"There may be a problem, but I'm not going because ": examining classes of men and their rationales for not seeking mental health treatment.

BACKGROUND: Men are less likely than women to seek out mental health treatment, despite men also having mental health struggles. AIM: We examined typologies of men's reasons for not seeking treatment even though they perceived a need for treatment. METHOD: We conducted a latent class analysis using a U.S. national sample of 836 men who specifically indicated a need for mental health services, but did not seek treatment from the National Study on Drug Use and Health. RESULTS: We identified three distinct types of men and their unique rationales for not seeking treatment: positive attitudes class, perceived high behavioral control class, and negative attitudes class. CONCLUSIONS: Unique strategies to market clinical services to each of the various needs and concerns of these types of men may prove more beneficial than a generic outreach approach. We encourage mental health professionals to proactively educate men about their services and aim to reduce barriers for men seeking treatment.

Development and Evaluation of a Component Level Implementation Fidelity Rating System for the GenerationPMTO Intervention.

Empirically determining the components of evidence-based interventions contributing to positive change is a crucial, yet understudied area of research. In support of this aim, we describe the development and evaluation of an observational rating system for measuring fidelity to specific components of the evidence-based GenerationPMTO parenting intervention. A five-step process was employed to systematically develop the rating system, which included consultation with the intervention developer and input from additional GenerationPMTO experts. The rating system was then tested using 247 h of video data from 184 parenting group intervention sessions. Study findings support the psychometric properties of the new measure with regard to item performance, reliability (i.e., inter-rater reliability of items, dimensionality of components, internal consistency of component scales), and validity (i.e., content validity, convergent validity, discriminant validity, and predictive validity of the component scales) for seven of the eight scales evaluated. The seven components include clear directions, skill encouragement, emotion regulation, limit setting, effective communication, problem solving, and monitoring. Data did not support the psychometric properties of the positive involvement scale. Overall, the ability to assess component-specific fidelity allows for a more nuanced examination of change processes, with meaningful implications for research and practice.

Trajectories of incarcerated coparenting: Examining differences across race and ethnicity.

Emerging research suggests that those coparenting with an incarcerated person experience multiple challenges. Examining incarcerated coparenting among minority fathers is especially salient as their incarceration rates are substantially higher than White males. This study utilized data from the Multi-Site Family Study on Incarceration, Parenting and Partnering Study to examine changes in coparenting relationships when the male partner was incarcerated. Theoretically guided by structural family therapy, latent growth models were used to evaluate trajectories of fathers' coparenting reliability and coparenting cohesion across 34 months. Results indicated average declines within incarcerated men's reported coparenting responsibility and coparenting cohesion with their partner. Incarcerated men with higher relationship quality at T1 was significantly associated with higher initial levels of coparenting cohesion and coparenting responsibility-but not with the trajectories of coparenting change. Incarcerated fathers identifying as Hispanic and Other declined at a significantly steeper rate in coparenting responsibility than Black and White incarcerated fathers. Clinical implications and future research directions are provided.

Investigating active ingredients of the GenerationPMTO intervention: Predictors of postintervention change trajectories in parenting practices.

Empirically determining the active ingredients of evidence-based parenting interventions is a promising means for strengthening interventions and enhancing their public health impact. This study aimed to determine which distinct ingredients of the GenerationPMTO (GenPMTO) intervention were associated with subsequent changes in parenting practices. Using a sample of 153 participants randomly assigned to the GenPMTO condition, we employed multilevel modeling to identify intervention ingredients empirically linked with change trajectories in parenting practices observed across the 2 years following intervention exposure. Coercive parenting and positive parenting outcomes were examined. Study results indicated that emotion regulation, effective communication, problem solving, and monitoring each demonstrated a significant pattern of findings for coercive parenting. Differential exposure to each of these ingredients significantly predicted the level of coercive parenting immediately postintervention and/or trajectories of change in coercive parenting across the subsequent 2-year period, controlling for coercive parenting at baseline. No significant predictors were found for positive parenting trajectories. Our findings suggest four components as active ingredients of the GenPMTO intervention for coercive parenting. Identification of these active ingredients may lead to strengthening future iterations of GenPMTO by expanding the set of core components specified in the model, which may further improve public health benefits. Implications for further understanding change stemming from evidence-based parenting interventions are also discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Suicidal ideation and behaviors in young adults: A latent profile analysis.

Suicide rates in the United States are climbing; thus, sophisticated methods that identify how risk and protective factors are associated with suicide risk are necessary. Young adults face an especially tumultuous period as they are maintaining relationships, having children, and building careers. A sample of young adults (n = 4,208) from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) was included in a latent profile analysis based on hypothesized risk (depressive symptoms, job demands, isolation, alcohol use, and childhood abuse) and protective indicators (relationship quality with parents and other adults, friendships, job satisfaction and alignment with goals, and religiosity). A three-profile solution yielded the following distinct profiles: Childhood Isolation (n = 594), Flourishing (n = 2,974), and Adult Isolation and Burdensomeness (n = 628). Participants in the Childhood Isolation profile were associated with an increased risk for suicidal ideation (OR = 1.61) but not for suicide attempts in the past year. Participants in the Adult Isolation and Burdensomeness profile were associated with high risk for suicidal ideation (OR = 3.53) as well as suicide attempts in the past year (OR = 2.70). The Flourishing profile was associated with a reduced risk for suicidal ideation (OR = 0.45) and past year suicide attempts (OR = 0.52). Results of this study emphasize the importance of understanding how risk and protective factors analyzed simultaneously provide new information about suicide risk in young adults. Prevention efforts addressing decreasing isolation and reducing burdensomeness are recommended for individuals at risk. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Identifying Different Ways People Change: A Latent Basis Growth Mixture Model Example Identifying Nonlinear Trajectories of Binge Drinking.

Our field of couple and family therapy focuses on change, different ways people change, and how therapists can facilitate change. Change can be modeled as an average trajectory-growth curve model-or as multiple classes of trajectories-growth mixture model. The field of MFT has not yet fully embraced implementing more advanced longitudinal modeling procedures to study what we care about most, change across time. To support our field moving in this direction, we provide a step-by-step description and example in Mplus software. Our example analysis used N = 5,958 participants from the Add Health dataset, to identify unique classifications of trajectories of binge drinking. We discuss how these analytical methods provide increased options to advance family science and clinical research.

Trajectories of Interracial Heterosexual Couples: A Longitudinal Analysis of Relationship Quality and Separation.

Minimal research has examined interracial couples' relationship satisfaction and dissolution patterns over time. Using dyadic data across 8 years, we examined potential differences in relationship quality trajectories through latent growth curve modeling with 1,336 couples as well as differential risks for relationship dissolution through logistic regression between same-race and interracial relationships using a different subset of 2,370 couples. Results indicated that women in interracial relationships were significantly lower in initial relationship quality than women in same-race relationships. Further, interracial couples of Black-Hispanic partnerings were twice as likely to separate across 8 years than same-race couples. These results suggest that despite interracial relationships not substantively differing from same-race couples in trajectories of relationship quality, specific Black-Hispanic interracial couples are at a higher risk of eventual separation.

Family Subsystems Predicting Adolescents' Perceptions of Sibling Relationship Quality Over Time.

This study examined associations between parents' relationship conflict and parent-adolescent triangulation, and changes in adolescents' perceptions of sibling affection and hostility. The goal was to learn whether conflict in parents' relationships spills over to siblings' relationships, or whether siblings compensate by becoming less hostile and more affectionate. Using a subsample (N = 400) from the Flourishing Families Project (FFP), we found a trend for mother-adolescent triangulation predicting an increase in sibling hostility across 2 years. Fathers' reports of relationship conflict were related to increased levels of initial sibling hostility, but predicted a marginal decrease in hostility over time. Findings support increased understanding of parenting dynamics associated with changes in sibling relationship quality, and have the potential to inform clinical practice.

Sexual and Relationship Satisfaction associated with Shifts in Dyadic Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms in German Couples across Four Years.

Depression is a pervasive mental health concern; thus, it is important to identify modifiable factors associated with reducing depressive symptoms across time. Using 1,876 heterosexual couples assessed annually across 4 years from the Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics (Pairfam) study, time-varying covariate growth models tested if sexual and relationship satisfaction were linked with shifts in trajectories of depressive symptoms across time. For both men and women, higher sexual and relationship satisfaction scores were significantly associated with decreasing their own depressive symptom trajectories, but only relationship satisfaction was linked with their partners' depressive symptom trajectories. Potential clinical implications include the treatment of depressive symptoms by making changes across time in their own relationship satisfaction and sexual satisfaction.

Hope, Coping, and Relationship Quality in Mothers of Children With Down Syndrome.

Parenting a child with Down syndrome may pose unique challenges for parents' relationship quality. This study used structural equation modeling with a sample of 351 mothers of children with Down syndrome to test if hope mediated the association between mothers' various coping behaviors and mothers' relationship quality. Hope was defined as a generalized positive state that comes from a personal sense of agency. Results indicated a greater degree of religious coping and internal coping were each significantly associated with more hope, whereas support seeking was not related with more hope. Higher hope was significantly associated with greater relationship quality. Bootstrapped indirect effects from both religious coping and internal coping to hope, and then hope to relationship quality, were identified. Implications for therapists and future research are described.

Army Soldiers and Suicidal Thoughts: The Impact of Negative Relationship Dynamics Moderated by the Dissolution of Romantic Relationships.

Suicide among United States active-duty Army soldiers rapidly increased over the past two decades. Using a sample of 322 soldiers from the Army STARRS study, the researchers examined if romantic relationship factors (i.e., hostile disagreements and relationship distress) were linked with suicidal thoughts in Army soldiers, and if these associations were moderated by a recent separation or divorce. Hostile disagreements and relational distress were both significantly associated with higher rates of suicidal ideation. These associations were significantly amplified in magnitude when in the context of a recent separation or divorce. Implications include novel assessment, prevention, and treatment efforts focused on romantic relationships that may reduce the likelihood of soldiers experiencing thoughts of suicide.

The Dyadic Effects of Supportive Coparenting and Parental Stress on Relationship Quality Across the Transition to Parenthood.

The transition to first-time parenthood can be challenging for couples. Using a sample of 848 ethnically diverse couples from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study across the first 3 years of parenthood, we investigated the longitudinal and dyadic associations of each parents' parental stress, supportive coparenting, and relationship quality. Results from an actor-partner interdependence model indicated that supportive coparenting significantly predicted higher relationship quality for both mothers and fathers. Fathers' supportive coparenting significantly buffered the effects of mothers' parental stress on relationship quality. Also, the unique dyadic contexts of each parents' supportive coparenting, and also both partners' parental stress were significantly associated with relationship quality. Clinical implications from these findings are discussed through commonly used clinical theories.

Forgiveness in Romantic Relationships: The Roles of Attachment, Empathy, and Attributions.

Therapists can benefit from a more nuanced understanding of underlying processes associated with romantic partners forgiving one another. Greater understanding of the processes linked with forgiveness has the potential to improve therapists' facilitation of forgiveness between partners. Departing from the status quo, the purpose of this investigation was to explore benign attributions and empathy as mechanisms linking attachment with forgiveness. After conducting a longitudinal structural equation model with a sample of young adults in romantic relationships (N = 171), the results showed that benign attributions mediated the association between anxious attachment and forgiveness, and empathy mediated the association between avoidant attachment and forgiveness. Clinically, targeting working models of attachment that underlie benign attributions and empathy may facilitate forgiveness.

Trajectories of Early Binge Drinking: A Function of Family Cohesion and Peer Use.

Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we tested latent growth models examining whether the number of friends using alcohol and family cohesion were linked with trajectories of binge drinking (N = 3,342) from adolescence (average age 15.06) into young adulthood (average age 27.93). Adolescents with higher family cohesion had lower rates of binge drinking in adolescence (b = -.07, p < .05), while those with more friends drinking alcohol were more likely to binge drink in adolescence (b = .51, p < .001), young adulthood (b = .22, p < .001), and had increasing trajectories of binge drinking across 14 years (b = -.29, p < .001). Clinically, we discuss Multiple-Family Group Interventions as a potential approach.

Predictors and processes associated with home-based family therapists' professional quality of life.

This study examined whether home-based family therapists' (HBFT) workload and clinical experience were associated with therapists' professional quality of life directly and indirectly through self-care activities and frequency of clinical supervision. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling with a sample of 225 home-based therapists. Results suggested that therapists' workload and HBFT experience significantly predicted therapists' professional quality of life. These associations between therapists' workload and HBFT experience were partially mediated through participation in self-care and frequency of clinical supervision. Implications for improving therapists' quality of life are discussed as a function of therapists' workload, clinical experience, self-care, and supervision.

Dyadic Processes in Early Marriage: Attributions, Behavior, and Marital Quality.

Marital processes in early marriage are important for understanding couples' future marital quality. Spouses' attributions about a partner's behavior have been linked to marital quality, yet the mechanisms underlying this association remain largely unknown. Using couple data from the Family Transitions Project (N = 280 couples) across the first four years of marriage, results from actor-partner interdependence modeling demonstrated that early marriage responsibility attributions were associated with marital quality four years later, after controlling for initial marital quality. Further, couple's warm and hostile behavior two years into the marriage mediated the attribution-marital quality association. The results suggest that interventions designed to facilitate change in romantic relationships may benefit from addressing attributions for the partner's behavior, in addition to changing behaviors, as part of a dyadic process unfolding across time.

Intergenerational transmission of relationship aggression: a prospective longitudinal study.

The present study examined whether physical and verbal aggression in the family of origin were associated with similar patterns of aggression in young adult couples. Hypotheses were tested using a sample of 213 focal individuals who were followed from adolescence to adulthood. Results suggested that aggression in the family when focal participants were adolescents predicted aggression with romantic partners when participants were adults. The association between interparental aggression and later aggression in adult romantic unions was partially mediated through parents' aggression to focal participants when they were adolescents. Both physical and verbal aggression revealed the same pattern of findings. All together, these findings are consistent with a developmental-interactional perspective (Capaldi & Gorman-Smith, 2003) concerning the developmental origins of aggression in intimate relationships.