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The current study examined direct and indirect influences of romantic attachment processes, marital adjustment, and the coparenting relationship on family functioning. Data was collected from a community sample of 86 heterosexual couples with a child aged eight to eleven living in the home. Both spouses completed a demographic questionnaire, the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale, the Dyadic Adjustment Scale, the Coparenting Scale, and the Self-Report Family Inventory as part of a larger study on family processes in middle childhood. Data analysis included multilevel modeling, utilizing the actor-partner interdependence model. Results indicated that marital adjustment mediated the association between attachment processes and family functioning, suggesting that a healthy marital relationship is an important variable that helps explain links between attachment security and the family functioning. Findings also highlighted the benefit of conceptualizing adult romantic attachment, marital, and coparental subsystems within a systemic framework.

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This qualitative research study was designed to follow-up with ten participants in a relapse prevention program at an inpatient psychiatric unit with a diagnosis of major depression for the purpose of determining their experiences post-discharge in practicing relapse prevention and in pursuing and maintaining wellness in their mental health. It relied upon narrative theory, theories of self-efficacy, and theories of depression to guide the research process as well as the field of knowledge about rehospitalization, relapse prevention, depression, and self-efficacy. Participants described depression associated with loss, feeling helpless, powerless, overwhelmed and suicidal. They increased in their confidence of depression management as their depression got better and they actively managed it. During the interviews participants expressed themes of connection, with participants feeling disconnected from themselves and others, wanting to be listened to, but feeling unheard or hiding their own voice, a loss of self with healing occurring through use of self, learning cognitively and experientially to manage their depression using specific self-efficacy skills and identifying the things that interfered with depression management. A relational theory of depression management, based on attachment theory is proposed and several suggestions for research and treatment are made. / Ph. D.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Walter R. Schumm / Abstract This study seeks to clarify a controversy in the literature about which characteristics of families are most responsible for facilitating the development of empathy in children. The study utilized a correlational research design and self-report questionnaires. The Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale measured the criterion variable, subjects’ levels of emotional empathy. The Circumplex Model of Marital and Family Systems’ accompanying questionnaire, the fourth version of the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales (FACES IV) measured the two key predictor variables, levels of family cohesion and family flexibility, in the subjects’ families of origin. The central hypothesis of the Circumplex Model is that healthy family functioning would be predicted by balanced functioning on both of these key dimensions of family life. The first predictor variable, family cohesion, appears to encompass those factors emphasized by researchers who have asserted that positive family affective bonds would be the family characteristic most predictive of higher levels of empathy in children. The second predictor variable, family flexibility, appears to encompass those factors emphasized by researchers who have asserted that the style of parental discipline would be the family characteristic most predictive of higher levels of empathy in children. Participants in this study were all students at a mid-size, public, Midwestern university. A purposive convenience sample was utilized. Correlational statistics and multiple regression analyses were used to test hypotheses. The results suggested several conclusions. Balanced levels of family cohesion were positively associated with higher levels of emotional empathy, as predicted. The prediction that balanced levels of family flexibility would also be positively associated with higher levels of emotional empathy was not supported. Instead, higher levels of empathy were associated with a somewhat strict or rigid style of parental discipline. Various alternative explanations for these results are discussed, as are limitations of the study, recommendations for future research, and implications for practitioners.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Trinity International University, 2001. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 169-171).