Ending the silo effect: A test of the relational domain spillover model.

Couple interventions are limited in their effectiveness for reducing marital distress and dissolution. One explanation for this may be the narrow focus on conflict management and a limited understanding of how other domains in marriage influence one another over time. We present the first test of the relational domain spillover model (RDSM) to understand the extent to which poor functioning in either positive or negative areas of the relationship spill over into other aspects of relationship functioning across time. Husbands and wives reported annually on the quality of five relationship domains (emotional intimacy, sex, support, power/control, and conflict) over the first seven years of marriage. Longitudinal dyadic multilevel modeling techniques were used to examine how domains change over time and how earlier declines in positive areas of couple functioning predict later problems in negative areas of couple functioning and vice versa. We found support for both directions of the RDSM model. Earlier declines in sexuality and support predicted later declines in conflict, and, for wives, earlier declines in couple sexuality were linked to later control issues. Earlier declines in conflict communication and control predicted later problems with emotional intimacy. For men, longitudinal associations between sexuality and conflict, and control, were bidirectional. These findings point to the need to move toward a multi-dimensional, dynamic conceptualization of relationship functioning across time and the importance of focusing on different relational domains as targets for couple interventions.

Understanding the perception of stakeholders in reducing adolescent-to-parent violence/aggression.

INTRODUCTION: Adolescent-to-parent violence/aggression (APV/A) is an understudied yet increasingly common social problem for adolescents and families, particularly those involved in the juvenile justice system. The current study focused on improving interventions for this population by gathering qualitative data from stakeholders to inform treatment targets. METHODS: Participants (N = 23) comprised of court professionals (n = 7), parents/guardians (n = 9), and their male adolescent children (n = 7) in the United States. Parent and adolescent participants were recruited through monthly court-mandated domestic violence education classes offered by the juvenile court. Parent/guardian participants were between the ages of 38 and 77 and consisted of four males and five females. Adolescents were between the ages of 14 and 17. Court professional participants consisted of judges, probation officers, and court psychologists. Semi-structured interviews were analyzed qualitatively using grounded theory. RESULTS: Results indicated that, from the perspective of key stakeholders, an effective intervention to reduce APV/A likely involves a two-pronged approach: (1) address specific and theoretically modifiable emotional, behavioral, and psychological factors at the adolescent-level; and (2) induce change in the family system by addressing environmental barriers to seeking treatment and by creating positive family relationships. CONCLUSIONS: The present study aimed to gather the perspectives of court professionals, adolescents, and parents/guardians regarding the development of an effective intervention for APV/A-involved families. This study represents the first step toward the development of a feasible, acceptable, sustainable, and effective intervention for adolescents and their families who are involved in the juvenile justice system due to APV/A.

The Dynamic Interplay Between Satisfaction With Intimate Relationship Functioning and Daily Mood in Low-Income Outpatients.

Substantial research supports bidirectional links between intimate relationship discord and individual psychopathology, including depressive symptoms. However, few studies have utilized daily diary methods to capture the micro-level processes underlying the association between couple discord and depression, particularly among populations that are at elevated risk for both interpersonal and individual dysfunction. To address this gap, we examined whether daily changes in satisfaction with relationship functioning were associated with daily changes in negative affect and positive affect over the span of 2 weeks among mental health outpatients of low socioeconomic status. Participants were 53 low-income outpatients from community mental health clinics who completed a semi-structured interview about the quality of their intimate relationships followed by 14 daily reports of positive and negative mood and satisfaction with relationship functioning across several domains. Growth curve analytic techniques revealed the hypothesized bidirectional relations. Decline in satisfaction with relationship functioning predicted escalation in negative affect and deterioration in positive affect over 2 weeks, and deterioration of mood predicted declining satisfaction with relationship functioning. This study extends existing knowledge about couple dysfunction and individual psychopathology by highlighting the immediate nature of this dynamic process as it unfolds over time.

Gran cantidad de investigaciones respaldan las conexiones bidreccionales entre los desacuerdos en las relaciones afectivas y la psicopatología individual, incluidos los síntomas depresivos. Sin embargo, pocos estudios han utilizado los métodos de registro diario para captar los procesos a pequeñísima escala que subyacen a la asociación entre el desacuerdo entre las parejas y la depresión, particularmente entre poblaciones que tienen un riesgo elevado de disfunción interpersonal e individual. Para abordar esta brecha, analizamos si los cambios diarios en la satisfacción con el funcionamiento de la relación estuvieron asociados con los cambios diarios en el afecto negativo y el afecto positivo durante el periodo de dos semanas entre los pacientes ambulatorios de salud mental de bajo nivel socioeconómico. Los participantes fueron 53 pacientes ambulatorios de bajos ingresos de clínicas comunitarias de salud mental que se sometieron a una entrevista semiestructurada acerca de la calidad de sus relaciones afectivas seguida de 14 informes diarios de estado de ánimo positivo y negativo y de satisfacción con el funcionamiento de la relación en varias áreas. Las técnicas analíticas de la curva de crecimiento revelaron las relaciones bidireccionales planteadas como hipótesis. La disminución de la satisfacción con el funcionamiento de la relación predijo un aumento del afecto negativo y un deterioro del afecto positivo durante dos semanas, y el deterioro del estado de ánimo predijo una disminución de la satisfacción con el funcionamiento de la relación. Conclusiones: Este estudio amplía el conocimiento existente sobre la disfunción en la pareja y la psicopatología individual destacando la índole inmediata de este proceso dinámico a medida que se desarrolla poco a poco con el tiempo.

Addressing a Mental Health Intervention Gap in Juvenile Detention: A Pilot Study.

Research suggests that 60-70% of adolescents detained in the juvenile justice system meet criteria for a mental health disorder compared to 20% of the general adolescent population; however, the vast majority do not receive services. Unfortunately, mental health symptoms often worsen during detainment, and detainment is linked to lower levels of educational attainment and increased risk of adult recidivism. Thus, not only are these adolescents unlikely to receive needed mental health care, but also the lack of interventions in detention may exacerbate inequities of contact with the criminal justice system in adulthood. In addition to these youth being an underserved population broadly, youth of color are also disproportionately incarcerated compared to their white counterparts. The current paper describes results of a pilot study of an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)-based behavioral skills intervention, aimed at providing evidence-based mental health treatment for an adolescent population at risk of long-term adverse mental health outcomes. The study included 128 males aged 14-17 who resided in juvenile detention. Results demonstrated that the intervention was acceptable to participants, feasible to provide in detention, and could be implemented with fidelity and competency. Intervention participants demonstrated declines in symptoms of mental health, and ACT-specific constructs of experiential avoidance, cognitive fusion, and perceived barriers to moving toward their values. These results have important implications for the possibility of an effective intervention that could disrupt systemic inequity in youth mental health, and thus support further testing of this intervention in a randomized controlled trial.

Covariations among attachment, attributions, self-esteem, and psychological aggression in early marriage.

The associations between insecure attachment (anxious and avoidant dimensions), maladaptive relational attributions, self-esteem, and psychological aggression were examined in a sample of couples (N = 96 couples) across the early years of marriage. Studying these constructs within a single sample is a novel contribution to the literature. Attachment was assessed at marriage, whereas maladaptive attributions, self-esteem, and psychological aggression were evaluated annually over the first 7 years of marriage. For the present study, specific maladaptive relational attributions about the spouse's hypothetical aggressive behavior were investigated. Data from both spouses were examined simultaneously using growth curve analytic and actor-partner interdependence modeling techniques. Results indicated that self locus attributions (i.e., attributing the cause of the spouse's hypothetical aggressive behavior to the self), intentionality attributions (i.e., attributing the spouse's motivation for the hypothetical behavior as intentional), and self-esteem were predicted by insecure attachment and covaried longitudinally with psychological aggression. Husbands' self-esteem and wives' intentionality attributions were particularly consistent in these associations. The results replicate and extend previous research by examining these constructs using a longitudinal dyadic approach. The findings of this study provide specific targets for intervention efforts to reduce psychological aggression and support conceptualizing psychological aggression within a dyadic and dynamic framework. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Comparing recidivism rates among domestically violent men enrolled in ACTV versus Duluth/CBT.

Objective: The goal of the present study was to replicate and extend published preliminary evidence demonstrating that a relatively new treatment (Achieving Change through Value-Based Behavior [ACTV]) for men convicted of domestic violence significantly reduces recidivism compared to the standard treatment offered across the United States (the Duluth Model and/or cognitive-behavioral approaches). Method: Men convicted of domestic assault (DA) and court-mandated to a Batterers Intervention Program [N = 725; Mage = 34.9 years (SDage = 10.37 years)] were assigned to attend ACTV or treatment-as-usual (TAU). Participants were predominantly Black (63.3%). Recidivism, defined as any new convictions, any violent convictions, and any DA convictions, was examined up to 5 years posttreatment. Only men classified as medium or high risk were included. Results: Men in TAU were more likely to receive any conviction (95% CI [1.61, 4.40]), a violent conviction (95% CI [1.67, 9.60]), and a DA conviction (95% CI [1.36, 4.90]) compared to men in ACTV. Time to new conviction posttreatment was shorter for men in TAU versus ACTV (95% CI [2.16, 4.11]). Finally, the risk of receiving any new conviction (95% CI [1.46, 7.11]) was more strongly associated with noncompletion for TAU than ACTV participants. Conclusions: ACTV shows great promise for reducing recidivism compared to TAU. The present study represents the first time this intervention has been implemented in a state other than where it was developed and provides initial evidence for its generalizability and robustness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

A controlled trial of two mind-body interventions for grief in widows and widowers.

Objective: Following bereavement, yearning and grief rumination are repetitive cognitive processes that can lead to disordered grief. Mindfulness training (MT) has been shown to reduce maladaptive repetitive thought. The current quasi-randomized controlled trial examined the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of MT for bereavement-related grief. Method: Ninety-five widow(er)s (Mage = 67.5, 79% women, 98% White) between 6 months to 4 years post-loss were assigned to a 6-week MT intervention or a progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) intervention, or a wait-list condition. Outcome measures were grief severity (Revised Inventory of Complicated Grief), yearning (Yearning in Situations of Loss), rumination (Utrecht Grief Rumination Scale), and decentering (Experiences Questionnaire-Decentering) assessed at baseline, Weeks 2 and 4 of intervention, post-intervention, and 1-month post-intervention. Growth curve analysis examined group differences in rates of improvement in outcomes through follow-up and associations with improvement in grief severity. Results: The MT and PMR groups showed significant rates of decline in grief severity and yearning, though only the PMR group showed a greater rate of decline in grief severity than wait-list. All groups showed significant rates of decline in grief rumination. The PMR and wait-list groups showed significant rates of increase in decentering compared to the MT group. Conclusions: Results support the feasibility and acceptability of MT and PMR for widow(er)s as well as the preliminary efficacy of PMR for improving grief severity in widow(er)s compared to a wait-list control condition. With replication, PMR could be a standalone intervention for non-disordered grief or a component of treatment for disordered grief. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Too much of a good thing: underprovision versus overprovision of partner support.

We examined whether support underprovision (receiving less support than is desired) and support overprovision (receiving more support than is desired) should be examined as qualitatively distinct forms of inadequate support in marriage. Underprovision of partner support, overprovision of partner support, and marital satisfaction were assessed 5 times over the first 5 years of marriage in a sample of newlywed husbands and wives (N = 103 couples), and were analyzed via actor-partner interdependence modeling (APIM) and growth curve analytic techniques. Increases in underprovision and overprovision of support were each uniquely associated with declines in marital satisfaction over the first 5 years of marriage; however, overprovision of support was a greater risk factor for marital decline than underprovision. Further, when examining support from a multidimensional perspective, overprovision was at least as detrimental, if not more detrimental, than underprovision for each of 4 support types (i.e., informational, emotional, esteem, and tangible support). The present study is the first to examine the utility of differentiating between underprovision and overprovision of partner support. Theoretical, empirical, and clinical implications are discussed.

Validity and utility of a multidimensional model of received support in intimate relationships.

The authors of the present study statistically address the largely conceptual debate about the multidimensional nature of received support in intimate relationships. The Support in Intimate Relationships Rating Scale (SIRRS) was factor analyzed in 3 samples of dating and married couples. A novel, 4-factor structure of support types was generated that constituted esteem/emotional, physical comfort, informational, and tangible support types. This structure was reliable and valid in dating and marital relationships, across men and women, and across time. Each support type also demonstrated incremental validity for explaining marital adjustment, depression symptoms, and anxiety symptoms longitudinally. This study is among the first to generate and cross-validate a factor analytically derived set of support types for received support and the first to do so regarding partner support specifically. This is also the first study to replicate a distinct set of support types across different types of intimate relationships, across both sexes, and over time within relationships. Implications for enhancing functional theories of support and for augmenting the construct validity of a multidimensional model of received support are discussed.

Is psychological aggression as detrimental as physical aggression? The independent effects of psychological aggression on depression and anxiety symptoms.

The differential effects of psychological and physical victimization on depression and anxiety symptoms were examined via APIM and growth curve modeling techniques in a sample of newlyweds (N = 103 couples) assessed four times over the first 3 years of marriage. On average, husbands and wives reported moderate levels of psychological aggression, and there were no sex differences in prevalence rates or mean levels. Changes in psychological victimization were associated with changes in depression and anxiety symptoms, even after controlling for the effects of physical victimization. This study demonstrates the severe impact of psychological aggression on its victims and expands on previous studies of battering samples to demonstrate that psychological victimization may be more damaging than physical victimization in nonbattering, community couples.

Multidisciplinary partnership: Targeting aggression and mental health problems of adolescents in detention.

Justice-involved adolescents meet diagnostic criteria for mental health disorders at much higher rates than their counterparts, and this increased risk persists into young adulthood (Abram et al., 2015; Teplin, Abram, McClelland, Dulcan, & Mericle, 2002). Despite growing recognition of this problem, there remains a dearth of adequate therapeutic services in juvenile detention and marked variation in the quality and availability of community-based services (Kretschmar, Butcher, Flannery, & Singer, 2016). This article presents the development of a multidisciplinary partnership among clinical research psychologists and court professionals to address aggressive behaviors and unmet mental health needs of adolescents in the juvenile justice system. We describe the early stages of collaboration, in which experts from disparate disciplines joined forces to address a mounting problem in the juvenile justice system that represented both a gap in the research-practice continuum and a lack of vital mental health resources in the local community. We delineate the team composition, outline key players' roles and contributions, and describe the principles that guided our collaboration across disciplines and agencies. We were effective in developing a sustainable multidisciplinary team, developing a new intervention, and implementing this new intervention in a challenging setting. The challenges we encountered throughout the process as well as the solutions that were generated and the lessons learned are discussed in detail. We discuss the substantive outcomes of our research and conclude with recommendations for readers interested in organizing similar academic-research/community partnerships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

A longitudinal investigation of stress spillover in marriage: does spousal support adequacy buffer the effects?

Stress spillover in marriage was examined within a stress-buffering conceptual framework in a multiwave, longitudinal sample of newlywed husbands and wives (N = 101 couples). Spousal support, chronic role strain, and marital satisfaction were assessed 4 times over 3 years and analyzed via actor-partner interdependence model and growth curve analytic techniques. Greater escalation in husbands' role strain over the first 3 years of marriage was associated with steeper declines in their marital satisfaction regardless of the adequacy of spousal support provided by their wives. In contrast, greater escalation in husbands' and wives' role strain was associated with significantly less marital decline for wives, and these links were bolstered when husbands provided wives with more adequate support. The present study is one of the first to explicate the underlying processes through which role strain and spousal support facilitate and mitigate the developmental course of marital satisfaction.

Marital satisfaction across the transition to parenthood.

The purpose of the present study was to discriminate between the 2 dominant perspectives governing research on the nature of marital change over the transition to parenthood. Progress can be made in understanding this transition by recognizing the role of uncontrolled sources of variability in research designs, defining and using control groups, and timing of data collection around the child's arrival, and the authors conducted a study incorporating these methodological refinements. Growth curve analyses were conducted on marital satisfaction data collected twice before and twice after the birth of the 1st child and at corresponding points for voluntarily childless couples (N = 156 couples). Spouses who were more satisfied prior to pregnancy had children relatively early in marriage, and parents experienced greater declines in marital satisfaction compared to nonparents. Couples with planned pregnancies had higher prepregnancy satisfaction scores, and planning slowed husbands' (but not wives') postpartum declines. In sum, parenthood hastens marital decline--even among relatively satisfied couples who select themselves into this transition--but planning status and prepregnancy marital satisfaction generally protect marriages from these declines.

Objective Ratings of Relationship Skills across Multiple Domains as Predictors of Marital Satisfaction Trajectories.

Expanding upon social-learning and vulnerability-stress-adaptation approaches to marriage, the impact of multiple dyadic behaviors on marital satisfaction trajectories was examined in 101 couples. Semi-structured interviews were administered separately to husbands and wives at 3 months of marriage. Interviewers generated objective ratings for five domains: emotional closeness/intimacy, sexual intimacy/sensuality, interspousal support, decision-making/relational control, and communication/conflict management. Marital satisfaction was assessed four times over three years. Dyadic behaviors were associated with initial levels and rates of change in satisfaction, demonstrating the unique contributions of each relational skill on marital development. For husbands, sexual intimacy was the strongest predictor of change whereas for wives, communication/conflict management was the strongest predictor of change compared to other domains. Theoretical, methodological and clinical implications are discussed.

Prenatal expectations and marital satisfaction over the transition to parenthood.

Associations among prenatal expectations, the extent to which expectations were confirmed or disconfirmed, and trajectories of marital satisfaction over the transition to parenthood were assessed 7-11 times in a sample of newlywed couples. Piecewise growth curve analyses were conducted to examine levels of marital satisfaction at the beginning of marriage and rates of change over 2 periods: from the beginning of marriage through the 3rd trimester of pregnancy and from the 3rd trimester of pregnancy through 18 months postpartum. Postpartum marital decline was greater than decline from marriage through pregnancy. Spouses who were more satisfied at the beginning of marriage reported higher expectations. There was marked variability in the extent to which prenatal expectations were confirmed; some expectations were unfulfilled, others were met, and still others were surpassed. Associations between the extent to which expectations were confirmed and rates of change in marital decline differed as a function of the specific type of expectation. Implications for understanding vulnerability and resiliency in couples negotiating the transition to parenthood are discussed.

Trajectories of change in physical aggression and marital satisfaction.

Physical aggression and marital satisfaction were assessed in 172 newlywed couples annually over the first 4 years of marriage to examine (a) stability of aggression over time and (b) the degree to which fluctuations in aggression precede versus follow fluctuations in marital satisfaction. The stability of aggression varied as a function of initial levels of severity; spouses who were most aggressive early in marriage had greater fluctuations in aggression. Rates of change in aggression predicted changes in satisfaction more than dissatisfaction predicted aggression. Husbands' physical aggression predicted marital discord, whereas wives' aggression predicted marital dissolution. By indicating that aggression (a) is a precursor to adverse marital outcomes and (b) varies across spouses in initial levels and in patterns of temporal change, the present findings highlight the need to understand the contextual factors that govern within-person and within-couple fluctuations in intimate violence.

Recruitment and selection of couples for intervention research: achieving developmental homogeneity at the cost of demographic diversity.

Demographic and relationship quality data were collected from 704 individuals recruited to participate in a randomized study of relationship enhancing interventions. Recruiting at bridal shows produced partners who were more satisfied, earlier in their relationships, and less likely to be parents, with a marginally higher proportion of Latino couples. Radio and television coverage produced more established couples with higher levels of relationship discord. Self-selection effects revealed that couples from demographic groups at greater risk for divorce (those who had not completed high school, those with children at marriage, and African American couples) were more likely to agree to participate. In contrast, imposing a set of common selection criteria served to exclude couples from demographic risk groups and selected for couples with higher marital quality. Implications for recruiting couples to participate in preventive interventions are outlined.

Problem-solving skills and affective expressions as predictors of change in marital satisfaction.

Specific skills and affective expressions coded from the problem-solving interactions of 172 newlywed couples were examined in relation to 8-wave, 4-year trajectories of marital satisfaction. Effects varied as a function of whether husbands' versus wives' topics were under discussion and whether husbands' versus wives' satisfaction was predicted, but results indicate that skills, affect, and their statistical interaction account for unique variance in rates of change in marital satisfaction. The interaction between positive affect and negative skills was particularly robust, indicating that (a) low levels of positive affect and high levels of negative skills foreshadowed particularly rapid rates of deterioration and that (b) high levels of positive affect buffered the effects of high levels of negative skills. Findings suggest specific targets for intervention in programs for developing marriages.

A randomized controlled trial of acceptance and commitment therapy for aggressive behavior.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the current research was to test the efficacy of a group-based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) intervention for partner aggression, compared with a support and discussion control group, in a clinical sample of adults. METHOD: One hundred one participants (mean age = 31; 68% female; 18% minority) who endorsed recently engaging in at least 2 acts of partner aggression were randomly assigned to receive ACT or a support-and-discussion control condition. Both interventions consisted of 12 weekly 2-hr sessions. Assessments at pretreatment, during treatment, posttreatment, and 3 and 6 months after treatment measured psychological aggression (Multidimensional Measure Emotional Abuse Scale [MMEA]), physical aggression (Conflict Tactics Scales [CTS-2]), experiential avoidance (Avoidance and Action Questionnaire [AAQ]), and emotion dysregulation (Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale [DERS]). RESULTS: RESULTS of growth curve modeling analyses demonstrated that participants in the ACT group had significantly greater declines in psychological and physical aggression from pre- to posttreatment and from pretreatment to follow-up and that 6-month treatment outcomes were partially mediated by levels of experiential avoidance and emotion dysregulation at posttreatment. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this first trial of ACT for aggressive behavior indicate that the ACT group significantly reduced both physical and psychological aggression and that these changes were significantly greater than those of the control group, suggesting that an ACT approach to aggression may serve as an efficacious treatment for aggression.

Physical aggression, compromised social support, and 10-year marital outcomes: Testing a relational spillover model.

The purpose of the present study was to test a relational spillover model of physical aggression whereby physical aggression affects marital outcomes due to its effects on how spouses ask for and provide support to one another. Newlywed couples (n = 172) reported levels of physical aggression over the past year and engaged in interactions designed to elicit social support; marital adjustment, and stability were assessed periodically over the first 10 years of marriage. Multilevel modeling revealed that negative support behavior mediated the relationship between physical aggression and 10-year marital adjustment levels whereas positive support behavior mediated the relationship between physical aggression and divorce status. These findings emphasize the need to look beyond conflict when explaining how aggression affects relationships and when working with couples with a history of physical aggression who are seeking to improve their relationships.