Comparative evaluation of therapeutic components associated with behavioral marital treatments.

Investigated the relative effectiveness of 3 therapeutic components common to behavioral marital therapies: procedures designed to change behavior, procedures to change attitudes, and nonspecific therapeutic effects. A hierarchical ordering of these components produced 3 treatment conditions—nonspecific, behavioral, and behavioral–attitudinal. 77 20–72 yr old couples experiencing marital distress were randomly assigned to 1 of the 3 treatment conditions and 1 of 5 paraprofessional counselors. After 4 therapy sessions, the groups were compared on measures of self-reported satisfaction (Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Test, Areas of Change Questionnaire and Adjective Check List), daily reported pleasing (or displeasing) relationship events (Spouse Observation Checklist), and observations of communication skillfulness (Marital Interaction Coding System). All groups showed significant decreases in negative relationship behaviors. The behavioral–attitudinal group, compared to the other groups, showed significantly greater improvement in reported marital satisfaction, pleasing behaviors, and positive communication responses. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parents' hostility in dyadic marital and triadic family settings and children's behavior problems.

The authors examined the relation between parents' hostility during conflict-focused discussions and child behavior problems. Parents engaged in 3 discussions: a dyadic marital discussion of marital disagreements, a dyadic marital discussion of child-related disagreements, and a triadic family discussion with the child about the child-related disagreements. Eighty-nine 2-parent community families with a child aged 9–13 years participated. A significant 3-way interaction between interparental hostility, parent-to-child hostility, and child sex accounted for variance in children's behavior problems. Among boys, higher levels of parent-to-child hostility during family discussions exacerbated the effects of interparental hostility on boys' adjustment. Thus, exposure to higher levels of both interparental and parent-to-child hostility may put boys at risk for developing internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Siblings of military servicemembers: A qualitative exploration of individual and family systems reactions.

How does having a sibling in the military affect young adults? Despite increasing attention to the challenges faced by spouses and children of servicemembers, the siblings of servicemembers have been largely ignored in the existing literature. This qualitative investigation uses unstructured narratives to explore siblings' perceptions of changes in their lives and changes in the family of origin associated with having a family member enlist in the United States military. Thematic analyses revealed an acute period of conflict followed by reorganization, awareness of the parents' distress, changes in the emotional climate of the family, shifts in family roles, admiration for the military sibling, and increased meaning and purpose for the family following the servicemember's enlistment. Computer-assisted text analyses revealed both positive and negative emotional expressions associated with the siblings' military service. For professional psychologists who come into contact with siblings of servicemembers, it is important to recognize that military enlistment can have ripple effects and complicate other common individual and family stresses. More generally, it is important to provide siblings and the family of origin with information about what to expect during and after the servicemember's enlistment, especially since these families may lack support from and contact with others going through similar transitions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Observed sibling interaction: Links with the marital and the mother–child relationship.

The study examines whether the link between the marital relationship and sibling interaction is direct or mediated by the mother–child relationship. Seventy-three same-sex sibling pairs aged 3 years 6 months to 8 years 6 months were observed during free play. Mothers completed questionnaires assessing marital functioning and their relationship with their 2 children. Results indicated that older siblings' negative behavior is linked with negative dimensions of the marital and the mother–child relationship, whereas younger siblings' negative behavior is linked with the mother–child and the differential mother–child relationship. Siblings' positive behavior, although linked with spacing, is not linked with positive dimensions of family interaction. Most important, the linkage between negative marital relations and older siblings' negative behavior was found to be mediated by maternal power assertion, thereby supporting the indirect model of negative family interaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Marital aggression, observed parental hostility, and child behavior during triadic family interaction.

This study used direct observation to examine how a history of exposure to interparental aggression relates to children's behavior during conflict with both parents present. Ninety 2-parent families with a child 9–13 years of age participated. Consistent with a sensitization hypothesis, results indicated that exposure to interparental physical aggression during the previous year was related to child withdrawal, anxiety, and distraction during a family discussion task. In addition, the interaction between reported interparental aggression and observed child-directed hostility accounted for significant variance in boys' behavior. Follow-up correlation analyses revealed that boys who had been exposed to physical marital aggression were more anxious and distracting when their parents were more hostile toward them during the discussion, whereas boys who had not been exposed withdrew more. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Specificity in social support: Perceptions of helpful and unhelpful provider behaviors among irritable bowel syndrome, headache, and cancer patients.

Perceived social support was assessed among 53 patients suffering from non-life-threatening chronic illnesses (i.e., irritable bowel syndrome or recurrent headache). Ss recalled predominantly helpful support interactions and reported the 3 major types of social support as equally helpful. In addition, irritable bowel syndrome patients, who experience embarrassing physical symptoms, reported fewer instances of tangible assistance than chronic headache patients. Comparisons to cancer patients studied by G. A. Dakof and S. E. Taylor (see record 1990-15055-001) revealed differences in perceived social support as a function of diagnosis. These results offer insight into the needs of patients with noncatastrophic illnesses and suggest that the challenges and tasks confronting these individuals are unique from those encountered by patients with catastrophic diseases. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interparental agreement on child behavior problems.

Interparental agreement (IA) on child behavior problems was studied by having parents in 137 families complete the Child Behavior Checklist (CBC) for their children (aged 3–13 yrs). IA on specific behavior problems was low. Mothers consistently reported more problem behavior than fathers, but parents did not show different levels of agreement for boys and girls. Discrepancies between parental reports of problem behavior, but not kappa scores, increased as the distress level of the family increased. CBC items rated high for objectivity, observability, molecularity, disturbance, and social undesirability generally obtained higher levels of parental agreement than items rated low for these qualities. Some evidence indicated that items on the externalizing scale of the checklist achieve higher agreement and are more objective, observable, and socially undesirable than items on the internalizing scale. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ethical and legal considerations in marital and family therapy.

Notes insufficiencies in the American Psychological Association's ethical standards for marriage and family therapy. Guidelines regarding therapist responsibility, confidentiality, and informed consent sometimes become ambiguous with individual clients, but they are even more complicated when multiple family members are seen together in therapy. Questions about confidentiality, refusal of treatment, and value of conflicts between the family members and the therapist may arise. Consideration of these questions in terms of their ethical implications is complex and controversial. Yet answers to these questions must also take into account clinical and legal considerations, which sometimes run a collision course with what is desirable from a strictly ethical standpoint. Examples and preliminary recommendations with respect to these issues are examined; further clarification of professional conduct in marital and family therapy is urged. (45 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Areas of Change Questionnaire: A practical approach to marital assessment.

This study investigates the Areas of Change Questionnaire (AC), a cost-efficient inventory that assesses marital partners' presenting complaints, their perceptions of one another's complaints, and perceptual accuracy between actual and perceived complaints. Psychometric and normative questions related to the AC were examined for 163 couples, 136 of whom met stringent criteria to be categorized as distressed or nondistressed. From a psychometric perspective, substantial support is offered for the concurrent validity of the AC as a measure of overall marital adjustment, but less evidence exists for its convergent validity with reports of daily marital events. The normative data reveal that (a) distressed, compared to nondistressed, couples want more change, perceive that more change is desired of them, and show greater perceptual accuracy; (b) women, compared to men, exhibit a greater intensity and range of requests and less perceptual accuracy; and (c) length of marriage is a significant factor influencing spouses' actual and perceived requests for change. The implications of these findings for use of the AC and for greater understanding of marital relationships are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Variability in outcome and clinical significance of behavioral marital therapy: A reanalysis of outcome data.

Reanalyzed the data from the following studies evaluating the effectiveness of behavioral marital therapy to see what proportion of couples improved and how many join the ranks of happily married couples: D. H. Baucom (see record 1982-21665-001), K. Hahlweg et al (see record 1983-26163-001), N. S. Jacobson (see record 1984-21130-001), and G. Margolin and R. L. Wiess (see record 1979-26577-001). Data on 148 couples showed that slightly more than half improved and deterioration was rare. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)