W. Kim Halford

Can skills training prevent relationship problems in at-risk couples? Four-year effects of a behavioral relationship education program.

Eighty-three couples were stratified into groups at high and low risk for relationship distress and randomized to either the Self-Regulatory Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program (Self-PREP) or a control condition. As predicted, there were differential effects of Self-PREP on high-risk and low-risk couples. Because of low statistical power, results must be interpreted cautiously, but at 1-year follow-up high-risk couples in Self-PREP showed trends toward better communication than control couples. However, there was no difference in the communication of Self-PREP and control low-risk couples. High-risk couples receiving Self-PREP exhibited higher relationship satisfaction at 4 years than control couples, but in low-risk couples relationship satisfaction was higher in the control condition. High-risk couples seemed to benefit from skills-based relationship education, but low-risk couples did not.

Individual Psychopathology and Marital Distress Analyzing the Association and Implications for Therapy

This article is a review of the association of individual and marital problems. The focus is on depression, alcohol abuse, anxiety disorders, and the functional psychoses, each of which interact with marital distress in important ways. Although the causal connections between these disorders and marital distress are complex and only particularly understood, the available evidence shows that individuals’ and couples’ problems often exacerbate each other. Consequently, regardless of whether the initial presentation is individual or couple focused, there is routinely a need to assess both individual and relationship functioning. Couples therapy, and in particular behavioral couples therapy (BCT), is an important element of effective treatment of depression, alcohol abuse, anxiety disorders, and the functional psychoses. The integration of couple and individual therapy presents a number of clinical challenges, and in concluding this article the authors provide guidelines for managing these challenges.

Social Skills Training with Chronic-Schizophrenic Patients - Effects On Negative Symptoms and Community Functioning

Sixty-three patients with schizophrenia who showed social skills deficits and poor community functioning were assigned randomly to either social skills training (SST) or a discussion group condition. In both treatments, patients met in small groups for 36 sessions of therapy over 4 months, followed by booster sessions of decreasing frequency during the following six months. Social skills, community functioning, quality of life, and positive and negative psychiatric symptoms were assessed at pre- and posttreatment, and at 6-month follow-up. Relapse was assessed during the treatment and follow-up phases. Those subjects who completed SST showed greater increases in social skill than subjects who completed the discussion condition, but there were no other significant differences between the conditions. Patients who completed either treatment showed improvements on quality of life and reduced psychopathology. SST alone had limited effect on community functioning.

Effects of relationship education on maintenance of couple relationship satisfaction

Couple relationship education (RE) is the provision of structured education intended to promote healthy couple relationships, and prevent future relationship distress. There is a well-replicated finding that 9-20 hours of curriculum-based RE produces short-term improvements in couple communication and relationship satisfaction, but that established finding does not test whether RE helps couples maintain high relationship satisfaction. The current paper summarizes 17 published studies evaluating RE that have follow up assessments of at least 1 year, of which 14 studies found RE helped maintenance of relationship satisfaction. Couples with elevations of modifiable risk factors benefit substantially from RE, while benefits for couples with low risk have not yet been reliably demonstrated. Couples with elevations on risk factors not readily modified by current forms of RE are likely to show little or no benefit. Future research needs to clarify the mediators of RE effects, and how those mediators are moderated by couple risk profiles.

Repeating the Errors of Our Parents?: Parental Violence in Men’s Family of Origin and Conflict Management in Dating Couples

Within a social learning model, family-of-origin violence places men at risk for developing negative communication in their adult relationships. Thirty young men exposed to family-of-origin violence (exposed group) and 30 unexposed young men were videotaped discussing a conflict topic with their female dating partners. Relative to the unexposed group, the exposed men and women reported higher relation-ship aggression and during discussion showed more negative communication, were more domineering, and the men reported more negative affect. There were no differences between the groups on cognition or heart rate. The conflict management deficits and aggression evident in the exposed group suggest that these partners are at high risk for future relationship aggression and distress.

Couple Relationship Education at the Transition to Parenthood: A Window of Opportunity to Reach High-Risk Couples

This study evaluated if the transition to parenthood is a window of opportunity to provide couple relationship education (CRE) to new parents at high risk for future relationship problems. Fifty-three percent of eligible couples approached agreed to participate in CRE and of these 80% had not previously accessed CRE. Couples were a broad representative of Australian couples having their first child, but minority couples were underrepresented. A third of couples had three or more risk factors for future relationship distress (e.g., cohabiting, interpartner violence, elevated psychological distress, unplanned pregnancy). Low education was the only risk factor that predicted drop out. The transition to parenthood is a window of opportunity to recruit certain types of high-risk couples to CRE.

Classes of childhood sexual abuse and women's adult couple relationships

The current study assessed if childhood sexual abuse (CSA) can be meaningfully classified into classes, based on the assumption that abuse by a close family member differs in important ways from other abuse, and whether abuse classes were differentially associated with couple relationship problems. The childhood experiences and adult relationships of 1,335 Australian women (18–41 years) were assessed. Latent class analysis identified three classes of CSA: that perpetrated by a family member, friend, or stranger, which differed markedly on most aspects of the abuse. Family abuse was associated with the highest risk for adult relationship problems, with other classes of CSA having a significant but weaker association with adult relationship problems. CSA is heterogeneous with respect the long-term consequences for adult relationship functioning.

Toward making progress feedback an effective common factor in couple therapy

Systematic monitoring of individual therapy progress, coupled with feedback to the therapist, reliably enhances therapy outcome by alerting therapists to individual clients who are off track to benefit by the end of therapy. The current paper reviews the possibility of using similar systematic monitoring and feedback of therapy progress as a means to enhance couple therapy outcome, including what measures of therapy progress are most likely to be useful, how to structure feedback to be most useful to therapists, and the likely mediators of the effects of therapy progress feedback. One implicit assumption of therapy progress feedback is that clients unlikely to benefit from therapy can be detected early enough in the course of therapy for corrective action to be taken. As a test of this assumption, midtherapy progress was examined as a predictor of final couple therapy outcome in a sample of 134 distressed couples. Either a brief 7- or 32-item assessment of couple therapy progress at midtherapy detected a substantial proportion (46%) of couples who failed to benefit by the end of therapy. Given that failure to benefit from couple therapy is somewhat predictable across the course of therapy, future research should test whether systematic monitoring and feedback of progress could enhance therapy outcome.

Predictors of Relationship Satisfaction Four Years after Completing Flexible Delivery Couple Relationship Education

The aim of the current study was to test predictors of sustained relationship satisfaction after couple relationship education (CRE). Sixty-six couples, who were stratified into high- and low-risk for future relationship problems groups, completed the Couple CARE program and were assessed on relationship self-regulation and negative couple communication after CRE. Relationship satisfaction was assessed across the next 4 years. Multilevel modeling of the trajectory of satisfaction showed there was a mean decline in satisfaction through the 4-year follow-up and that sustained high relationship satisfaction after CRE was predicted by high relationship self-regulation and low male negative communication but not by risk level or negative female communication.

Couple psychoeducation for new parents: Observed and potential effects on parenting

The transition to parenthood is a substantial challenge for many couples, and the extent to which the partners can support each other and their relationship is strongly related to the sensitivity and responsiveness of their parenting of their infant. This paper critically analyses the links between the couple relationship and parenting of infants and reviews the research evaluating couple psychoeducation (CP) to assist couples’ parenting of their infant. It is concluded that CP has considerable potential to enhance couples’ adaptation to parenthood and enhance the sensitivity and responsiveness of parenting of new infants.