Objective: Hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) survivors who are 1 to 3 years posttransplant are challenged by the need to resume valued social roles and activities--a task that may be complicated by enduring transplant-related psychological distress common in this patient population. The present study investigated whether transplant…

Objective: To examine changes in observed communication after therapy termination in distressed couples from a randomized clinical trial. Method: A total of 134 distressed couples were randomly assigned to either traditional behavioral couple therapy (TBCT; Jacobson & Margolin, 1979) or integrative behavioral couple therapy (IBCT; Jacobson &…

Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between the alliance and outcome in couple therapy and examine whether the alliance predicted outcomes over and above early change. The authors also investigated partner influence and gender and sought to identify couple alliance patterns that predicted couple outcomes. Method:…

Objective: Marital discord has been linked to both depression and anxiety; however, our understanding of how marriage contributes to the development of internalizing symptoms is limited in scope and lacking specificity. First, it is unclear whether the marital relationship contributes to the broad dimension of internalizing symptoms as opposed to…

Recent research suggests that marital quality predicts the survival of patients with heart failure (HF), and it is hypothesized that a communal orientation to coping marked by first-person plural pronoun use (we talk) may be a factor in this. During a home interview, 57 HF patients (46 men and 16 women) and their spouses discussed how they coped…

Despite the overall efficacy of psychotherapy, dropouts are substantial, many clients do not benefit, therapists vary in effectiveness, and there may be a crisis of confidence among consumers. A research paradigm called "patient-focused research"--a method of enhancing outcome via continuous progress feedback--holds promise to address these…

The authors used a vulnerability-stress-adaptation framework to examine personality traits and chronic stress as predictors of the developmental course of physical aggression in the early years of marriage. Additionally, personality traits and physical aggression were examined as predictors of the developmental course of chronic stress. Data from…

Participants included 202 newlywed couples who reported retrospectively about child maltreatment experiences (sexual abuse, physical abuse, psychological abuse, and neglect) and whose marital functioning was assessed 3 times over a 2-year period. Decreased marital satisfaction at T1 was predicted by childhood physical abuse, psychological abuse,…

Pathological personality is strongly linked with interpersonal impairment, yet no study to date has examined the relationship between concurrent personality pathology and dysfunction in marriage--a relationship that most people find central to their lives. In a cross-sectional study of a community sample of married couples (N = 82), the authors…

The objective was to determine whether discrepancies between husbands' and wives' past year heavy drinking predicted decreased marital satisfaction over time. Participants (N = 634) were recruited at the time they applied for their marriage licenses. Couples completed questionnaires about their alcohol use and marital satisfaction at the time of…

Reanalyzed data from four previous studies (N=148) to examine the effectiveness of behavioral marital therapy (BMT). Results showed that slightly more than half the couples improved; about one-third actually became nondistressed. Deterioration was rare. (JAC)

Rated 50 nonclinical couples conjointly and separately on various aspects of their marriage. Both the overall distribution and relative magnitude of correlations supported the basic interpretive intent of the Marital Satisfaction Inventory. Results are contrasted with previous studies of distressed couples. (JAC)

Surveyed 65 couples beginning marital therapy and 37 couples from the community to examine interspousal reliability on reports of marital violence. Agreement between partners on the occurrence of violence was low to moderate for both samples. Husbands underreported their violent behavior, and/or wives tended to overreport violence performed by…

Discusses lack of direction in study of how couples think about their relationships as resulting from lack of delineation of important cognitive variables in marital functioning, conceptual and methodological difficulties in attempts to operationalize cognitive variables, and dearth of models of marital functioning that incorporate cognitions in…

Individuals (N=221) who had stopped smoking completed shortened Partner Interaction Questionnaire, reporting frequency of 10 positive and 10 negative behaviors of spouse/romantic partner in response to smoking cessation. Ratio of received positive/negative behaviors was consistently better predictor of abstinence than were frequencies of either…