Mariana K. Falconier
Professor, Family Science
Director, Couple and Family Therapy Master's Program
SPH | Room 1142
Dr. Mariana Falconier completed her master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) and her doctoral degree in Family Studies at the University of Maryland. Previously, Dr. Falconier was an associate professor at the Virginia Tech MFT master’s program. Her research focuses on how couples cope with chronic stress, particularly economic, immigration, medical, and minority stress in low-income, Latine, and LGBTQ+ relationships. She developed TOGETHER, a couples’ program integrating relationship and financial education and federally funded for over $11 million and culturally adapted for Latine immigrant couples and for LGBTQ+ relationships.
Department Information
- Department of Family Science
- Center for Healthy Families
Dr. Mariana Falconier is a Professor in the Department of Family Science at the University of Maryland, College Park. She completed her master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) and her doctoral degree in Family Studies at the Department of Family Science at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Dr. Falconier, originally from Argentina, began her work as a therapist with individuals, couples, and families in 1992. She is a licensed marriage and family therapist in both states Maryland and Virginia and has been an approved supervisor by the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy since 2007. Dr. Falconier directed outpatient mental health clinics at WATS and Vesta, Inc. before joining Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, where she served first as Director of the Center for Family Services (2008-2016), and later, as Director of the Master's Program in Marriage and Family Therapy (2017-2018
She has taught nationally and internationally undergraduate and graduate courses in multicultural and diversity issues in MFT, couple therapy, MFT theories and techniques, particularly post-modern approaches, and developmental psychology. Her research focuses on how couples cope with chronic stress, including economic, immigration, medical, and minority stress, and develop and evaluate interventions for low-income couples, LGBTQ+ relationships, and Latine couples. Her research has also addressed couples' emotional co-regulation processes and environmental emotional connections. She has developed the evidence-based program TOGETHER/JUNTOS en PAREJA, an interdisciplinary group program designed to help couples with economic and other chronic stressors by strengthening their communication, individual and dyadic coping, and financial management skills. Dr. Falconier has received over $11 million dollars in federal funding to implement the TOGETHER program for low-income Black/African American and immigrant Latine couples, and LGBTQ+ relationships. Dr. Falconier’s work for these programs has made her the recipient of the Excellence in Professional/Clinical Practice Award from the National Council for Family Relations (NCFR) and the George F. Kramer Practitioner of the Year Award from UMD School of Public Health.
Dr. Falconier has published and presented nationally and internationally and is the leading editor of the book Couples Coping with Stress: A Cross-Cultural Perspective (2016), recipient of the 2018 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Award and co-author of the book Treatment Plans and Interventions in Couple Therapy: A Cognitive-Behavioral Approach (2024). She has been involved in multiple international collaborations with colleagues in Switzerland, Rumania, Italy, Hungary, Argentina, Pakistan, Hong Kong, and Chile among others and has served as editor of national international journals. Her international collaborations also included a presentation on families’ stress and coping for Pope Francis and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences at the Vatican City. She is a member of COAMFTE Standards Review Committee.
Dyadic chronic stress and coping; Economic stress; Immigration stress, Minority stress; Latine Couples; LGBTQ+ relationships; Program development and evaluation
FMSC 745 Gender and Ethnicity Issues in Family Service Delivery
FMSC 641 Couple Therapy
FMSC 658 Supervised Clinical Practice of Marriage and Family Therapy
PhD, Family Studies, Department of Family Studies, 2005
University of Maryland, College Park
MS, Marriage and Family Therapy, Department of Family Studies, 2002
University of Maryland, College Park
National Professor of English, Superior National Institute of Professorship Dr. J. V. Gonzalez, 1994
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Licentiate in Psychology (equivalent to MA in Psychology),
School of Psychology, 1992
University of Buenos Aires, Argentina
Yumiseva-Montenegro, M., Falconier, M. K., & Azizi, Z. (2024). Pilot Test of JUNTOS EN PAREJA, a relationship and financial education program for Latine couples. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy. Advance online publication.
Falconier, M. K., Wojda-Burlij, A. K., & Conway, C. A. (2024). Dyadic coping moderates the association between economic strain and psychological distress in low-income couples. International Journal of Stress Management. Advance online publication.
Falconier, M. K., Kim, J., & Lachowicz, M. J. (2023). Together- A couples’ program integrating relationship and financial education: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 40, 333-359.
Falconier, M.K., Foss, R., Lachowicz, M., & Kim, J.H. (2023). Evaluation of the 14‐h relationship and financial education program for couples. Personal Relationship, 30 (2), 660-680.
Falconier, M. K., Wojda-Burlij, A. K., Conway, A., & Kim, J. (2023). The role of emotion regulation in couples’ stress communication and dyadic coping responses. Stress & Health, 39 (2), 309-322.
Kim, J., Falconier, M. K., & Conway, A. (2023). Relationships among emotion regulation, financial self-efficacy, and financial management behaviors of couples. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 44, 342-355
Randall, A., Donato, S., Neff, L., Totenhagen, C., Bodenmann, G., & Falconier, M. K. (2023). An intersectional review of couples’ stress and coping literature: Recognizing the need for inclusivity. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 40 (3), 812-855.
Falconier, M. K., & Jackson, J. B. (2020). Economic strain and couple relationship functioning: A meta-analysis. International Journal of Stress Management, 27(4), 311–325
Falconier, M. K., & Khun, R. (2019). Dyadic coping in couples: A conceptual integration and review of the clinical literature. Frontiers in Psychology.
Falconier, M. K., Rusu, P., & Bodenmann, G. (2019). Initial Validation of the Dyadic Coping Inventory for Financial Stress. Stress & Health, 35, 367-381.
Escobar, J., Falconier, M. K., & Muruthi, B. (2019). “Se llevaron al padre de mis hijos”: Latina mothers coping with the deportation of their partners. Journal of Family Therapy, 41, 277-301.
Arshad, Z., & Falconier, M. K. (2018). The experiences of non-Muslin Caucasian licensed marriage and family therapists who work with South Asian and Middle Eastern Muslin clients. Journal of Family Therapy, 41, 54-79.
Rusu, P. P., Hilpert, P., Falconier, M., & Bodenmann (2018). How economic strain affects support in couples: The mediating role of positive emotions. Stress and Health, 34, 320-330.
Rick, J.*, Falconier, M. K., & Wittenborn, A. (2017). Emotion regulation and relationship satisfaction in clinical couples. Personal Relationships, 24, 790-803.
Falconier, M. K., Huerta*, M., & Hendrickson, E. (2016). Immigration Stress, Exposure to Traumatic Life Experiences, and Problem Drinking Among First-Generation Immigrant Latino Couples. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 33, 469-492.
Falconier, M. K., Jackson, J., Hilpert, J., & Bodenmann, G. (2015). Dyadic coping and relationship satisfaction: A meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 42, 28-46.
Regan, T. W., Lambert, S. D., Kelly, B., Falconier, M. K., Kissane, D., & Levesque, J. (2015). Couples coping with cancer: Exploration of theoretical frameworks from dyadic studies. Psycho-Oncology, 24, 1605-1617.
Falconier, M.K. (2015). Together – A Couples’ Program to Improve Communication, Coping, and == Financial Management Skills: Development and Initial Pilot-Testing. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 41, 236-250.