This study examined the costs of pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) treatment in a large healthcare organization. When compared to individual therapy and mixed therapy, family therapy had significantly fewer sessions, fewer episodes of care, and better cost-effectiveness. Individual therapy had significantly shorter treatment length than mixed therapy. There were no differences in treatment length or number of episodes by license, but dropout and cost-effectiveness were significantly different. Medical doctors had the highest dropout and best cost-effectiveness, while Marriage and Family Therapists had the lowest dropout and Masters of Social Work had the poorest cost-effectiveness. Children had significantly higher dropout than other age groups. An autism diagnosis was associated with fewer sessions but additional episodes of care when compared to PDD. Having a comorbid diagnosis is associated with longer treatment length but slightly fewer episodes of care. A regression model to predict number of episodes of care by intensity of treatment, provider type, and modality, intensity of treatment explained only 6% of the variance.

This study examined the possible mediating role of the emotional, behavioral, and cognitive components of self-regulation as they relate to adolescent intrinsic religiosity and the internalizing problems of teen depression and anxiety. The sample included 459 adolescent respondents from one wave of the Flourishing Families Project, an ongoing longitudinal study. Through the use of Structural Equation Modeling, results showed that cognitive self-regulation partially mediated the relationship between intrinsic religiosity and adolescent depression. Additionally, emotional self-regulation, but not behavioral self-regulation was found to be negatively linked with both depression and anxiety. These findings provide clinicians with greater direction when working with depressed or anxious teens who also have a religious/spiritual framework.

As we examined research on the effects of parental psychological control and support on adolescents, we noted that these variables have not been widely studied in relation to academic achievement. Using Flourishing Families data, we examined a subsample of females and males who reported parental psychological control and support as well as school engagement variables from adolescents, fathers and mothers. We also used observed variables of grade point average (GPA). Structural equation modeling was used to determine whether parental psychological control and support would negatively or positively relate with academic achievement outcomes of GPA and school engagement. Psychological control and support processes significantly related with GPA and school engagement for both boys and girls. Therapists who work with parents should not only recognize the effects of psychological control on individual academic achievement, but should also recognize the importance of support from both parents and the importance of cross-gender parent-child relationships.

Parentification, the process of role reversal between parent and child, has long-term deleterious consequences. Using 500 men and 501 women, ranging from 18 years to 55 years old, residing in Korea and the U.S., this study examined the relationship of parentification experienced during childhood and depression in adulthood. The moderating impact of gender and self-care was examined in both the Korean and U.S. samples. Multiple-group analysis showed that the relationship between parentification and depression was statistically significant in all groups (U.S., Korean, male, and female), and self-care was negatively linked to depression. However, self-care did not moderate the relationship between parentification and depression in any of the groups. Further analysis using mixture modeling revealed that there were two distinct classes. The majority class, comprising 94.4% of the sample, contained the individuals who practiced more self-care and were more depressed than those in the other class and showed a significant moderation effect of self-care in the association between parentification and depression in the expected direction. However, the minority class, comprising 5.6% of the sample, contained the individuals who practiced less self-care and were less depressed than those in the majority class and showed a signification moderation effect of self-care in the opposite direction with much greater effect sizes enough to negate the moderation effect from the majority class. In other words, self-care appeared to worsen the relationship between parentification and depression for those in the minority class. Implications for therapy are discussed.

Gottman's (1994a) three stable conflict resolution styles (CRSs), validating, volatile, and avoidant, are different on several dimensions, yet all are predictors of good marital satisfaction. Despite the CRSs equality in marital satisfaction and stability research, teaching couples a validating style is often explicitly more preferential in therapeutic settings. Relationship self-regulation (RSR), described as relationship “work”, is also a strong predictor of relationship satisfaction. Identifying the CRS environment in a relationship that most contributes to the practice of RSR can inform clinical and couple relationship education interventions. Based on its success in improving marital satisfaction in therapeutic settings, a validating CRS was hypothesized to be more closely associated with the practice of RSR by husbands and wives compared to a volatile or avoidant style. A third variable, commitment to the relationship, characterized by a desire to stay rather than an obligation to remain, also was tested as a moderator of the relationship between stable CRSs and RSR. Data from first-married men (856) and women (1406) taking the RELATionship Evaluation (RELATE) online questionnaire was used in correlational and MANCOVA analyses to test the research questions. All three stable CRSs were found to be positively related to RSR. However, the validating style was found to be the most predictive of both RSR effort and strategies compared to the other two styles. Commitment was a moderator between CRSs and RSR for only validating and avoidant CRSs for RSR strategies but not effort. Results generally support the theoretical model tested. Implications for future research and clinical practice are discussed.

Relationship self-regulation (RSR) refers to the “work”, or effort and strategies, that partners exert over time to maintain the health of their romantic relationships. Most research focuses on self-reports of RSR, however, several studies suggest that partner perceptions are more influential in relationship appraisal. In addition, most RSR research has focused not on partners' attitudes and virtues like commitment, but instead on personality traits, emotional health, and communication skills. In this study, we examine the relationship between partners' levels of commitment and forgiveness within their relationships, and how they perceive their partner's use of RSR behaviors. Using paired data from 679 cohabiting and married couples who took the RELATE questionnaire, we found that males' and females' self-reports of commitment and forgiveness were both positively associated with higher perceptions of partner RSR. Likewise, we found that, for females, higher self-reports of commitment and forgiveness were positively correlated with higher male perceptions of her RSR, and male forgiveness was positively correlated with female perceptions of his RSR. The variables of commitment and forgiveness explained an average of 44% of the variance in perceptions of partner RSR for both genders. Implications for future research and clinicians are discussed.

Clinicians and researchers question how pornography might be impacting the people who view it and their partners. In particular, does pornography link to couples attachment and levels of aggression? Using data collected by the RELATE institute a sophisticated structural equation model was set up to answer this question. In particular, an actor partner interdependence model was used to analyze the relationship among male pornography use, insecure attachment behaviors, relational aggression, and physical aggression in 1630 heterosexual couples. Results indicate higher reports of male pornography use are associated with higher reports of insecure attachment behaviors, relational aggression, and physical aggression. Differences between male and female results, including a direct relationship between male pornography use and male and female insecure attachment behaviors as well as female physical aggression, are discussed. Findings add to current literature on the impact pornography has on individuals and their partners. Implications for clinicians are discussed.

This is a longitudinal multilevel analysis using third party coded data of 15 couples therapy sessions to identify which therapist Emotion Focused Therapy interventions (Management of Couple's Interaction, Working with Primary Emotion, Managing Defensive Responses, Reframing the Problem in Terms of the Cycle, and Placing Emerging Emotions into the Cycle) influenced husband-to-wife and wife-to-husband exchanges of Positive Behaviors (warmth, prosocial behaviors, communication, assertiveness, and listening). A mixed effects model was used to examine within- and between-individual variability. Men and women were modeled separately. A series of two-level multilevel models of change were examined, where Time is Level 1 and Individual is Level 2. Results indicated no significant relationship between Management of the Couple's Interaction, Managing Defensive Responses, and Reframing the Problem in Terms of the Cycle with both wife-to-husband and husband-to-wife positive behavior. Findings demonstrated that 44.5% of the variance in wife-to-husband positive behaviors and 66.5% of the variance in husband-to-wife positive behaviors was accounted for by the therapist Working with Primary Emotion and Placing Emerging Emotions in the Cycle. Specifically, these therapist interventions were significantly and negatively related to wife-to-husband and husband-to-wife positive behaviors over time in therapy. Clinical implications and directions for future research will be discussed.

Relationship self-regulation (RSR) refers to the “work”, or effort and strategies, that partners put into keeping their relationships healthy. Past RSR research has not taken into account distal and proximal variables that may affect RSR, such as parental and current relationship avoidant conflict-resolution style (CRS). In this study, we examine the relationships between parental avoidant CRS and current relationship avoidant CRS, as well as self-report of RSR in the relationship. Additionally, the perception of one's partner's attachment behaviors consisting of responsiveness, engagement, and accessibility is included in the model to test for moderation of the relationship between current relationship avoidant conflict-resolution style and RSR. Using data from 2,228 males and 2,228 females who were in their first marriages and completed the RELATionship Evaluation (RELATE) (Busby et al., 2001), we found that there was a high positive correlation between parental avoidant CRS and current avoidant CRS. Avoidant CRS was also significantly negatively correlated with RSR. Finally, we found that perception of partner's attachment behaviors did not moderate the negative relationship between avoidant CRS and RSR. Implications for future research and clinicians are discussed.

Researchers and policymakers have become interested in the use of relationship education programs as a means to remedy the effects of family instability. Research suggests that relationship education produces positive outcomes with some groups. However, whether populations who are socially and economically more at-risk of relationship problems and relationship dissolution are gaining from relationship education remains an open question. Ecocultural Theory is used to conceptualize the research question and to illustrate the importance of studying diverse populations. The purpose of this study is to assess relationship education outcomes for select at-risk groups. The sample for this study (n=1,907) comes from participants of a relationship education program in a Southern state in the United States. Ordinary Least Squares regression was used to analyze interactions between race, gender, and income in predicting change in individual empowerment, relationship quality, and relationship commitment following participation in a relationship education program. Results did not indicate any significant difference between subgroups of race, gender, and income. Clinical implications for relationship educators working with diverse and at-risk populations and future directions for research are discussed.