Thesis (Ph.D.)--Brown University, 2005. / Vita. Thesis advisor: Frances Goldscheider. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 275-285). Also available online.

Thesis (M.A.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of Psychology, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Ashland Theological Seminary, 2005. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 204-210).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2007. / Title from PDF title page screen. Advisor: Esther M. Leerkes; submitted to the School of Human Environmental Sciences. Includes bibliographical references (p. 49-58).

The study is informed by work from the 1990s which looked at emotional aspects of couple relationships and how this interacts with gendered power (Duncombe and Marsden, 1993, 1995; Benjamin, 1998). The context of couple relationships provides the backdrop to explore experiences of men and women navigating their emotional lives through a period of social change in which men are becoming more emotionally open. I examine to what extent emotional participation is moving towards being more equal, and whether this has an impact on gender relations within couple relationships, including consideration of how love can exist within unequal divisions of labour. The central analytical concepts of gender, power and emotion will be explored in order to look at whether there has been a change in practices of emotional participation in couple relationships. This thesis is a mixed-methods study exploring understandings of emotional participation within couple relationships. It is based on an online survey of 1,080 people, telephone interviews with 44 survey participants and 31 face-to-face interviews with participants living in Scotland. I explore the issues of communication, emotional skill and emotional capital through the narratives of men and women who are single and in relationships, predominantly heterosexual but not exclusively. This research design was used to test findings from previous research to enable an understanding of how gender shapes cultural constructions of emotional habitus within intimate relationships. I extend Burkitt’s concept of ‘emotional habitus’ (2014) to argue that ‘gendered emotional habitus’ (plural) are pervasive and enable the reproduction of heterosexuality within couple relationships. These habitus provide little room to negotiate alternative ways of doing gender, yet there are signs of a ‘clash of ideals of masculine emotion’ due to an increase in the value of emotional skills and the commonsensical discourse that it’s ‘good to talk’, found in the therapeutic discourse (Brownlie, 2014). I argue these signs of social change have led to a shift away from relationships in which women crave emotional fulfilment but do not receive it, to relationships in which men too want emotional closeness with their partner. The change in gendered ways of valuing emotion have impacted on how men and women perceive and manage their couple relationships, which is explored in depth through the concept of emotional participation.

Text in Afrikaans / Die artikel bepaal welke regsgevolge voortvloei indien 'n saamwoon-verhouding tot 'n einde kom. Daar word eerstens na die posisie in Engeland gekyk met verwysing na vererwing, gesinsgeweld, 'n deliksaksie weens verlies aan onderhoud, verdeling van eiendom en minderjarige kinders. Daarna word die posisie in Swede in oenskou geneem op dieselfde basis. Laastens word die regsposisie in Suid-Afrika bespreek. Die gevolgtrekking is dat saamwoners hier te lande swakker af is as in meeste ander Westerse lande. Die howe hier het nag min leiding gegee oar die klassieke saamwoonverhouding se implikasies. Gevolglik weet saamwoners nie presies wat hulle te wagte kan wees indien so 'n verhouding eindig nie. Enkele voorstelle vir regshervorming word verskaf. / The purpose of the article is to ascertain which legal consequences follow when a "common law" marriage is dissolved. Firstly, the position in England is evaluated with specific reference to inheritance, family violence, a delictual action for loss of support, division of assets and minor children. Thereafter the position in Sweden is evaluated on the same basis. Lastly, the position in South Africa is discussed. It is concluded that participants to a common law marriage in South Africa do not enjoy the same protection as in most other Western countries. The Courts have given little assistance in this regard. Consequently people that live together cannot be certain of the consequences when their relationship is dissolved. Suggestions are provided for legal reform: / Private Law / LL. M.

Doctor of Philosophy / School of Family Studies and Human Services / Jared A. Durtschi / Perceptions regarding the causes and intentions behind partner transgressions are often just as important as the transgressions themselves. Although mindfulness-based interventions have been useful in clinical work with couples, the potential role that mindfulness plays in attributions is unclear. Using a sample of 542 young adults in romantic relationships, I explored the direct and indirect associations among attachment, trait mindfulness, and attributions. Specifically, I conducted a latent profile analysis, a person-centered approach, through which I identified four latent classes of trait mindfulness, including a High Mindfulness class, a Nonjudgmentally Aware class, a Low Mindfulness class, and a Judgmentally Observing class. I then ran a path analysis and found a number of significant direct effects. For example, relative to membership in the Low Mindfulness, membership in the High Mindfulness class and the Nonjudgmentally Aware class were associated with more benign attributions. I also found two significant indirect effects. First, heightened attachment anxiety was associated with an decreased probability of being Nonjudgmentally Aware class relative to the Low Mindfulness class, which was inversely linked with benign attributions. Second, avoidant attachment was linked with a decreased probability of membership in the High Mindfulness class relative to the Low Mindfulness class, which was linked to a decrease in benign attributions. The clinical implications and areas for future research based on the findings of this study are discussed.

Communal coping—a process in which romantic partners view a problem or stressor as "ours" rather than "yours" or "mine" and engage in collaborative problem solving to address it —has emerged as an important predictor of health and treatment outcomes. This study investigated communal coping as a theoretically derived and empirically supported intervention target within two couple-focused interventions for health problems: Family Systems Therapy for problematic alcohol use and Family Consultation for health-compromised smoking. With a combined sample of 56 couples (37 alcohol, 21 smoking), this study investigated within-session changes in communal coping—indexed via observable, communal coping behaviors and first-person plural pronoun use (we-talk)—prior to and following therapist implementation of specific solution-focused therapy techniques that aimed to promote communal coping in the couples during a target therapy session. Teams of trained raters observed the target therapy sessions and made independent ratings of couple communal coping behaviors and therapist adherence. Pronoun measures for each partner were obtained via computerized text analysis from transcripts of partners' speech during the target therapy sessions. Both patients and spouses showed increases in communal coping behavior and we-talk from a "baseline" problem-focused therapy block to the "active" solution-focused therapy block. In addition, exploratory analyses revealed that several couple and therapist characteristics, as well as specific solution-focused techniques were associated with within-session changes in communal coping. Findings from this study identify communal coping as a client change process and solution-focused therapy techniques as a therapist change process within the two interventions, and demonstrate successful engagement of communal coping as a therapeutic target.

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