This pilot study examined the effectiveness of Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT) compared to Treatment As Usual (TAU) in improving cortisol functioning among distressed couples. It also investigated the role of gender in cortisol functioning. Measures for cortisol were collected at five time points, both at pre- and posttreatment. Data were collected from a total of 60 couples, 20 of which received EFT and 40 of which received TAU. Overall, results from a two-way analysis of variance suggest that there are no significant differences between men or women, nor among couples in EFT and TAU, in posttreatment cortisol functioning. Directions for future research are discussed.

Couple therapy is successful in treating relationship distress. However, couple therapy does not benefit everyone. Consequently, it is important to study factors that predict therapeutic success. One such factor is what predicts the development of the therapeutic alliance in couple therapy. The purpose of this study was to code therapist behaviors, therapist warmth, empathy, presence, validation, collaboration, and technique factors (systemically-based techniques and session structure), in the first session of couple therapy to examine their ability to predict two aspects of the therapeutic alliance, between- and within-alliance, after the session for males and females. The hypotheses were tested utilizing multiple one-way ANOVAs. Results indicated that none of the therapist variables predicted either of the outcome alliance variables for males or females. More research needs to be done to find what therapist behaviors predict the therapeutic alliance.

Ch. 1. Introduction and overview -- Ch. 2. The genograms of family therapy -- Ch. 3. The family practitioner as person and professional -- Ch. 4. Virtue, ethics, and legality in family practice -- Ch. 5. Theories and techniques of family therapy and counseling -- Ch. 6. Adlerian family therapy -- Ch. 7. Multigenerational family therapy -- Ch. 8. Human validation process model -- Ch. 9. Symbolic-experiential family therapy -- Ch. 10. Structural family therapy -- Ch. 11. Strategic family therapy -- Ch. 12. Solution-focused and solution-oriented therapy -- Ch. 13. Postmodernism, social construction, and narratives in family therapy -- Ch. 14. Feminist family therapy -- Ch. 15. Cognitive-behavioral family therapy -- Ch. 16. Parenting for the 21st century -- Ch. 17. Integration I: from self-discovery to family practice: forming a relationship and family assessment -- Ch. 18. Integration II: shared meaning, facilitating change, and tailoring interventions. Theory and practice of family counseling and therapy, 2nd Edition embraces multiple perspectives and provides a comprehensive discussion of contemporary family theories and practices, including human validation process and symbolic-experiential models. Bitter encourages students' personal growth and development as family therapists with a warm, inviting writing style and numerous self-reflection and active-learning exercises. Learning is enhanced through a consistent chapter organization and the use of a single case, the Quest family, throughout. This approach enables students to compare and contrast the various models and see how different approaches can be used in an integrated way. The text presents a four-stage process for conducting family sessions, including processes for forming relationships, family assessment, hypothesizing and shared meaning, and facilitating change. Each chapter ends with a Quest family case (which applies the model discussed in the chapter to the fictional Quest family), a summary and multicultural evaluation section, exercises for personal and professional growth, contact and Web information for finding out more about the specific therapy, recommended supplementary readings, and references. Additional cases throughout the text, based on Bitter's years of practice in marriage and family counseling, help students see how theories play out in the real world. A unique chapter on "Parenting for the 21st Century" addresses the fact that a majority of family counseling deals with parenting questions and issues. / https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu_books/1071/thumbnail.jpg

From the viewpoint of Self-Determination Theory, this study evaluated theoretically competing models examining the relationships among one’s fear of missing out (FOMO) and multiple indicators of relatedness (satisfaction and frustration) with well-being (life satisfaction) and ill-being (depression) among a sample of emerging adults. The first model conceptualized that higher levels of FOMO would be related to higher levels of depressive symptomology and lower levels of life satisfaction, and that relationship would be mediated by relatedness satisfaction and frustration. Alternatively, the second model conceptualized that relatedness satisfaction would serve as a moderator of the relationship between FOMO and depressive symptomology and life satisfaction. Model 1 results indicated that an individual’s FOMO was associated with lower relatedness satisfaction and higher relatedness frustration, and, in turn, both forms of relatedness were significantly associated with perceptions of life satisfaction and depression. Model 2 results also indicated that one’s relatedness satisfaction or frustration did not serve as a moderator between the relationship of FOMO and well-being or ill-being. Discussion of the importance of relationship attachments, as well as clinical implications, will be included.

Our presentation was aimed at providing a thorough overview of concepts that interfere with an adolescent’s ability to stay in school and graduate. Additionally, the presentation addressed what other factors of poverty, such as risk-taking behaviors (e.g., marijuana use, binge drinking, or sexual activity), might carry over into college life and affect a student’s academic career. Variables connected to family community, family responsibilities, and adolescents’ self-esteem were described as well. Finally, the presentation discussed factors that play into a student’s willingness to seek out college campus resources for support. With this paper, we hope to outline variables that lead to academic drawbacks within our youth and to raise awareness about the multi-faceted phenomenon of retention of students.

The Family Focus section of this issue of NCFR Report — "Families as Catalysts" — includes articles that address how families are able to contribute to their own wellbeing and to their communities and the larger world.

This study assessed secondborn adolescents' perceptions of changes in the allocation of family resources following their firstborn siblings' departure from home after high school, and whether perceived changes were related to changes over 1 year in secondborns' academic functioning. Participants were secondborn siblings (mean age = 16.58, SD = 0.91) from 115 families in which the older sibling had left the family home in the previous year. Allocation of resources was measured via coded qualitative interviews. Most (77%) secondborns reported increases in at least one type of family resource (i.e., parental companionship, attention, material goods), and many reported an increase in multiple types of resources in the year following their older sibling's departure. Consistent with resource dilution theory, perceptions of increases in fathers' companionship, fathers' attention, and mothers' companionship were related to improvements over time in secondborns' academic functioning.

Research on children’s and early adolescents’ time use indicates that siblings are fixtures in each other’s lives. Given their ubiquity, it is surprising that the ways in which brothers and sisters influence each other’s development has been relatively neglected. In comparison, over the past 25 years there has been over 45 times more work on parenting processes and nearly seven times more on peer influences (McHale et al. 2012) than on siblings. An emerging body of work, however, documents that siblings are indeed important and can influence one another in a variety of ways. The goals of this essay are to review the main pathways through which siblings influence each other’s development. Specifically, we highlight two broad avenues through which siblings influence each other: (a) directly – through observation and daily interactions with one another, as well as modeling and differentiation processes; and (b) indirectly – by virtue of their impact on the larger family system, in ...

This article will address how a physiological understanding of trauma can be applied to working with couples in which an affair has initiated trauma symptoms. A brief introduction related to trauma symptomology, as well as its impact on the body, will be included. A case example will demonstrate how a counselor worked with a betrayed partner struggling with ongoing trauma symptoms. Finally, a brief discussion on why this process is particularly fitting for Adlerian clinicians will be presented.

Excerpt: Dr. Augustus Napier, a respected pioneerin the field of family therapy, received his doctral degree in clinical psychology from the University of North Carolina.