Linda J. Roberts

The effects of alcohol on the marital interactions of aggressive and nonaggressive husbands and their wives

This study examined the marital interactions of 60 maritally aggressive and 75 nonaggressive men and their wives under a baseline condition, and then after the husband had received no alcohol, a placebo, or alcohol. These sessions were videotaped and coded with the Marital Interaction Coding System by coders who were unaware of group status and specific condition. Aggressive couples exhibited more negative behavior and higher levels of negative reciprocity in the baseline interaction than did nonaggressive couples. The administration of alcohol led husbands, but not wives, to increase their problem-solving attempts. Alcohol, but not the placebo, led to increased negativity of both husbands and wives.

Cognition During Marital Conflict: The Relationship of Thought and Talk

This article describes and analyzes the stream of thought occurring concurrently with overt communication about marital conflict. The research considers how marital conflicts may be affected by selective attention to different elements of conflict (different emotions, issues, interactional behaviors, and background events) and by spontaneous attributions about communicative intentions and outcomes. One hundred eighteen couples discussed a current conflict issue, then individually watched a videotape of the discussion and reported thoughts and feelings experienced during the discussion. Descriptively, the thoughts revealed limited complexity, infrequent perspective taking, a predominant concern for implicit relationship issues over content issues, and frequent direct analysis of the communication process. Spouses viewed their own communication in more favorable terms than their partners communication. Husbands and wives also viewed the interactions differently, with wives appearing, in certain respects, more other-directed, relationship-sensitive, and objective. Interaction-based thoughts were especially subjective in the most severe conflicts, as suggested by a lack of correspondence between attributions about communication and observer coding of the interactions. Furthermore, in severe conflicts and dissatisfied relationships, the individuals had more angry, blaming, and pessimistic thoughts and less focus on content issues.

An Empirical Typology of Drinking Partnerships and Their Relationship to Marital Functioning and Drinking Consequences.

Using cluster analysis, we identified a natural typology of drinking partnerships in early marriage. We found an interpretable five-cl(ster solution that evidenced significant and meaningful relationships with both marital functioning and drinking con.sequences. Cluster profiles were derived from hasbands and wives drinking frequencies, typical quantities. the percentage of couples total drinking done in each others presence, and the percentage of couples drinking done in the home. Clusters characterized by high levels of consumption were not uniformly associated with lower marital quality. Moreover, significant relationships between the drinking partnerships and both marital functioning and alcohol consequences held after statistically controlling for husbands and wives monthly alcohol volumes. The multidimensional notion of a drinking partnership may be useful in future efforts to understand the irnplications of alcohol use for marriage and family life. Key Words: alcohol, cluster analysis, drinking partnerships, drinking patterns, marital quality. Alcohol is commonly mixed with marriage. According to a recent national survey, 73% of martied men and 63% of married women drink alcohol (Hilton, 1991). Thus, for a majority of couples, drinking has the potential to both affect and be af*ected by marital events. Although research is beginning to examine alcohol use and its implications for family life, much of this burgeoning literature has concentrated on the effects of parental alcoholism on child outcomes, and surprisingly little research has been directed specifically at the marital bond. Moreover, the majority of studies to date have focused on problem drinkers-and primarily male problem drinkers-and little is known about the consequences of alcohol consumption for nonproblem drinkers and for females. Undertaking research on the relationship between marital functioning and alcohol use is complicated by the variability in individual drinking patterns and drinking contexts. Even research focusing exclusively on problem drinkers has suggested a complex relationship between marital functioning and drinking. Consistent with common assumptions about the adverse consequences of drinking, research has implicated heavy drinking as a cause of marital dissolution (Burns, 1984; Power & Estaugh, 1990) and established its association with a host of marital problems, including conflict, infidelity, and violence. (See Orford, 1990, for a review.) However, research also has indicated that alcohol use may be adaptive or may improve marital functioning for some couples (Dunn, Jacob, Hummon, & Seilhamer, 1987; Holmila, 1988; Jacob, Dunn, & Leonard, 1983; Steinglass, Davis, & Berenson, 1977). Even in couples with an identified problem drinker, consumption patterns and drinking contexts may moderate the relationship between drinking and marital functioning. Jacob and Leonard (1988; Leonard, 1990), for example, distinguished subgroups of alcoholics based on the patterning of their consumption and found that drinking appeared to have a different effect on the marital interactions of steady drinkers, compared with binge drinkers. The notion that alcohol consumption may have either positive or negative effects on marital functioning should not be surprising. Research has demonstrated that, although individuals recognize the negative behavioral effects of drinking, they also identify a number of positive effects, including beliefs of improved social functioning and heightened sexual arousal. In a number of behavioral domains, these expectancies, rather than the pharmacologic action of the alcohol, appear to be of critical importance (Hull & Bond, 1986). Experimental research on the effects of alcohol on social behavior and emotions demonstrates a pattern of paradoxical effects: Alcohol can both enhance and compromise interpersonal functioning, depending on the context. For example, alcohol has been shown to facilitate self-disclosure (e. …

Smoker Characteristics and Smoking-Cessation Milestones

BACKGROUND Contextual variables often predict long-term abstinence, but little is known about how these variables exert their effects. These variables could influence abstinence by affecting the ability to quit at all, or by altering risk of lapsing, or progressing from a lapse to relapse. PURPOSE To examine the effect of common predictors of smoking-cessation failure on smoking-cessation processes. METHODS The current study (N=1504, 58% female, 84% Caucasian; recruited from January 2005 to June 2007; data analyzed in 2009) uses the approach advocated by Shiffman et al. (2006), which measures cessation outcomes on three different cessation milestones (achieving initial abstinence, lapse risk, and the lapse-relapse transition) to examine relationships of smoker characteristics (dependence, contextual and demographic factors) with smoking-cessation process. RESULTS High nicotine dependence strongly predicted all milestones: not achieving initial abstinence, and a higher risk of both lapse and transitioning from lapse to complete relapse. Numerous contextual and demographic variables were associated with higher initial cessation rates and/or decreased lapse risk at 6 months post-quit (e.g., ethnicity, gender, marital status, education, smoking in the workplace, number of smokers in the social network, and number of supportive others). However, aside from nicotine dependence, only gender significantly predicted the risk of transition from lapse to relapse. CONCLUSIONS These findings demonstrate that (1) higher nicotine dependence predicted worse outcomes across every cessation milestone; (2) demographic and contextual variables are generally associated with initial abstinence rates and lapse risk and not the lapse-relapse transition. These results identify groups who are at risk for failure at specific stages of the smoking-cessation process, and this may have implications for treatment.

Individual, Group Context, and Individual-Group Fit Predictors of Self-Help Group Attendance

Three different conceptualizations of person-group fit are proposed for predicting self-help group attendance. Measures were calculated in three domains: individual characteristics, group characteristics, and individual-group dissimilarity. Survival analysis was used to relate the measures to patterns of attendance over time in a self-help group for persons with a history of serious mental illness. Variables in each domain were significantly related to attendance duration. Persons who were older, not married, educated, and low functioning were likely to attend for longer periods of time. Persons who attended first meetings that were predominately female were more likely to drop out of the group earlier Persons who had a different marital status and different psychiatric hospitalization history also had a shorter attendance duration. The results are discussed in light of the importance of multiple definitions of person-group fit, the mechanisms for group entrance, and practical and policy implications for self-help organizations.

The value of theory for enhancing and understanding e-health interventions.

,5,6 But a key question remains:What are the causal psychological and social processes and intermediate outcomes that leadto their demonstrated successes? That is a call for theory to help researchers develop, implementand evaluate those interventions.7 Theory provides a framework guiding the selection ofintervention components from a huge array of what might work, it guides the choice of studydesign and samples, and it helps select appropriate outcomes for measuring the effects of theintervention. In fact, as Kurt Lewin famously noted a half-century ago, “nothing is quite sopractical as a good theory.

Relevance of CONSORT reporting criteria for research on eHealth interventions

OBJECTIVE In 1996, 2001, and 2010, the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) group released criteria for reporting critical information about randomized clinical trials [1,2]. These criteria were intended to improve the quality and completeness of reporting of RCTs in health care research. This paper discusses the relevance of the CONSORT recommendations for the reporting and design of eHealth research. METHODS We reviewed the CONSORT recommendations and discussed their particular relevance to eHealth (electronic information, support and/or communication resources designed to promote health) research. This review focuses on such issues as recruitment and screening of participants, description of treatment elements, and reporting of outcome data and adverse events. RESULTS eHealth research presents special challenges regarding the comprehensive and effective reporting of research information. However, the strategic application of CONSORT recommendations holds great promise for improving the quality and informativeness of eHealth research. CONCLUSION Investigators need to consider CONSORT recommendations at all stages of the research enterprise, including planning, execution and reporting in order to increase the informativeness of their research efforts. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS The recommendations contained in this paper have the potential to enhance the public health and scientific value of eHealth research.

Charting uncharted terrain: A behavioral observation system for mutual help groups

Describes the development of a behavioral observation system for mutual help meetings and presents evidence supporting its reliability, validity, and utility. The MHOS-BIC (Mutual Help Observation System-Behavioral Interaction Codes) was used by 10 observers to record the sequential flow of group interaction in 527 meetings. Psychometric analyses indicate that the system performed consistently with measurement objectives. Mean kappas for each of the 12 coding categories ranged from .62 to .87; the system demonstrated sensitivity to setting and time differences; and a predictable pattern of correlations was found among BIC categories and conceptually related participant and observer ratings. Studies using the BIC to address substantive questions about mutual help are reviewed, providing further evidence for its validity and utility. An empirical description of mutual help is presented using BIC data, and the promises and limitations of the system are discussed.

Interactivity and presence of three eHealth interventions

A number of researchers have identified interactivity and presence as potentially important attributes of e-Health applications, because they are believed to influence users to interact with systems in ways that increase commitment, learning, and other desirable responses. This paper reports on the development of brief scales to assess the two concepts, and on use of them with participants in six conditions of a large-scale trial of interventions for breast cancer patients. Overall, the Internet scored very low on both measures. Versions of an integrated system of services (CHESS) scored higher, particularly as conditions added features to different versions of the system. Interventions involving a human Cancer Information Mentor scored highest, though even the Mentor was perceived as more interactive and having more presence when combined with the integrated eHealth system.

The Role of the Family Environment and Computer-Mediated Social Support on Breast Cancer Patients' Coping Strategies

Despite the importance of family environment and computer-mediated social support (CMSS) for women with breast cancer, little is known about the interplay of these sources of care and assistance on patients’ coping strategies. To understand this relation, the authors examined the effect of family environment as a predictor of the use of CMSS groups as well as a moderator of the relation between group participation and forms of coping. Data were collected from 111 patients in CMSS groups in the Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System “Living with Breast Cancer” intervention. Results indicate that family environment plays a crucial role in (a) predicting breast cancer patients participation in CMSS groups and (b) moderating the effects of use of CMSS groups on breast cancer patients’ coping strategies such as problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping.