This thesis describes a program of research which aimed to identify the extent to which couple and stepfamily variables were associated with couple relationship adjustment and stability in stepfamily couples. Two studies were conducted. Study 1 consisted of 63 stepfamily couples who were in a committed relationship (married or cohabiting) and who had earlier taken part in an intervention program. It was hypothesised that positive couple relationship outcomes could be predicted by low couple aggression, high couple negativity, low couple withdrawal, high parenting disagreement, and high dysfunctional parenting over a 5-year period. The results did not support the hypotheses possibly due to low power in the design. In Study 2, 122 stepfamily couples who been living together (married or cohabiting) as a stepfamily were assessed on couple and stepfamily factors, and these were tested for their association with couple relationship adjustment and stability, using both self-report questionnaires and interview data. As predicted, stepfamily factors accounted for variance in couple stability above that accounted for by couple factors. Furthermore, stepfamily factors were associated with couple stability independent of couple adjustment. The influence of stepfamily couple relationship adjustment and stability seem distinctive from first-marriage couples. It was concluded that stepfamily relationship education programs for stepfamilies should address the unique needs of stepfamilies such as parenting education for inexperienced stepparents, the development of positive stepparent-stepchild relationships, and the building of stepfamily cohesion.

Sex after breast cancer treatment has hitherto been studied chiefly by quantitative methods, which have found that at least a third of women concerned have sexual difficulties. The reasons for this were not clearly identified, but were usually held to be associated with depressed mood and negative body image. This study gathered information about sex and the couple relationship by means of in-depth interviews with fdteen women, and reports their experiences as they recounted them. All had been treated with breast surgery, four with radiotherapy, nine with chemotherapy and eight with the hormone treatment, tamoxifen. Fourteen had had sex since their treatment, and twelve of these had sexual difficulties they had not been having before the treatment, These difficulties were not connected with either mood changes or body image concerns, but were mainly due to problems with desire and orgasm and to vulva1 and vaginal symptoms. Most women attributed these problems to menopause, whether natural, induced by the chemotherapy or exacerbated by tamoxifen. The couple relationship in this circumstance has not been intensively studied until now. The study found that a positive shift commonly took place in the less stable relationships, so that the couple became closer, and sex, including heterosexual intercourse, became more acceptable to the woman. There was no change in the stable relationships. In both stable and less stable relationships, though intercourse was wished for by the heterosexual women, the sexual difficulties described above inhibited its successful accomplishment. The study also reports the coping methods used by the women and their experience of trying to find information about the subject of sex and sexual difficulties, from health professionals and other sources.

At least one-quarter of service members who have returned from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan meet the criteria for a mental health diagnosis, of which Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is the most common. Social support provided by close relationships has been shown to be a buffer against PTSD symptoms. However, PTSD can also have devastating effects on couple relationships, hampering this form of social support. One promising intervention for PTSD has been the use of service dogs specially trained to perform tasks related to PTSD symptoms. Anecdotally, there are promising individual outcomes for veterans with PTSD who are partnered with service dogs; however, the effects of these service dogs on the couple relationship for veterans who are married or in long-term relationships has yet to be explored. Seven couples participated in in-depth, semi-structured interviews related to their experiences of their relationship before, during, and after acquiring a service dog trained to respond to PTSD symptoms. Responses were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Themes derived were loss of self, living with the enemy, to hope or not to hope, running the gauntlet, pawsitive reinforcements, and turning the tide. Results are weighed against existing literature in the field, clinical and public policy considerations are offered, and directions for future research are proposed. / Master of Science

This thesis aimed to examine the process of projective identification in the couple relationship by focusing on two areas of investigation: Firstly, how projective identification operates &ldquo / within&rdquo / an individual regarding the associations among early parenting experiences, personality and couple relationship / secondly how projective identification operates between two partners in the couple relationship regarding partners&rsquo / similarities and complementarities have been focused. Initially, several multiple regressions were run to examine the relationships among the parenting, personality and couple relationship. Afterwards, several intra-class partial pairwise correlatons were conducted to reveal similarities and complementarities of the partners regarding their early maladaptive parenting experiences, personality constructs and couple relationship variables. Paulson Daily Living Inventory, Separation-Individuation Inventory and Splitting Scale were translated into Turkish and psychometric studies were conducted. For the main study, 356 participants (178 male and 178 female), who are cohabiting partners to each other, were achieved through snowball sampling method. Early maladaptive parenting experiences of the participants were examined by Young Parenting Inventory. Personality constructs contained &ldquo / separation individuation process&rdquo / and &ldquo / splitting defense&rdquo / as the theoretical correlates of projective identification, and &ldquo / early maladaptive schemas&rdquo / of the individuals. Couple relationship variables were &ldquo / relationship satisfaction&rdquo / , &ldquo / emotional dependency&rdquo / and &ldquo / jealousy&rdquo / . Findings of the study revealed that projective identification has bidirectional relatedness with the personality and couple relationship of the individual. Multiple regression analyses showed theoretically consistent associations among an individual&rsquo / s parenting experiences, personality and couple relationship. Intra-class partial pairwise correlations showed similarities and complementarities between two partners. Findings were discussed in the light of relevant literature.

Background: Expecting a child and becoming a parent is one of life’s major events, during which the parents’ perspective on life and their couple relationship changes. For some parents, childbearing entails a decrease in parental couple relationship quality. The way in which parents are able to cope with childbearing may be connected with their Sense of Coherence; which is a person’s ability to perceive life as comprehensible, manageable and meaningful. For parents’ positive childbearing experiences, professional and social support have been proven to be valuable. However, far from all parents have access to social support; furthermore, professional support does not always meet the needs of expectant parents. Hence, more research is needed to increase knowledge about expectant parents’ experiences of professiona land social support. In addition, more research is needed to explore factors associated with quality of couple relationship among parents during childbearing. Aims: The overall aim of the thesis was to explore professional and social support for first-time mothers and partners during childbearing in relation toquality of couple relationship and Sense of Coherence. Methods: The study’s designs were explorative, prospective and longitudinal; both qualitative and quantitative methods were used. Specifically, explorative designs, qualitative methods and phenomenographic analysis were used to explore expectant first-time mothers’ (I) and partners’ perceptions of professional support (II). Furthermore, an explorative design, qualitative method and qualitative content analysis were used to explore expectant first-time mothers’ experiences of social support (III). Within Study IV, a prospective longitudinal design, descriptive statistics, non-parametric tests and multiple linear regression analysis were used to evaluate factors associated with quality of couple relationship among first-time mothers and partners, during pregnancy and the first six months of parenthood. Results: The overall results of the thesis revealed both similarities and differences between expectant first-time mothers’ and partners’ perceptions of professional support, effects from social support and associated factors with perceived quality of couple relationship. The similarities were; both mothers and partners perceived that professional support could facilitate partner involvement, influence their couple relationship and facilitate contacts with other expectant parents. According to first-time mothers’ experiences, their couple relationship with their partner was also strengthened by social support during pregnancy. Further, the results showed that both first-time mothers’ and partners’ higher perceived couple relationship quality six months after birth, was associated with their higher perceived social support. The results showed also that both mothers and partners perceived their quality of couple relationship to decrease and Sense of Coherence to increase six months after childbirth, compared to the pregnancy. Differences revealed were such as: higher Sense of Coherence was only associated with mothers’ higher perceived quality of couple relationship, and first-time mothers reported perceiving more social support compared to the partners both during pregnancy, first week and six months after childbirth. Conclusions: Professional and social support can strengthen first-time mothers and partners both individually and as a couple, in their abilities to cope with childbearing. On the individual basis, the expectant parents could be strengthened through professional and social support that contributed to their understanding and feeling of being prepared for childbirth and parenting, for instance. As a couple, the parents were strengthened by professional support that included the partner’s role, as well as higher perceived social support overall. In contrast, lack of support could have a negative influence on the expectant parents’ feeling of being prepared for childbirth and parenting. Besides this, the results indicates that childbearing has a positive effect on parents’ abilities to cope with life even though their quality of couple relationship decrease. Professionals can use these results in their further understanding about how to offer satisfactory support to first-time mothers and partners during childbearing.

This study examines whether the single or shared leisure activity of video gaming or a report of it as a problem is negatively related to couple attachment behaviors (accessibility, responsiveness, and engagement). The model suggests that individual frequency of violent video game use, individual frequency of nonviolent video game use, and couple video game use frequency predict negative couple attachment behaviors. In addition, video game playing that is perceived as a problem in the relationship serves as a mediator variable in the model. Data were collected using the Relationship Evaluation questionnaire (RELATE). The sample includes 2,112 couples who reported seriously dating, engagement, or marriage. The measures include assessing couple attachment behaviors and questions assessing video game use rates. Results indicated that male's violent video game use predicted the female's attachment behaviors, while the female's nonviolent video game use predicted the male's attachment behaviors. The male's violent video game use and the female's nonviolent video game use predicted his/her perception and their partner's perception that video games were a problem in the relationship, and their perception predicted less attachment behaviors, which was a fully mediated relationship for both. The female's view that video games were a problem negatively predicted both her and her partner's attachment behaviors, while the male's view only predicted his attachment behaviors. Future research directions and clinical implications for couples are discussed.

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<p dir="ltr">Military families are a unique context as they experience separation from the service member who is away from the family for a considerable duration of time for a job that puts them at risk of serious injury or death. Service members returning from deployments may display a variety of mental health difficulties including post-traumatic stress disorder, especially when they have combat experiences. Applying a family systems framework, this thesis examined the associations between both service members’ and significant others’ PTSD symptoms, their ineffective arguing, and their reports of their children’s externalizing behaviors across three time points during reintegration, or the stage in the deployment cycle when the service member returns to the family. The study tested hypotheses that these would decline over time, and that initial levels and the rate of change in ineffective arguing would mediate the effect of parental PTSD at Time 1 on children’s externalizing behaviors at Time 3. Using data from service members and significant others in 71 families (142 individuals), I estimated multilevel models using both mixed and the structural equation frameworks. I found that parental PTSD and ineffective arguing were stable across reintegration, with considerable inter-individual variation in these at baseline. There was a decrease in children’s externalizing behaviors across time. There were also significant differences in parents’ rating of children’s externalizing behaviors. I did not find evidence for mediation but did find an association between parental PTSD and baseline levels of ineffective arguing. Results suggest that while parental stress is linked with the couple’s functioning, there may be protective factors within families that act as sources of resilience for the children.</p><p><br></p>

In the first, theoretical part, Attachment Theory is summarized: terms, patterns of attachment behavior of children, adults' mental representations of attachment, attachment developement, application of Attachment Theory into psychotherapy, as well as statistical contexts. Research work then involves qualitative analysis of attachment styles in current relationships of women from shelters for mothers and children in Czech Republic; here the Current Relationship Interview (CRI) method is applied. As a result, it gives 80 % insecure (60 % dismissing, 20 % preoccupied) and 20 % secure persons. This differs significantly from standard population, where 59 % persons are identified as secure. Qualitative analysis of 19 CRI scales gives some characteristic features of relationship of such a woman, e.g., remarkable lack of love and high conflict between her parents, lacking in love with partner, infrequent or inadequate caregiving and inability to seek or accept care from partner. Secure respondents differ from insecure ones by higher rate of loving and ability to provide care, but in the total evaluation they are on borderline of attachment insecurity. The findings are discussed with respect to possibility of education of social workers and applications on work with these women, which (besides lack of existential...

<p>Disclosure of HIV positive status to male partners is well established as a key element in the success of prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV programmes, as it helps improve adherence to ARVs by the women within these programme. However, partner notification rates remain low in the urban areas of Lusaka, Zambia against a high HIV prevalence of 25%. The purpose of this study was to explore the timing of disclosure as part of the process of disclosure amongst women who were part of the PMTCT services at Kaulu health centre in Lusaka. An exploratory descriptive study using qualitative research methods was conducted. 15 women, who were attending the Kaulu health centre PMTCT programme, were requested to participate in a semi-structured interview. The women, who were purposively selected with the aid of the health centre‟s PMTCT focal point nurse, had to have disclosed their HIV positive status to their partner, either before or during the course of their pregnancy or after delivery. To increase rigour,&nbsp / individual interviews were conducted with 5 health workers associated with the PMTCT programme so as to obtain their perspective and experiences on the issue of HIV disclosure amongst their PMTCT patients. Participation in the study was voluntary and all information obtained during the course of the interviews remained confidential and secure. Potential participants were each provided with an explanation of the purpose and process of the study and their informed written consent obtained before the researcher embarked on the interviews. Content analysis of the transcripts was done so as to develop coding categories and identify emerging themes. Disclosure to male partners is an important step in PMTCT and facilitates adherence to HIV care for the family and should be done as early as possible after the woman receives her HIV test result, though there exists a range of alternative times when it can be done. The relationship existing between a couple is very important in determining the timing of when a woman chooses to disclose. PMTCT services need to provide ongoing counselling for HIV positive women during pregnancy and after giving birth that supports, informs and equips them with the necessary skills to make an informed and timely decision about disclosure to a partner. In addition, the PMTCT service providers need to be encouraged to implement couple counselling as a strategy to facilitate disclosure as well as establishment of a peer support network for HIV positive pregnant women. The study findings will be used to contribute to health workers‟ capacity to support women manage the disclosure process to their male partners, thus helping to increase the disclosure rate and also contributing to improving the positive effect of the PMTCT services, in Lusaka, Zambia</p>