Karen S. Wampler

Moving up the Continuum of Hope: Developing a Theory of Hope and Understanding Its Influence in Couples Therapy.

For years therapists have suggested that hope is an important catalyst in the process of change. This study takes a grounded theory approach to address the need for a clearer conceptualization of hope, and to place interventions that increase hope within a therapeutic context so that therapists know how and when to use those interventions. Fifteen active and experienced marriage and family therapists from across the United States participated in hour-long phone interviews about hope in couples therapy. Moving Up the Continuum of Hope emerged as the core category from the grounded theory analysis of the data. This category represents a process, with general and specific conditions and consequences that increase a couples level of hope. This study serves as a foundation for future process research on couples therapy, as well as research on hope in other contexts (e.g., individual and family therapy) and with other perspectives (e.g., clients).

An attachment primer for couple therapists: research and clinical implications.

According to attachment theory, humans are relational beings and even a childs earliest experiences with caregivers have a profound effect on emotional development and an overall approach to relationships. With increasing regularity, couple therapy has utilized attachment language as a conceptual tool, but more work is needed to understand the full clinical implications of attachment theory. These include understanding the intergenerational nature of attachment and adapting the delivery, timing, and pace of interventions to client attachment strategies. In this article, we summarize the origins of attachment theory, its measurement, the role of attachment in couple relationships, attachment stability and change, and ways that attachment informs therapy process and intervention. We hope that this article will provide an impetus for couple therapists to expand their conceptualization and use of attachment in their clinical work and for couple researchers to conduct more clinically relevant, attachment-oriented process research.

A Qualitative Study of Southern Baptist Mothers' and Their Daughters' Attitudes toward Sexuality.

This qualitative study of 14 Southern Baptist mother-daughter dyads uses grounded theory to explore the attitudes these mothers and daughters hold toward sexuality, religiosity, and spirituality, in addition to how they communicate with each other about these topics. Themes that emerge from the data include abstinence before marriage, lack of interest in sexual behavior, peer influence, parental monitoring, extracurricular activities, the parent-child relationship, shame versus self-respect, and an orientation to the future. This research provides a description of the way in which Southern Baptist mothers and daughters communicate about spirituality and sexuality and reveals the effect this communication has on these adolescent girls. Implications for further research as well as the clinical implications of this study provide guidance for professionals in this area.

Challenge and Urgency in Defining Doctoral Education in Marriage and Family Therapy: Valuing Complementary Models

In this overview, I comment on the strong theme of the need to define and improve the quality of doctoral education in marriage and family therapy that pervades the three essays. Deficits in research training are the central concern, although the essayists take different perspectives on the nature of the research training needed. The different perspectives can be understood in terms of three different models of doctoral education. The institutional model focuses on professional training with little financial support for students and lower expectations for faculty research. The community of scholars model emphasizes a balance of research and practice with students required to attend full-time and financial support provided. Research is a mix of faculty- and student-driven and is often focused on professional issues. The star researcher model often held out as the ideal, although not yet represented in marital and family therapy (MFT), emphasizes faculty externally funded programmatic research with students working on and supported by faculty grant funding. The value and role of all three models in MFT doctoral education are described and discussed.

Predicting Dropout in a Filial Therapy Program for Parents and Young Children

The present study examined child and parent factors that predict dropout from a filial therapy program for mothers and children (ages 2–10). A total of 41 families who had participated in the program during a two-year period were included in this study. The variables mothers perceived social support from family and friends, mothers communication of acceptance in play with her child, mother age, and child age were shown to be predictive of the number of sessions attended. Implications for improving program retention are discussed.

Emotional congruence within couple interaction: the role of attachment avoidance.

Attachment strategies refer to the conscious representations individuals make of their relationships, including the level of perceived comfort and safety that relationships offer during distressing times. From early in life, some individuals learn the coping strategy of attachment avoidance. When distressed, these individuals shut down emotionally and seek to mask what they are feeling. This represents incongruence between emotional experience and expression. Yet congruence is an important part of interpersonal relationships. In addition, incongruence has been identified as a core aspect of repressive coping, about which research has identified several potential long-term health risks. In this study, we examined the relationship between attachment avoidance and congruence between what individuals experience physiologically and what they report. A total of 63 couples completed the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale (ECR; Brennan, Clark, & Shaver, 1998) and participated in a seminatural couple interaction and an interaction with a therapist/coach. Using dyadic data analysis and multilevel modeling, we found that, while avoidance was not associated with elevated skin conductance, it was indeed associated with greater incongruence between skin conductance and reports of feelings toward ones partner. Whereas individuals lower in attachment avoidance were likely to report more negative feelings toward their partners in the context of psychophysiological distress, those higher in attachment avoidance were more likely to report positive feelings toward their partners. We discuss implications of this incongruence and its potential to adversely influence individual and relationship health. We also discuss some important clinical considerations when working to increase emotional congruence.

Couple emotional experience: effects of attachment anxiety in low and high structure couple interactions

This study used data from 63 heterosexual couples to investigate the effects of attachment anxiety and how they relate to emotional experience (i.e. psychophysiological distress and feelings towards a partner) in the context of two therapy-like conditions (low and high structure). We examined both the effect of an individuals anxiety on his/her own emotional experience (actor effects) and on the partners experience (partner effects). During both interactional conditions, female partners of men higher in attachment anxiety experienced greater psychophysiological distress. In addition, men and women higher in attachment anxiety were not significantly different from others in terms of their feelings towards their partner during the low structure condition. However, their feelings were significantly more positive than others during the high structure condition, providing some evidence that attachment-based interventions can be especially useful for clients higher in attachment anxiety. Practitioner points Not only should therapists take into account couple distress and volatility when facilitating couple interaction, but they should also account for self-reported attachment Clients high in attachment anxiety may benefit from the emotional containment provided by having a therapist buffer the couple interaction Clients high in attachment anxiety may especially benefit from therapy process that is anchored in facilitating attachment-based expression

Categorical or Dimensional: How Do Attachment Measures Inform Clinicians in Couple Therapy?

Self-report measures of adult romantic attachment have been widely used in research but their application in clinical practice has not been adequately examined. One important issue is the selection of a practical and reliable attachment measure that therapists can rely on in couple therapy. In the present study, the three-category Attachment Style Prototype (Hazan & Shaver, 1987) representing the original classic conceptualization of attachment, and the Experiences in Close Relationships (Brennan, Clark, & Shaver, 1998), a more recent scale with two dimensions representing a new conceptualization, were compared. Experiences in Close Relationships data were also used to establish four clusters based on the scores of the two dimensions. The Experiences in Close Relationships and Attachment Style Prototype categories were related in meaningful ways; however, Attachment Style Prototype was less effective in detecting a group of insecurely attached individuals who tended to self-identify as securely attached. Experiences in Close Relationships clearly shows an advantage over Attachment Style Prototype in clinical application, and therefore was recommended. Examples of the clinical utilization of Experiences in Close Relationships in couple therapy were provided using Experiences in Close Relationships scores from couples seeking therapy.

The Profession of Couple, Marital, and Family Therapy (CMFT): Defining Ourselves and Moving Forward

The field of Couple, Marital, and Family Therapy (CMFT) has evolved and strengthened, but we still have work to do when it comes to identity, comprehensive scholarly resources, empirical support, and name brand recognition. We explore the reasons for these challenges and propose ways to address them: embracing the interdisciplinary nature of the field, consistently organizing treatment effectiveness by problem rather than by intervention model, continuing innovation in theory development, and utilizing more diverse and meaningful research methods. This approach provides a more accurate representation of the scope of practice of CMFTs, the range of mental and physical health problems we address, and the depth and extent of the existing research on the effectiveness of relational therapies.