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Family, Life Course, and Society

Theses and Dissertations

Couple therapy

Articles 1 - 9 of 9

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Dropout In Couple Therapy: An Exploration Of The Trajectories Of Couples Dropping Out, Ragan A. Lybbert Jun 2022

Dropout In Couple Therapy: An Exploration Of The Trajectories Of Couples Dropping Out, Ragan A. Lybbert

Theses and Dissertations

Dropout is a problematic phenomenon which wastes community, clinician, client, and researcher resources. Clients who dropout from therapy end up the same, or worse than, those who did not seek out therapy at all. While there is a relatively deep and broad understanding of dropout from individual therapy, an exhaustive review of couple therapy dropout literature reveals a very inconsistent and non-conclusive body of research. This may stem from a lack of a consistently used theory to guide research endeavors in this important realm. Primarily, this seems to stem from treating dropout as a static event rather than a process …


Physical Health As A Predictor Of Change In Self-Reported Presenting Problems In Couple Therapy, As Mediated By Emotional Regulation, Janette J. Driscoll Jul 2021

Physical Health As A Predictor Of Change In Self-Reported Presenting Problems In Couple Therapy, As Mediated By Emotional Regulation, Janette J. Driscoll

Theses and Dissertations

Recent literature in couple therapy has demonstrated the effects of physical health on some common presenting problems; however, few studies have considered progress as a construct on its own, irrespective of client-identified presenting problem. The current study used an Actor-Partner Interdependence Mediated Model to determine the connection between each partner's physical health and their own and their partner's self-reported progress in couple therapy, mediated by each partner's emotional regulation. Physical health was measured every four sessions using the Health-Related Quality of Life scale, and progress was measured by the Presenting Problem Progress Questionnaire given each time a couple attended therapy. …


Empathic Listening Processes In Couple Therapy: A Task Analysis Of Effective Interventions By Therapists In Training, Samuel Ryland Mar 2021

Empathic Listening Processes In Couple Therapy: A Task Analysis Of Effective Interventions By Therapists In Training, Samuel Ryland

Theses and Dissertations

Listening is a fundamental and deceptively complicated component of talk therapy that has received very little specific research attention. The work of Carl Rogers and others promotes the importance of empathic listening to create safety and process client experiences, and several models identify its importance in processing and regulating client emotions (especially in couple therapy, where empathic listening can disrupt rigid conflict cycles and model coregulation skills). Much of the dysregulation and resistance we see in therapy may be related to a perceived lack of safety caused by persistent conflict or previous trauma, explained by the unconscious processes of the …


Childhood Trauma And Attachment Theory: Estimating A Growth Curve Relationship Between Adverse Childhood Experiences And The Therapeutic Alliance, Connor C. Barham Jul 2020

Childhood Trauma And Attachment Theory: Estimating A Growth Curve Relationship Between Adverse Childhood Experiences And The Therapeutic Alliance, Connor C. Barham

Theses and Dissertations

The therapeutic alliance is a core element of successful treatment in therapy. Recent literature has explored variables that predict the alliance at various time points during therapy, but few studies have explored how the alliance develops over time and the factors that influence its rate of change. The current study addresses these questions by estimating latent growth-curve models to analyze how male and female partners' alliance scores develop over time and how adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) impact the development of the alliance during the first six sessions of therapy. Results from these analyses show that neither men nor women's ACEs …


Therapist Effects On Dropout In Couple Therapy, Kwin L. Willis Jun 2020

Therapist Effects On Dropout In Couple Therapy, Kwin L. Willis

Theses and Dissertations

Despite the strong efficacy of couple therapy, many couples still do not benefit from treatment. Marriage and family therapy scholars have argued that therapists play a crucial role in the delivery of successful couple therapy, yet little research has documented that the therapist in couple therapy has a significant impact on outcomes. Known as the study of therapist effects, this study sought to assess the amount of variance attributed to the therapist in couple therapy outcomes. Using dropout as the outcome variable, this study analyzed data from 1192 couples treated by 90 therapists at a university-based training clinic. Results from …


Coding Rupture Indicators In Couple Therapy (Crict): An Observational Coding Scheme, Annalisa Ward Carr Jul 2019

Coding Rupture Indicators In Couple Therapy (Crict): An Observational Coding Scheme, Annalisa Ward Carr

Theses and Dissertations

The therapeutic alliance, a construct representing agreement and collaboration on therapy goals, therapy tasks, and the emotional bond between client(s) and therapist, is a robust predictor of therapy outcomes in individual, couple, and family therapy. One way to track the therapeutic alliance is through ruptures and repairs. Ruptures are breaks, tensions, or tears in the therapeutic alliance. Ruptures and repairs influence the therapeutic alliance and consequently therapeutic outcomes. Currently, there is a lack of research addressing ruptures and repairs in couple therapy. The first step in researching alliance ruptures is to have a reliable way to assess alliance ruptures. This …


A Dyadic Analysis Of Couple Attachment Behaviors As Predictors Of Dietary Habits And Physical Activity Levels, Stephanie Young Mar 2014

A Dyadic Analysis Of Couple Attachment Behaviors As Predictors Of Dietary Habits And Physical Activity Levels, Stephanie Young

Theses and Dissertations

While there is substantial evidence that marriage impacts health, no studies have explicitly analyzed the association between attachment behaviors and health practices. This study examines the relationship between couples' attachment behaviors and health practices, as measured by physical activity levels and dietary habits. Couple data was analyzed from the RELATE database (n= 4,957 couples). An Actor Partner Interdependence Model, using a multinomial logistic regression, was used to examine the relationships between attachment behaviors and health practices, as measured by activity level and dietary habits. Results for actor paths indicate that wives' own attachment behaviors significantly influence their own health practices. …


Attachment Behaviors As Mediators Between Family-Of-Origin Quality And Couple Communication Quality In Marriage: Implications For Couples Therapy, Darin Justin Knapp Jun 2013

Attachment Behaviors As Mediators Between Family-Of-Origin Quality And Couple Communication Quality In Marriage: Implications For Couples Therapy, Darin Justin Knapp

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the mediating impact of couples' attachment behaviors on the relationship between poor quality family-of-origin experiences and marital communication quality. The couple data for this study was collected from the Relationship Evaluation (RELATE) database (see www.relate-institute.org). An Actor Partner Interdependence Model using structural equation modeling was used to evaluate 261 marriage relationships. Results indicated that the relationships between family-of-origin experiences and communication quality are significantly related, with more family-of-origin problems associated with poorer positive communication skills. When attachment behaviors (accessibility, responsiveness, and engagement) were added to the model, it significantly mediated the relationship. Implications for clinicians treating couples …


Enactments, Outcome, And Marital Therapy: A Pilot Study, Carianne Mitchell Jul 2008

Enactments, Outcome, And Marital Therapy: A Pilot Study, Carianne Mitchell

Theses and Dissertations

Unfulfilled attachment related needs and wants are viewed by many therapists as the heart of couple distress (Johnson & Whiffen, 2003; Johnson, 2004). As a result, efforts to discover and utilize therapeutic processes that encourage couples to identify and appropriately respond to their partner's core attachment needs and wants continue to increase. This study served as a pilot study for a planned, larger-scale investigation examining enactments as a potential best-practice change mechanism to strengthen secure attachment in marital therapy. Twelve couples were randomly assigned to one of two possible experimental groups. Group 1 experienced three therapist-centered therapy sessions, followed by …