Family ProcessPub Date : 2024-12-03DOI: 10.1111/famp.13089
Verónica Guillén, Isabel Fernández-Felipe, José Helio Marco, Antoni Grau, Cristina Botella, Azucena García-Palacios
{"title":"“Family Connections”, a program for relatives of people with borderline personality disorder: A randomized controlled trial","authors":"Verónica Guillén, Isabel Fernández-Felipe, José Helio Marco, Antoni Grau, Cristina Botella, Azucena García-Palacios","doi":"10.1111/famp.13089","DOIUrl":"10.1111/famp.13089","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Family members of people with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) often experience high levels of psychological symptoms such as depression, anxiety, or burden. Family Connections (FC) is a pioneer program designed for relatives of people with BPD, and it is the most empirically supported treatment thus far. The aim of this study was to carry out a randomized clinical trial to confirm the differential efficacy of FC versus an active treatment as usual (TAU) in relatives of people with BPD in a Spanish population sample. The sample consisted of 121 family members (82 family units) and a total of 82 patients who participated in a two-arm randomized controlled trial (RCT). The primary outcome was burden of illness. Secondary outcomes were depression, anxiety, stress, family empowerment, and quality of life. This is the first study to evaluate relatives and patients in an RCT design comparing two active treatment conditions of similar durations. Although no statistically significant differences were found between conditions. However, the adjusted posttest means for FC were systematically better than for TAU, and the effect sizes were larger in burden, stress, depression, family functioning, and quality of life in the FC intervention. Patients of caregivers who received the FC condition showed statistically significant improvements in stress, depression, and anxiety. Results indicated that FC helped both patients and relatives pointing to the importance of involving families of patients with severe psychological disorders.</p>","PeriodicalId":51396,"journal":{"name":"Family Process","volume":"63 4","pages":"2195-2214"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-12-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/famp.13089","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142774658","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Family ProcessPub Date : 2024-12-01Epub Date: 2024-05-16DOI: 10.1111/famp.13008
Bonnie Young, Ryan B Seedall
{"title":"Power dynamics in couple relationships: A review and applications for systemic family therapists.","authors":"Bonnie Young, Ryan B Seedall","doi":"10.1111/famp.13008","DOIUrl":"10.1111/famp.13008","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Power dynamics, generally defined as the patterns of partners enacting or resisting influence, are inherent in all relationships. Power structures and processes play a role in people's perceptions of themselves and others, their feelings and emotions, and both their implicit and explicit behaviors. As such, understanding power dynamics is crucial for fully conceptualizing and intervening within relationships. Although power was not always given high priority in many of the early systemic family therapy models, that has changed over the years, with scholars working to address how power is manifested in relationships, how power imbalances affect relationships, and how power can be addressed more explicitly in treatment. Nonetheless, there is much additional work needed to ensure that systemic therapists have an appropriate depth of understanding regarding power dynamics to fully recognize their manifestations in relationships and then intervene appropriately. To help in these efforts, this paper aims to synthesize relational power research into a more complete description of what power is and how it is enacted in couple relationships. To do this, we introduce relevant perspectives of power not fully integrated with family therapy theories. Overall, we provide a brief history of power-oriented research in the fields of family therapy, outline couple research regarding the sources of power that can inform therapeutic case conceptualizations and interventions, describe how power is addressed in specific couple therapy models, and highlight some important clinical applications that can help systemic therapists more fully address power.</p>","PeriodicalId":51396,"journal":{"name":"Family Process","volume":" ","pages":"1703-1720"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140960670","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Family ProcessPub Date : 2024-11-30DOI: 10.1111/famp.13090
Verónica Guillén
{"title":"Psychological interventions for family members of people with psychological disorders with emotional dysregulation: Introduction to special section","authors":"Verónica Guillén","doi":"10.1111/famp.13090","DOIUrl":"10.1111/famp.13090","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Clinicians working with people suffering from psychological disorders involving emotional dysregulation often focus on treating the patient. To some extent, this is logical given the urgency and severity of the patient's problems. However, caregivers of these patients experience high levels of burden, depression, and other types of distress. Therefore, not caring for family members means first, neglecting these people who are also suffering, and secondly missing the opportunity to help patients from other perspectives focused on the context around them that can be very helpful. Currently, there is growing interest in studying interventions to help relatives of people with severe mental disorders. This special section presents some studies that analyze several variables that may influence the course of treatment, such as the influence of personality traits of parents of people with eating disorders and affective disorders or the family alliance for therapeutic change, and the level of hopelessness in family members of people with borderline personality disorders. Second, empirically supported interventions are presented for psychological disorders involving emotional dysregulation, for example, in relatives of people with borderline personality disorder and eating disorders. It is essential to make progress in the psychological care of people with psychological disorders and we think a good way to do this is to integrate into our clinical practice the possibility of offering skills training and psychoeducation to family members. So far, good results have been obtained, and we believe it is essential to disseminate these interventions among clinicians and researchers.</p>","PeriodicalId":51396,"journal":{"name":"Family Process","volume":"63 4","pages":"2087-2098"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142774659","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Family ProcessPub Date : 2024-11-28DOI: 10.1111/famp.13086
Yushan Zhao, Todd M. Jensen, Ashley Munger
{"title":"Latent profile analysis of family and school supports among Chinese adolescents in stepfamilies","authors":"Yushan Zhao, Todd M. Jensen, Ashley Munger","doi":"10.1111/famp.13086","DOIUrl":"10.1111/famp.13086","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Divorce and remarriage rates have increased dramatically in China, and more children live in stepfamilies. There remain valuable opportunities to understand the various family and school assets that support the well-being of Chinese youth amid family structural transitions, such as the transition to stepfamily life. Using latent profile analysis, the current study seeks to identify patterns of youth support using seven family-related variables and two school-related variables as indicators among a sample of Chinese youth (<i>N</i> = 269; <span></span><math>\u0000 <semantics>\u0000 <mrow>\u0000 <msub>\u0000 <mi>M</mi>\u0000 <mi>age</mi>\u0000 </msub>\u0000 </mrow>\u0000 <annotation>$$ {M}_{age} $$</annotation>\u0000 </semantics></math> = 14 years; 129 females and 117 males) residing with a parent and stepparent. Four profiles were identified: low support, academic focus/low support, moderate support, and high support. Results further demonstrated that youth in the moderate support profile had significantly better well-being outcomes compared to youth in the low support or academic focus/low support profiles; demographic characteristics such as low SES families and parents with lower education backgrounds were associated with the low support profile; and stepfamilies with stepfathers were overrepresented in the moderate support profile, whereas stepfamilies with stepmothers were overrepresented in the low support and academic focus/low support profiles. These findings can inform the development of interventions intended to bolster the well-being of Chinese adolescents in stepfamilies.</p>","PeriodicalId":51396,"journal":{"name":"Family Process","volume":"64 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-11-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/famp.13086","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142752082","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Family ProcessPub Date : 2024-11-28DOI: 10.1111/famp.13085
Adelina Moreira, Jaume Vives, Sergi Ballespí
{"title":"Transgenerational association of mentalization with child mental health: A scoping review","authors":"Adelina Moreira, Jaume Vives, Sergi Ballespí","doi":"10.1111/famp.13085","DOIUrl":"10.1111/famp.13085","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This scoping review provides an overview of empirical research concerning the association between parents' mentalization and child mental health (0–12 years of age). Specifically, it aims at synthesizing the evidence regarding to what extent mentalization (a) is a protective factor for child mental health, and (b) moderates the transgenerational transmission of psychopathology. A total of 73 studies were selected out of 5112 identified (duplicates excluded). The results hint at a relation between parent's mentalization and child mental health: 88% of the studies showed significant associations between predictor and outcome dimensions across a variety of samples, research procedures, and assessment measures. About the direction of the associations, almost all of them behave as expected, supporting the statement that children of parents with healthy mentalization skills tend to have better functioning and show less psychopathology. The evidence indicates that parents' healthy mentalization strengthens children's well-being and helps them cope with stressors more effectively so it is acting as a protective factor against mental health problems. Eleven studies found moderating roles of parents' mentalization in the transgenerational transmission of psychopathology. In a context where mental ill-health is mostly addressed only once there is a problem, these results suggest that fostering parents' mentalization in clinical but also in non-clinical settings could help to improve child mental health in terms of symptoms, functioning, and well-being, and stop the growing incidence of mental disorders across development.</p>","PeriodicalId":51396,"journal":{"name":"Family Process","volume":"64 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-11-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11758256/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142752090","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Family ProcessPub Date : 2024-11-25DOI: 10.1111/famp.13088
Phoebe Coyle, George Van Doorn, Robert Teese, Jacob Dye
{"title":"Adverse childhood experiences and infidelity: The mediating roles of anxious and avoidant attachment styles","authors":"Phoebe Coyle, George Van Doorn, Robert Teese, Jacob Dye","doi":"10.1111/famp.13088","DOIUrl":"10.1111/famp.13088","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Infidelity is any behavior that breaks the implied agreement of exclusivity within a romantic relationship and is a leading cause of divorce. Previous literature has established a relationship between Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and infidelity perpetration. As experiencing childhood adversity does not guarantee an individual will engage in infidelity, mechanisms explaining this relationship should be explored. We investigated whether avoidant and anxious attachment styles mediate the relationship between ACEs and cheating frequency. A sample of 584 participants aged 18–82 years (<i>M</i> = 35.31, <i>SD</i> = 11.68, 67.0% female) was recruited and completed online versions of the Childhood Experiences Survey—17, the Relationship Structures Questionnaire, and frequency of cheating behavior in their current or most recent relationship. After dichotomizing gender and testing assumptions, data from 553 participants were available for analysis. A parallel mediation provided support for the first hypothesis, and partial support for the second. Specifically, ACEs were positively associated with anxious and avoidant attachment styles, but only avoidant attachment was significantly and positively associated with cheating frequency. As such, only avoidant attachment acted in a manner consistent with a mediator in the relationship between ACEs and infidelity. This result suggests a potential link between childhood adversity and the development of both avoidant and anxious attachment styles, but that individuals with an avoidant attachment style are more likely to engage in infidelity. These findings provide insight into the role attachment styles play in infidelity post-childhood adversity, and have the potential to guide therapeutic interventions for affected individuals.</p>","PeriodicalId":51396,"journal":{"name":"Family Process","volume":"64 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-11-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142717754","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Family ProcessPub Date : 2024-11-24DOI: 10.1111/famp.13087
Suzanna Greally, Jeppe Oute, Susan McPherson
{"title":"Experiences of parents of children with mental illnesses: A systematic review and meta-ethnographic synthesis","authors":"Suzanna Greally, Jeppe Oute, Susan McPherson","doi":"10.1111/famp.13087","DOIUrl":"10.1111/famp.13087","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In this paper, we present a qualitative meta-ethnographic synthesis of 26 articles reporting experiences of subjective burden in 389 parents of children with mental illnesses. The studies were identified through a systematic literature search of PubMed, CINAHL Ultimate, APA PsycInfo, and MedLine Ultimate. We conducted a quality appraisal and followed the seven stages of meta-ethnographic synthesis. We developed a line of argument synthesis in the form of a model that depicts the subjective, temporal, and psychological experiences of parents. The model proposes a cyclical process characterized by five stages, each depicting a transitional point in which parents re-evaluate their experiences: caring for an intimate stranger; turning point; unavoidable role; uncertain future; transcendence. This model highlights the complex psychological processes that parents endure when caring for a child with a mental illness. The review highlights several methodological issues in this field of research, including issues related to sampling, poor reporting of data analysis, limited critical appraisal, and a lack of reflexivity. Future research should address the gaps in the literature while also attending to the issues that have been highlighted by this review.</p>","PeriodicalId":51396,"journal":{"name":"Family Process","volume":"64 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/famp.13087","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142711881","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Family ProcessPub Date : 2024-11-24DOI: 10.1111/famp.13055
Scott R. Woolley
{"title":"Susan M. Johnson (1947–2024)","authors":"Scott R. Woolley","doi":"10.1111/famp.13055","DOIUrl":"10.1111/famp.13055","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51396,"journal":{"name":"Family Process","volume":"64 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142711884","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Family ProcessPub Date : 2024-11-23DOI: 10.1111/famp.13084
Qi Wang, Yiran Cui, Gang Tian, Jingliang Shuai, Wenyan Yang, Yulan Ma, Zhihao Deng, Yan Yan
{"title":"The role of interpersonal trust in the associations between parental warmth and depressive symptoms among Chinese adolescents: A mediation analysis","authors":"Qi Wang, Yiran Cui, Gang Tian, Jingliang Shuai, Wenyan Yang, Yulan Ma, Zhihao Deng, Yan Yan","doi":"10.1111/famp.13084","DOIUrl":"10.1111/famp.13084","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The rising rates of adolescent depression have become a critical concern, with family dynamics and interpersonal communication playing a significant role in this mental health issue. However, research on the combined effects of parental warmth and interpersonal trust on adolescent depressive symptoms remains limited. This study aimed to explore the association between parental warmth, interpersonal trust, and depressive symptoms in Chinese adolescents. The sample included 2745 adolescents aged 9 to 18 from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS). Depressive symptoms were assessed using the CES-D8 scale, which yielded an average score of 4.34. Among participants, 11.3% exhibited symptoms consistent with depression. Multivariate linear regression revealed that both parental warmth (<i>β</i> = −0.296, <i>p</i> < 0.001) and interpersonal trust (<i>β</i> = −0.197, <i>p</i> < 0.001) significantly predicted lower depressive symptoms. Mediation analysis indicated that interpersonal trust partially mediated the relationship between parental warmth and depressive symptoms, explaining 17.68% of the total effect (<i>β</i> = −0.032, 95% CI = −0.060, −0.016). These associations remained significant even after controlling for demographic variables. Our findings suggest that parental warmth protects against depressive symptoms, with interpersonal trust enhancing this protective effect. Interventions focused on fostering parental warmth and enhancing interpersonal trust could improve adolescent mental health.</p>","PeriodicalId":51396,"journal":{"name":"Family Process","volume":"64 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-11-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142693824","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}