Psychosocial Sequalae of Sexual Assault in a Sample of Partnered Adults Experiencing Alcohol Use Disorder and Intimate Partner Violence.

Research has shown that experiencing a sexual assault results in significant and lasting effects in many psychosocial domains. However, most studies on the impact of sexual assault examine university samples or the immediate aftermath of the assault, not taking into account the longer-term complexities and contexts of life for many victims. The current study seeks to evaluate the role of lifetime sexual assault history on several psychosocial outcomes in adults who are in intimate relationships that have included both intimate partner violence (IPV) and alcohol use disorder. The study included 100 adult romantic couples who were part of a larger project addressing violence and alcohol use. A majority of participants were Caucasian (74.3%) and female (53%). Participants reported on lifetime sexual assault history, depression, perceived stress, maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation, and perceived intimate relationship functioning. Multilevel analyses controlled for couple interdependence as well as current levels of alcohol use and IPV. Results indicated that the presence/absence of sexual assault was only related to perceived life stress (p = .016), while the total number of lifetime assault experiences was related to depression symptoms (p < .001), perceived life stress (p = .052), maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation (p = .048), and dyadic adjustment (p = .003). These findings underscore the importance of investigating sexual assault outcomes in complex populations, as well as the need for more thorough and regular assessment of sexual assault history. Focusing on empowerment and recovery for sexual assault victims of any age is an important tool to prevent the detrimental outcomes that particularly accompany multiple victimizations.

An examination of cannabis use motives among couples with intimate partner violence and alcohol use disorder.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Cannabis use is highly prevalent among individuals with a history of intimate partner violence (IPV) and among people who drink alcohol. Motives for cannabis use are important correlates of consumption and problem severity. However, no research has examined cannabis use motives among couples with IPV. The goals of the study were to examine (1) the associations between a person and their partner's cannabis use motives; and (2) examine the extent to which each partners' cannabis use motives are related to their own and their partner's cannabis consumption. METHODS: Participants were 100 couples (n = 92 different-sex couples, n = 8 same-sex couples) who reported physical IPV in their current relationship. RESULTS: Certain cannabis motives (coping and conformity) and behaviors (cannabis use frequency, quantity and drug-related problems) were positively associated between intimate partners. One's own higher coping motives were associated with greater frequency of cannabis consumption; higher conformity motives were associated with less quantity of consumption; higher social motives were associated with greater quantity of cannabis consumption; and one's partner's social motives were associated with less quantity of cannabis consumption. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that couples report similar motives for cannabis use, and that one's own and their partner's motives may differentially influence frequency and quantity of use. SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE: This study provides novel information on congruency between cannabis use motives and behaviors between intimate partners, as well as how both an individual and their partner's motives for use can influence an individual's cannabis use behaviors.

Short-changing the future: The systemic gap between psychology internship stipends and living wages.

Introduction: Providing doctoral internship stipends below living wages may harm interns, the clinical services they provide, and the field of health service psychology as a whole. This study evaluated the extent to which doctoral psychology internship stipends from the 2021-2022 training year for APA-accredited, APPIC-member programs in the US are consistent with living wages in the geographic region where sites are located. Methods: We obtained data reflecting internship sites' geographic location and stipends for the 2021-2022 academic year. Using the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Living Wage Calculator, we computed a living wage for the county in which each internship site is located. Descriptive statistics, discrepancies, ratios, and correlations were calculated to reflect the associations between internship sites' stipends and their local living wages. Results: The average internship stipend was $31,783, which was lower than the average living wage by $2,091. Stipends ranged widely, from a low of $15,000 to a high of $94,595-reflecting a six-fold difference in wages. Although internship sites in higher cost of living areas paid higher stipends, over two-thirds (67.0%) of sites did not pay a stipend that equaled or exceeded a living wage. Ninety-eight sites (15.3%) had deficits of over $10,000 when comparing their stipends to local living wages, with $33,240 as the highest deficit. Discussion: Eliminating obstacles to educating health service psychologists by decreasing the financial burden of training will likely have subsequent critical benefits towards bridging the workforce gap between mental healthcare service needs and available providers, ultimately leading to improved population health.

Emotion socialization profiles in military parents: Associations with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Military families face many difficulties, including a parent deploying to a warzone and the subsequent risk of returning with symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Symptoms of PTSD are associated with parenting difficulties; however, little is known about how PTSD symptoms may be associated with emotion socialization (ES), a set of processes crucial to children's emotional well-being. This project investigated observed ES behaviors in deployed and non-deployed parents in a sample of 224 predominantly White, non-Hispanic National Guard/Reserve (NG/R) families with deployed fathers, non-deployed mothers, and a child between the ages of 4 and 13. Parents completed self-report questionnaires and families engaged in videotaped parent-child discussions, which were coded for three types of ES behaviors. Latent profile analyses of the coded behaviors identified five profiles of parental ES: Balanced/Supportive, Balanced/Limited Expression, Unsupportive/Distressed, Unsupportive/Positive, and Involved/Emotive/Angry. Multinomial logistic regressions of each parent's profile membership on fathers' PTSD symptoms revealed no significant associations, while additional analyses including additional family factors revealed that greater father PTSD symptoms were associated with a greater likelihood of mothers being in the Balanced/Supportive profile compared to the Balanced/Limited Expression profile, particularly when children displayed average to low levels of emotion during discussion tasks. No other significant associations with PTSD symptoms were detected. Overall, in contrast to the hypotheses, the majority of these findings indicated that PTSD symptoms did not play a significant role in parental ES behaviors.

Longitudinal Associations of Global and Daily Support with Marital Status.

The provision and receipt of emotional support demonstrates benefits for relationships; however, little research has investigated how either global or day-to-day spousal support influences marital stability. This project assessed how global perception of support from a partner and daily provision and receipt of emotional support over 1 week contributed to divorce 10 years later, accounting for demographic covariates. There were no significant associations of support variables with future divorce. Greater education attainment was the only factor significantly associated with decreased risk for divorce. Results suggest that despite potential short-term benefits, global and daily support may not predict long-term marital stability.

Partners' motivations for accommodating posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in service members: The reasons for accommodation of PTSD scale.

Emerging research reinforces the importance of partner accommodation in the interpersonal context of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A better understanding of partners' motivations for accommodation is needed to help refine or design interventions that target accommodation. To explore partners' motivations, we created the Reasons for Accommodation of PTSD Scale (RAPS) and evaluated it in 263 female partners of male Army soldiers who had returned from a deployment within the past 2 years. Soldiers completed a measure of military-related PTSD, and partners completed a measure of accommodation and the newly created RAPS. Factor analysis of the RAPS yielded a clear, 3-factor solution suggesting the following reasons for accommodating: (1) Relationship & Obligation, or a desire for positive relationship outcomes and a sense of duty or responsibility; (2) Helping Recovery, or a belief that avoidance was helpful for the service member; and (3) Conflict Avoidance/Helplessness, or a desire to avoid conflict or simply not knowing what else to do. Analyses of these factors in relation to soldiers' PTSD clusters indicated that hyperarousal symptoms were uniquely associated with relationship and obligation motivations, re-experiencing symptoms were uniquely associated with helping recovery motivations, and emotional numbing symptoms were uniquely associated with conflict avoidance and helplessness motivations. Furthermore, conflict avoidance and helplessness accounted for the greatest variance in partners' accommodation frequency and distress. Assessment of partners' accommodative behaviors, as well as their motivations for engaging in accommodation, may aid in treatment planning and enhance outcomes for couples in which one individual has PTSD.

Deployment-related coping strategies in military couples: Associations with relationship satisfaction.

Military deployments are known to be stressful for both military service members (SMs) and their romantic partners. Little is known about how coping strategies used during deployment may relate to one's own and one's partner's relationship satisfaction following deployment. This project investigated the retrospective report of how 154 SMs and their romantic partners coped with deployment-related stress, using previously established coping constructs of problem-focused, emotion-focused, and avoidance coping. Examination of relative associations of coping strategies and mental health symptoms with SMs' and partners' relationship satisfaction showed that partners' emotion-focused coping was positively related to both SMs' and partners' relationship satisfaction, whereas partners' avoidance was negatively related to both their own and SMs' relationship satisfaction. Results highlight the importance of partner coping within military couples and point to potential strategies for coping with deployment that are associated with enhanced relationship functioning after deployment.

Supporting a Spouse With Military Posttraumatic Stress: Daily Associations With Partners' Affect.

Service members and veterans (SM/Vs) with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can receive significant benefits from social support by a spouse or romantic partner. However, little is known about how providing support impacts partners. This study sought to identify (a) how provision of support is associated with partners' daily negative and positive affect and (b) how SM/Vs' PTSD symptom severity might moderate such associations. In a 14-day daily-diary study that assessed 64 couples in which one member was an SM/V with PTSD symptoms, partners reported nightly on whether or not they provided instrumental support and/or emotional support that day as well as their current negative and positive affect. Multilevel modeling showed that the provision of emotional and instrumental support were both significantly related to partners' lower levels of negative affect, f 2 = 0.09, and higher levels of positive affect, f 2 = 0.03, on that same day but not the next day. The positive same-day effects were seen if any support was given, with no additive effects when both types of support were provided. Severity of SM/V PTSD moderated the association between provision of emotional support and lower same-day negative affect such that the association was significant only when PTSD symptoms were more severe. Overall, these findings indicate that support provision to a partner with PTSD is associated with improved affect for the romantic partner providing support. However, given that only same-day affect was associated with support, the findings may also suggest that positive affect increases the provision of support.

Spanish Abstracts by Asociación Chilena de Estrés Traumático (ACET) Apoyo a un Cónyuge con Estrés Postraumático Militar: Asociaciones de la vida diaria con el Afecto de las Parejas EL APOYO A UNA ESPOSA CON SÍNTOMAS DE TEPT Los miembros del servicio y los veteranos (SM/Vs en sus siglas en inglés) con Trastorno de Estrés Postraumático (TEPT) pueden recibir significativos beneficios del apoyo social por parte de un cónyuge o pareja romántica. Sin embargo, poco se sabe acerca de cómo el hecho de proporcionar apoyo impacta a las parejas. Este estudio buscó identificar (a) cómo la provisión de apoyo está asociado con el afecto negativo y positivo diario de las parejas y (b) cómo la severidad de los síntomas TEPT de SM/Vs podría moderar tales asociaciones. En un estudio diario de 14 días que evaluó 64 parejas en las que un miembro era un SM/V con síntomas de TEPT, las parejas informaron cada noche sobre si proporcionaron o no apoyo instrumental y/o apoyo emocional ese día, como también informaron sobre su afecto negativo y positivo actual. El modelo multinivel mostró que la provisión del apoyo emocional e instrumental se relacionaron significativamente tanto con los niveles más bajos de afecto negativo, f2 = 0.09, y niveles más altos de afecto positivo, f2 = 0.03, en ese mismo día, pero no el día siguiente. Los efectos positivos del mismo día se observaron si se brindó cualquier tipo de apoyo, sin efectos adicionales cuando se proporcionaron ambos tipos de apoyo. La severidad del TEPT en SM/V moderó la asociación de la provisión de apoyo emocional con un afecto negativo más bajos en el mismo día, de modo que la asociación fue significativa solo cuando los síntomas del TEPT fueron más severos. En general, estos hallazgos indican que proveer apoyo a una pareja con TEPT se asocia con una mejora en los afectos en la pareja romántica que brinda apoyo. Aunque dado que solo el afecto del mismo día fue asociado con apoyo, los hallazgos también pueden sugerir que un afecto positivo incrementa la provisión de apoyo.

Post-deployment parenting in military couples: Associations with service members' PTSD symptoms.

Severity of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms has been linked to parenting impairments in military service members (SMs), but little is known about how SMs' PTSD is related to their partners' parenting. This study evaluated associations of SMs' PTSD symptoms with parenting indices in SMs and their partners, with additional exploratory analyses of how intrapersonal and interpersonal distress might play a role in such associations. Online self-report measures were completed by 128 SMs who scored >27 on the PTSD Checklist (PCL-M) at baseline and their partners at four timepoints over 1.5 years. Data were analyzed using multilevel modeling, with timepoints nested within individuals within couples. SMs' PTSD symptoms were significantly associated with decreased parenting alliance and increased inconsistent discipline in SMs and partners, increased harsh parenting in SMs only, and increased supervision in partners only. Couple satisfaction and conflict accounted for PTSD symptoms' association with parenting alliance, and couple conflict accounted for the association with inconsistent discipline. Couple conflict, couple satisfaction, and individual depression accounted for SMs' increased harsh parenting. SM PTSD remained the only predictor of partners' supervision. Limitations include that data were collected from online self-report and from heterosexual Army couples only. Overall, SMs' PTSD symptoms showed associations with parenting in SMs and their partners, with some evidence of compensatory higher supervision by partners. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).