all the usual signs of negative dysfunctional interaction. [An erratum for this article will appear in Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1990 (Nov), Vol 99(4). The measures in Table 1 were incorrectly listed in the original article.] (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Methodological advances in family psychology research: Introduction to the special section.

This article introduces a special section in the Journal of Family Psychology on methodological advances in family psychology research. The need for innovative methodologies to capture the richness and complexity of family relationships and to advance the field is discussed. Articles that address the application of mathematical modeling of couple interactions, methods for analyzing sequential observational data, the application of multivariate analysis of variance and confirmatory factor analysis, the application of hierarchical linear modeling, and the use of experimental methods for the study of family process are included in the special section. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)