Prevention of marital distress: Results of a German prospective longitudinal study.

This article reports on the development and long-term evaluation of a marital distress prevention program for German couples, the Ein Partnerschaftliches Lernprogramm (EPL, A Couple's Learning Program). The EPL is a 6-session program designed to teach couples effective communication and problem-solving skills. In the current article, the EPL is evaluated in a prospective, quasi-experimental, controlled trial. The results of the 3-year follow-up are reported, contrasting 55 EPL couples with a control group of 17 couples. Significant differences emerged with regard to the couples' dissolution rates, relationship satisfaction, and positive and negative communication behavior favoring the EPL couples. These results demonstrate the utility of the EPL program in assisting happy couples who are preparing for marriage. The implications of the findings for prevention research and for the dissemination of prevention programs are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of behavioral marital therapy on couples' communication and problem-solving skills.

Videotaped 55 couples' (mean age 33.5 yrs) interacting and coded discussions of problem areas. 29 couples were being treated with behavioral marital therapy, 14 couples were in a waiting-control group, and 12 were nondistressed couples. Analysis showed that treated couples had significantly more positive and less negative behaviors than the control couples. The interaction patterns of treated Ss resembled the pattern exhibited by the nondistressed couples. However, it was also found that treated Ss appeared to react to aversive stimuli from their spouses. It is suggested that behavioral observation is valuable in improving therapeutic interventions on an empirical basis. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effectiveness of marital counseling in Germany: A contribution to health services research.

Despite its widespread use, marital counseling's effectiveness in field settings (e.g., in marital counseling agencies) is largely unknown. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of marital counseling in Germany in an uncontrolled, prospective health service research study using a battery of questionnaire measures (e.g., the Marital Satisfaction Inventory). In total, 84 counselors recruited 495 clients into the study. The attrition rate was high: Only 51% of the clients participated in the postassessment 6 months later, and only 24% of the original sample provided data for the 6-month follow-up. The pre-post comparisons resulted in significant improvements in several scales; however, the overall effect size (ES) was low ( M ES?=?0.28; 0.44 for follow-up completers). The implications of the results for future studies and for training marital counselors are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Short- and long-term effectiveness of an empirically supported treatment for agoraphobia.

This study examined the effectiveness of individual high-density exposure (2–3 weeks, all day) for panic disorder with agoraphobia (PDAG). Participants were 416 unselected patients with a primary diagnosis of PDAG who were treated by 52 therapists in 3 outpatient clinics of the Christoph-Dornier Foundation of Clinical Psychology in Germany. Results 6 weeks after the end of therapy and at the 1-year follow-up showed highly significant reductions in anxiety symptoms, anxious cognition, agoraphobic avoidance, general symptomatology, and depressive symptoms. Results did not differ significantly between the 3 outpatient clinics and are comparable with the average effect sizes reported by meta-analytic studies of controlled efficacy research, using selected patients and specifically trained therapists. Effectiveness was not dependent on duration of disorder, number of treatment sessions, and therapist experience. The study suggests that high-density exposure can be transported from research settings to the mental health field. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expressed emotion and patient-relative interaction in families of recent onset schizophrenics.

Examines the interaction patterns of relatives of young, recent onset schizophrenic patients classified as displaying either high or low expressed emotion (EE) by two measures, the original Camberwell interview method and a recently developed brief method. The former was administered during the hospitalization period and the latter was administered approximately 2 months later when the patient was in the community. Family interactions were coded with an observational coding system that permitted sequential patterns to be analyzed as a function of the EE status of the family. No relation between the Camberwell EE rating and interactional behavior was found. However, high EE-critical relatives, defined by the brief EE method, were more negative in direct interactions than low EE relatives or high EE relatives classified as emotionally overinvolved. Sequential analyses indicated that high EE-critical relatives showed extreme negative escalation patterns. Patients' reactions to high EE-critical relatives were characterized by self-justification and negative nonverbal behavior. (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)     

Predicting marital distress and dissolution: Refining the two-factor hypothesis.

Measures of communication, hostility, and neuroticism taken from 85 couples from Germany before marriage were used to predict marital outcomes 5 years later. Hostility and neuroticism discriminated between couples who separated or divorced after 5 years and those who remained married, whereas communication discriminated between married-satisfied and married- dissatisfied couples. Only hostility and neuroticism predicted marital satisfaction at 18 months, suggesting that these factors contribute to rapid, early declines in marital functioning. The authors conclude that poor communication alone cannot account for the full range of marital outcomes and that skill-based models of marriage can be strengthened by considering relatively rare exchanges between partners (e.g., aggression) and their enduring vulnerabilities (e.g., neuroticism). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effectiveness of behavioral marital therapy: Empirical status of behavioral techniques in preventing and alleviating marital distress.

This article uses meta-analyses to determine the effectiveness of behavioral marital therapy (BMT) and premarital intervention (BPI) studies. The effect size for the 17 BMT studies was .95 and for the 7 BPI studies was .79, and these gains were generally maintained over time. Cross-cultural comparisons of BMT indicated equal benefits for couples in Europe and the United States. For BMT, effect sizes were higher for comparisons with no treatment versus placebo control groups, whereas the reverse was true for BPI. For BMT, effect sizes were similar for observational and self-report measures, whereas for BPI, effect sizes were larger for observational versus self-report measures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

德国生态城市Erlangen

Erlangen城座落在德国南部,是著名的生态城市,文章通过对该城市生态建设的实践说明:公众如果能得到有关指导,他们都是乐于解决生态问题并做出有益于环境的举措的。     

Long-term prediction of marital quality following a relationship education program: Being positive in a constructive way.

Relationship education programs such as Ehevorbereitung--Ein Partnerschaftliches Lernprogramm (Premarital Preparation--A Couples' Learning Program) and the Relationship Education and Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP) can help prevent marital distress among newlyweds. Thus, it is important to understand which couples respond best to the intervention and which couples respond less well. E. A. Schilling, D. H. Baucom, C. K. Burnett, E. A. Allen, and L. Ragland (2003) unexpectedly found that the more women increased positive communication in response to PREP, the more likely they were to become distressed in the subsequent 5 years. The current study explores similar issues, investigating a relationship education program in Germany. The current results indicate that couples are susceptible to future relationship distress if women demonstrate extreme increases in positive and decreases in negative communication after intervention. Implications are provided for adapting these relationship education programs in the future. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)