Couples Therapy

Concurrent Session 11

Caroline Black, Darin Knapp, Jared Anderson, Jeremy Kanter, Chelsea Garneau-Rosner, Melissa Herzog, Aimee Hubbard, Jared Anderson

Facilitator: Hoa Nguyen

 

11:00 AM
12:15 PM
Location
Royal Palm 3
Session #
409
Session Type
Paper Session
Session Focus
  • Research
Organized By
  • Family Therapy

About the Session

  • 409-01 - Relationships That Protect: Growth Modeling of Parallel Developmental Processes Among Teenage Parents' Couple Relationships, Maternal Parenting Behaviors, and Children's Behavioral Development
    By Caroline Black
  • 409-02 - Relationship Effort in Cyclical Couple Dating Relationships
    By Darin Knapp, Jared Anderson
  • 409-03 - Stepping Outside the Sound Relational House: The Importance of Stress in Couples' Relational Functioning
    By Jeremy Kanter, Chelsea Garneau-Rosner, Melissa Herzog
  • 409-04 - The Moderating Role of Gender on Expectations and Threats Related to Relationship Help-Seeking (CHANGE IN TITLE)
    By Aimee Hubbard, Jared Anderson

Abstract(s)

Relationships That Protect: Growth Modeling of Parallel Developmental Processes Among Teenage Parents' Couple Relationships, Maternal Parenting Behaviors, and Children's Behavioral Development

By Caroline Black

Prior to the birth of their first child, the majority teenage mothers and their chidlren's biological fathers have a strong desire to raise a family together and be involved parents. Supportive relationships between parents are espeically critical for teenage mothers and their children, given mothers' risk for child malteratment and their children’s risk for behavioral challenges. Yet, little is known about the development of teenage parents’ supportive couple relationships and whether these relationships may buffer harsh parenting behaviors or mitigate the development of children’s behavioral challenges.  This study will test whether growth trajectories of teenage parents’ supportive couple relationships mitigate the development of children’s behavioral challenges across the first nine years of parenthood, and whether the reduction of harsh parenting behaviors mediate these links.

Objectives

 • To evaluate whether trajectories of teenage parents' supportive couple relationships have the potential buffer mothers from harsh parenting behaviors across the first 9 years of parenthood.• To evaluate whether the development of children's behavioral challenges are mitigated through trajectories of teenage parents' supportive couple relationships.• To test whether the reduction of maternal harsh parenting behaviors mediates influences of couple supportiveness on children's behavioral challenges across time.

Relationship Effort in Cyclical Couple Dating Relationships

By Darin Knapp, Jared Anderson

Ten heterosexual young adult couples (10 men, 10 women) in cyclical dating relationships were interviewed about their experiences with both their own levels of relationship effort and their perceptions of partners’ relationship effort during relationship transitions. Participant interviews were analyzed according to the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) method. Specific themes emerged from the data, focusing on how perceived individual effort in the relationship and perceived partner effort in the relationship affected breaking up or getting back together. Implications for relationship education and clinical intervention among cyclical young adult couples and future research directions are discussed.

Objectives

To provide information about six findings related to perceptions of relationship effort of partners in cyclical dating relationships.
To demonstrate a qualitative approach used within couples research.
To discuss implications of this research for clinicians and family life educators working with young adult romantic relationships.

Stepping Outside the Sound Relational House: The Importance of Stress in Couples' Relational Functioning

By Jeremy Kanter, Chelsea Garneau-Rosner, Melissa Herzog

Numerous educators and clinicians have incorporated the Sound Relational House theory (Gottman & Gottman, 2017) into practice. This theoretical framework focuses on the quality of couples’ friendship as a mechanism to mitigate negative communication between partners. Previous studies have not examined how stress may influence individual’s abilities to strengthen friendship quality within a relationship. We examine the interplay between each dyad members global stress, friendship quality, and negative communication. Our findings provide further evidence that stress is associated with relational functioning. We also illustrate couple’s friendship quality as a pathway through which global stress and communication are linked in relationships.

Objectives

1. Examine how each each dayd members global stress infleunces communication patterns within the relationship2. Observe if friendship quality is a mediating variable between stress and communication patterns 3. Examine spillover and crossover effects for each dyad member

The Moderating Role of Gender on Expectations and Threats Related to Relationship Help-Seeking

By Aimee Hubbard, Jared Anderson

Relationship help-seeking is a phenomenon that is difficult to capture. One way to consider relationship help-seeking from a systemic perspective, is to consider the role of gender. Based on previous literature this study will look at how gender changes the association between masculinity and sexuality variables and relationship help-seeking. Based on previous literature we hypothesized that attitudes toward help-seeking will mediate the relationship between masculinity, sexuality, and relationship instability; specifically, that individuals who endorse greater masculine behaviors and express a fewer issues with their sex lives seeking less help. A multiple group analysis showed gender effected how individuals sought help for their relationships, particularly for restrictive emotionality. These results have significant implications for family professions in their outreach and work. 

Objectives

1. To analyize relationship help-seeking behavior from systemic perspective. 2. To improve the understanding of factors such as sexual satisfaction and sexual dysfunction in the relationship help-seeking process. 3. Improve understanding how gender affects masculine behaviors and relationship help-seeking. 4. Demonstrate the importance of considering gender in the relationship help-seeking process.

Bundle name
Conference Session