Associations among PTSD symptoms, fear of emotion, and couple communication difficulties: A between-person dyadic analysis.

This study investigated between-person associations among PTSD symptoms, fear of emotion, and perceived couple communication difficulties in a dyadic context among 64 trauma-exposed, mixed gender community couples (N = 128 individuals) using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Mediation Model. Individuals with higher PTSD symptoms endorsed greater fear of their emotions (β = .72; β = .

Does Web-Based Relationship Education Improve Sexual Intimacy? Initial Examination, Replication, and Exploration of Moderation in a Low-Income Sample.

Sexual intimacy, characterized as the experience between individuals of sharing general affection and sexual activity with one another within the Personal Assessment of Intimacy in Relationships inventory, is positively related to relationship satisfaction and stability. However, many studies of couple therapy have shown that it only results in small-sized (and often non-significant) improvements in sexual intimacy. Furthermore, there are numerous financial, logistical, and psychological barriers to couple therapy.

A randomized controlled trial of the online OurRelationship program with varying levels of coach support.

Online programs that reduce relationship distress fill a critical need; however, their scalability is limited by their reliance on coach calls. To determine the effectiveness of the online OurRelationship program with varying levels of coach support, we conducted a comparative effectiveness trial with 740 low-income couples in the United States. Couples were randomly assigned to full-coach ( = 226; program as originally designed), automated-coach (  145; as a stand-alone program with tailored automated emails only), contingent-coach (  145; as an adaptive program where tailored automated emails are followed by more coaching if couples did not meet progress milestones), or a waitlist control condition ( = 224).

Associations among Financial Well-Being, Daily Relationship Tension, and Daily Affect in Two Adult Cohorts Separated by the Great Recession.

Financial well-being may be an important context for daily emotional reactivity to relationship tension (e.g., arguments) whose salience varies across historical time or as a function of exposure to economic downturns.

Effects of online relationship programs for low-income couples during the perinatal period.

Low-income couples experience increased stress and declines in relationship quality during the perinatal period. They also encounter many barriers to accessing relationship services. Using a subsample of low-income perinatal couples (n = 180) from two randomized controlled trials, the current study examined the impact of online relationship interventions, OurRelationship (OR) and ePREP, in a Bayesian framework.

Longitudinal Associations Among Service Members' PTSD Symptoms, Partner Accommodation, and Partner Distress.

Romantic partners' accommodation of trauma survivors' posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms (e.g., participating in avoidance and safety behaviors, not expressing one's thoughts and feelings) is a putative mechanism linking PTSD symptoms and partner distress, but this hypothesis has never been empirically tested.

Trajectories of parent and child well-being across the pandemic year: Role of financial strain, social distancing, and COVID-19 prevalence.

Existing research demonstrated large deteriorations in parent, child, and family well-being within 2 months after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, little is known about the trajectories of families' adjustment in the following months, including what risk factors are associated with changes in families' adjustment. The current study examined (1) change in the parent, child, and family well-being over time; (2) associations of pandemic-related stressors, financial and social distancing-associated stress, with well-being between and within families; and (3) the role of local COVID-19 prevalence, prior participation in family-focused prevention, and parent gender.

Does coparenting improve during the OurRelationship program? Explorations within a low-income sample during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Low-income couples are at an increased risk for relationship instability and divorce, which can have residual impacts on coparenting between the two partners. Growing evidence suggests that brief online relationship education programs can be an effective tool for alleviating relationship distress among low-income couples. However, findings remain mixed when it comes to whether benefits from relationship-focused programs not explicitly addressing coparenting spillover to coparenting among those with children.

Effectiveness of cognitive behavioral conjoint therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a U.S. Veterans Affairs PTSD clinic.

Cognitive behavioral conjoint therapy (CBCT) for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a 15-session conjoint treatment for PTSD designed to improve PTSD symptoms and enhance intimate relationship functioning. Numerous studies of CBCT for PTSD document improvements in patient PTSD and comorbid symptoms, partner mental health, and relationship adjustment. However, little is known about its effectiveness in real-world clinical settings.

Secondary individual outcomes following multicouple group therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder: An uncontrolled pilot study with military dyads.

Cognitive-behavioral conjoint therapy (CBCT) for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has demonstrated efficacy for improving PTSD and comorbid symptoms and relationship adjustment. To enhance treatment efficiency and scalability, we developed a 2-day, abbreviated, intensive, multicouple group version of CBCT for PTSD (AIM-CBCT for PTSD). Prior work demonstrated that AIM-CBCT for PTSD wasassociated with reductions in PTSD and comorbid symptoms in a sample of 24 post-9/11 active duty military or veteran couples who received the treatment in a retreat format over a single weekend.

Online relationship education for help-seeking low-income couples: A Bayesian replication and extension of the OurRelationship and ePREP programs.

Low-income couples are at increased risk for relationship instability and divorce. In response, online relationship education programs such as ePREP and OurRelationship have been developed to more easily reach this population. A previous trial indicated that these programs promote relationship functioning (Doss et al.

Make up or break up? Charting the well-being of low-income help-seeking couples through the breakup process.

Divorce or separation concerns have typically been identified as a common reason why couples seek treatment for their relationship. However, to our knowledge, no study has investigated the breakup process in a help-seeking sample. Using a low-income sample of individuals who broke up with their partner during a large randomized controlled trial investigating the effects of two web-based relationship education programs (NBroke up = 286), and a matched sample of individuals who did not break up (NMatched = 286; NTotal = 572), the current study sought to: (a) examine changes in individual functioning and co-parenting among those who broke up; (b) examine post-breakup differences in changes between those who did and did not break up; and (c) identify moderators of any differential post-breakup functioning between those who did and did not break up.

A Closer Examination of Relational Outcomes from a Pilot Study of Abbreviated, Intensive, Multi-Couple Group Cognitive-Behavioral Conjoint Therapy for PTSD with Military Dyads.

Cognitive-behavioral conjoint therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (CBCT for PTSD) is associated with improvements in patients' PTSD symptoms, partners' psychological distress, and relationship satisfaction. However, little is known about whether CBCT for PTSD is associated with changes in other relationship domains that have theoretical and clinical relevance to the relational context of PTSD. The current study is a secondary analysis of relational outcomes from an uncontrolled, within-group trial designed to examine whether an abbreviated, intensive, multi-couple group version of CBCT for PTSD (AIM-CBCT for PTSD) delivered in a retreat during a single weekend was associated with improvements in PTSD symptoms and relationship satisfaction.

Religious Coping and Gender Moderate Trajectories of Marital Love among Black Couples.

An increasing body of work documents the roles of religion and spirituality in Black American marriages. We built on this research to examine religious coping as a potential cultural resource for Black marriages using a dyadic analytic approach with longitudinal data. Specifically, we investigated the effects of positive (i.

Relational impacts of capitalization in early parenthood.

Relationship difficulties are common during the transition to parenthood and may persist for years. Strategies that enhance couples' daily relational experiences early in the parenting years may serve a protective role. In general, engaging in a capitalization attempt (i.

Coparenting and parenting outcomes of online relationship interventions for low-income couples.

Web-based relationship programs are effective in improving low-income couples' relationship functioning. However, little is known about: (a) whether parenting couples presenting for relationship help also have difficulties in coparenting and parenting, (b) whether relationship-focused programs can improve these two domains, and (c) whether program effects differ across baseline levels of those domains. We examined these questions in a parenting subsample ( = 934) and a coparenting subsample ( = 342) of low-income couples participating in a randomized controlled trial of two web-based relationship education programs-the OurRelationship (OR) program and the ePREP program.

Associations Between Service Members' Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms and Partner Accommodation Over Time.

When service members manifest symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), intimate partners may engage in behaviors to accommodate their partners' experiences (e.g., helping service members avoid situations that could make them uncomfortable, not expressing own thoughts and feelings to minimize PTSD-related conflict), which may inadvertently serve to maintain or increase PTSD symptoms over time.

Mechanisms of improvements and maintenance in online relationship programs for distressed low-income couples.

Objective: Web-based relationship interventions have been shown to improve relationship functioning for low-income couples, with gains maintained up through 12 months (Doss et al., 2020; Roddy et al., 2020).

Anxiety, depression and PTSD among children and their parent during 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in China.

Home quarantine may lead to families developing a variety of psychological distress. The purpose of this study was to examine the psychological status of children and their parent during 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in China. Data were collected from children ( = 1360) and their parent ( = 1360) in China using online survey during February 2020.

Intensive, Multi-Couple Group Therapy for PTSD: A Nonrandomized Pilot Study With Military and Veteran Dyads.

Cognitive-behavioral conjoint therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (CBCT for PTSD; Monson & Fredman, 2012) is efficacious in improving PTSD symptoms and relationship adjustment among couples with PTSD. However, there is a need for more efficient delivery formats to maximize engagement and retention and to achieve faster outcomes in multiple domains. This nonrandomized trial was designed to pilot an abbreviated, intensive, multi-couple group version of CBCT for PTSD (AIM-CBCT for PTSD) delivered over a single weekend for 24 couples that included an active-duty service member or veteran with PTSD who had deployed in support of combat operations following September 11, 2001.