African American Interracial Couples
Dr. Jaslean LaTaillade
Currently, over 12% of new marriages involving an African American include a partner of a different race. However, social taboos remain, and many couples experience additional stressors that couples whose partners share the same racial and ethnic background do not, including experiences with discrimination and negative reactions from family members. The goal of the current study is to examine the relationship between such stressors and longitudinal changes in relationship quality and stability for African American interracial couples. The project also examines the extent to which partners' ethnic identity and the support received from partners and others may act as protective factors against such stressors.
Anxiety Disorders and Couples
Dr. Norman Epstein
Dr. Epstein is involved in research on the characteristics of couples in which one member has generalized anxiety disorder or agoraphobia. The study compares the characteristics of these couples with characteristics of couples free of anxiety disorders. The results will be used to design treatments for couples that include an individual with anxiety problems.
Evaluation of a Couples Intervention Program for Domestic Abuse
Dr. Norman Epstein and Dr. Carol Werlinich and Dr. Jaslean LaTaillade
Dr. Epstein, Dr. Werlinich, and Couple and Family Therapy students and graduates are conducting a research study to evaluate the effectiveness of two treatments for couples who have experienced problems with anger control and have the possibility for violence in their relationship. Couples who seek assistance from the Center for Healthy Families assessed for experiences of domestic abuse and are randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups. The two treatments are the Couples Abuse Prevention Program (CAPP) and the usual couple therapy provided at the University of Maryland's Center for Healthy Families. CAPP is specifically designed to strengthen couples' skills for managing and reducing conflict and to enhance positive couple interactions, thereby reducing relationship risk factors for abuse. The treatment focuses on communication, conflict management, relationship recovery from prior domestic abuse, and enhancement of relationship strengths and satisfaction.
Family Processes, Intergenerational Learning, and Involved Fathering
Dr. Sandra Hofferth
This project, funded by NICHD, will investigate the contributions of family interaction, mothering, and paternal residence (viewed as three key family processes), and the contributions of the subjective meaning and contexts of fatherhood, to men's involved fathering. These contributions are analyzed both within family generations, and intergenerationally. The project will use data from the Young Adult samples of the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, the Early Head Start Father component, the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, the 2002 Panel Study of Income Dynamics Child Development Supplement, and the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth.
Marital Quality of Interracial Couples
Dr. Leigh Leslie
Dr. Leslie and a group of graduate and undergraduate students conducted a study of marital adjustment in interracial marriages. While the number of interracial marriages in the U.S. is increasing, little empirical work has been undertaken to investigate marital dynamics in these marriages. Research typically focuses on problems encountered by interracial couples. The current study works from an assumption that interracial couples choose their partners for the same range of reasons all other couples select marital partners. The study examines the association between marital adjustment in interracial couples and the social support they receive, their gender expectations and roles, and their racial identities.
Relationship Standards and Marital Conflict in Mainland Chinese and American Couples
Dr. Norman Epstein
Dr. Epstein established a collaborative cross-cultural research program with Dr. Fu-Guo Chen of Shanghai Second Medical University, China, investigating sources of stress, conflict, communication patterns, and personal relationship standards in U.S. and mainland Chinese couples. Dr. Chen spent 18 months as a visiting scholar in the Department of Family Science, working with Dr. Epstein. Dr. Epstein's visits to Shanghai Second Medical University in the fall of 1997 and in the spring of 2000 were further steps in the collaborative research and training of mental health professionals. Graduate students are actively involved in ongoing studies comparing Chinese and American couples, as well as family interaction and child adjustment in Chinese families. International collaboration in family therapy research and training with Chinese scholars continues. Dr. Xiaoyi Fong of Beijing Namal University, a 10-month Fullbright Scholar, is focusing on couple abuse as well as adolescent test anxiety and depression in China.
