Despite the joys related to fostering, foster caregivers also report challenges that consequently may influence placement stability. A healthy couple relationship is a characteristic of a high-quality, two-parent foster home. Further, foster caregivers who experience less parenting stress and possess greater well-being (e.g., lower depressive symptoms, higher levels of self-care) are better equipped to manage the challenges of fostering. Trait mindfulness has been associated with a greater capacity to manage parenting stress and cultivate greater well-being. The present descriptive study employs latent class analysis to examine the trait mindfulness of heterosexual foster caregiver couples (N = 235), potential covariates of trait mindfulness, and couple and individual outcomes. Four groups of foster caregiver couples emerged where both partners reported either high or low levels of trait mindfulness and where one partner reported high mindfulness and the other reported low mindfulness. Foster caregiver couples where both partners were younger, non-White, and those where the woman was employed outside of the home reported lower levels of mindfulness for one or both partners. Further, individuals in couples where both partners were highly mindful reported better couple relationship outcomes and self-care and fewer depressive symptoms. Implications for future research and practice are shared. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

ObjectiveThe military lifestyle of extended training programs and deployments creates a need to clearly define each partner's roles and responsibilities after each departure and reunion.BackgroundPrevious researchers have discovered that the less ambiguity that occurs when an individual enters or departs the family system, the less likely the family is to experience strain or crisis. One challenging area of boundary definition is finances, as couples tend to avoid talking about money which may contribute to financial boundary ambiguity.MethodsThis study applies the contextual model of family stress to examine financial boundary ambiguity and its association with marital quality in the post‐deployment stage. This article presents a theory‐driven exploration of financial boundary ambiguity using the actor–partner interdependence model and structural equation modeling.ResultsStudy findings indicate that role flexibility, as well as clear and open communication, are related to less financial boundary ambiguity. This, in turn, is related to higher marital quality, although there are differences in the actor and partner effects between financial boundary ambiguity and marital relations.ConclusionTo more fully understand coping and resilience among military couples, the authors applied the contextual model of family stress focused on financial elements to clarify the significance of how the couples navigated their roles and interactions.ImplicationsPrograms focused on financial and relational health should focus on fostering communication around financial roles during periods of transition, such as the deployment cycle. In particular, programs should be oriented around strategies for reducing the stress that surrounds financial uncertainties and strain, in addition to teaching effective financial management.

Both self-efficacy and self-regulation have been connected to financial behaviors and financial outcomes of households; however, their associations have been studied independently. This study examined the association between general self-regulation (i.e., mindfulness practice, self-care behaviors, and conflict management) and financial management behavior, mediated by financial self-efficacy. Data was gathered from 693 individuals in couple relationships residing in the Southeastern United States of America who participated in a Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education training program. Analyses of data showed that general self-regulation and financial self-efficacy were positively associated with financial management behaviors and that general self-regulation was indirectly associated with financial management behaviors through financial self-efficacy. Implications of this study suggest that by coupling financial education, counseling, and coaching interventions with broad-based self-regulation programming, such as mindfulness or relationship training, clients will realize more significant improvements in financial management behaviors.

The deleterious nature of U.S. economic recessions over the last several decades highlight a need to investigate the role of family economic strain on families. The current study explored the impact of family economic strain on marital quality and marital stability through dyadic associations of marital support and work-family conflict of 370 married couples over a 12-year period (1989-2001) through an actor-partner interdependence model, encompassing two major U.S. recessions. Guided by family stress and coping theory, findings are consistent with past research indicating the negative impact of family economic strain on marital quality and marital stability; however, this impact may be mitigated through the mediation of positive perceptions of marital support and work-family conflict. Implications suggest financial counselors should consider the lasting influence of economic strain on families, and how the psychosocial resources of martial support and managing work-family conflict may promote relationship quality and stability.

This study was conducted to determine the generalizability of the Mother–Adult Daughter Questionnaire (MAD) for first- and second-generation Afro-Caribbean women. The measure was created specifically to explore adult daughters’ reports of their relationship with their mothers in order to capture the values of connectedness, trust in hierarchy, and interdependence in the mother–daughter relationship. We test this cross-generational applicability to (1) determine the generalizability of the measure for first- and second-generation women and (2) assess whether the means of the subscales differ across first- and second-generation women. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test the factor structure of the MAD with this population. The sample ( N = 285) was comprised of reports from 129 adult daughters born in the United States and 156 born in the Caribbean. CFAs indicated that the scoring algorithm for the subscales fit these data well. Results indicated that the MAD subscales (Connectedness, Trust in Hierarchy, and Interdependence) were applicable and may operate similarly across first- and second-generation Afro-Caribbean women.

Gender and sex influence health and medicine in various ways (i.e., etiology, treatment, progression of disease, etc.). Currently, a cisnormative, transnormative, and transmisogynist system pervades the medical and mental health fields, creating significant barriers for, trans women to access adequate and inclusive healthcare. We present a transfeminist-informed biopsychosocial approach for medical family therapists to address the disparities and gaps that exist for, trans women. Through integrating a transfeminist praxis, we discuss how medical family therapists can serve as collaborators, students, and advocates for the, trans women in their care.

Unsupervised time among youth, known as ‘self-care,’ has been linked to higher levels of anxiety. The issue of anxiety in self-care is especially salient for youth in military families, because childcare is an important issue for service member retention and focus. We hypothesized that self-care is an appropriate developmental task within certain contexts. Bronfenbrenner’s Process-Person-Context-Time (PPCT) framework was employed to explore bioecological factors that buffer the anxiety of military youth in self-care (N = 1036; mean age = 13.39 years old). Survey results were analyzed to identify factors that moderate the relationship between levels of self-care and anxiety using hierarchical regression analyses. Findings supported the study hypothesis, such that there was an initial positive relationship between more self-care and greater anxiety (e.g., time spent alone correlated with anxiety), and the relationship between self-care and anxiety was moderated when accounting for personal characteristics and context. Specifically, gender (being female) and age (being older) were associated with higher levels of anxiety. Additionally, self-efficacy and geographic location (living inside vs outside the continental US) had a moderating effect on the relationship between self-care and anxiety.

This paper presents the benefits and potential concerns of integrating financial counseling with systems therapy. Ethical and conceptual issues of cross-disciplinary collaboration are presented. Issues of social inequity and social determinants of health are highlighted to show the need for critical theory and knowledge of economic injustice in order to do cross disciplinary collaboration. Two models: one for cross disciplinary skills implementation and one for professional collaboration are presented. The paper closes with five recommendations for integrating financial therapy and systems theory.

Therapy professionals who work from a systems theory perspective recognize the complex nature of client problems, as well as the value of a holistic, ecosystemic approach. In practice, a specific area of crossover that therapists may notice involves mental health issues and financial concerns; two of the most pervasive include depression and financial distress. This study sought to explore whether findings from an interdisciplinary clinical population were consistent with existing literature on the relationship between depression and financial distress. It was hypothesized that financial distress would predict depression, and that depression would predict financial distress. Evidence of a significant relationship between depression and financial distress in the interdisciplinary clinical sample was found (N = 118). As a result, additional education, training, and collaborative work with complementary areas like financial planning or financial counseling may be of benefit to therapists working with similar populations. The value and implications of interdisciplinary training, as well as an existing interdisciplinary clinic model, are discussed.

When financial and mental health issues intersect, the study and practice of financial therapy is warranted. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which the following two psychosocial constructs-financial knowledge and generalized anxiety-are associated with and related to risky financial management behavior. Research findings from a sample of 110 clients who sought services at an integrated service clinic suggest that anxiety and financial knowledge individually are significantly associated with financial behaviors. In addition, evidence suggests a moderating effect between anxiety and financial knowledge exists. The outcomes associated with this study can be used by not only financial therapists, but also mental health clinicians and financial professionals when developing, presenting, and implementing behaviorally focused treatments, interventions, and counseling recommendations within the professional's scope of practice.

Over the past few decades, US families have been faced with several economic recessions. The regularity and severity of these economic crises lends to the importance of having an understanding of how these events affect families. The present study investigates the effects of family economic strain on marital quality and marital stability through individual and dyadic models, incorporating work-family conflict and marital support as mediators. The study analyzed secondary data from the Iowa Youth and Families Project (IYFP) and Midlife Transition Project (MTP) collected from 370 middle-aged married couples across a 12-year time period that encompassed the US early 1990s recession and the recession of 2001, which occurred between the years 1989 and 2001. The results support the hypotheses that the impact of economic strain upon marital quality and marital stability is mitigated through a positive perception of work-family conflict and marital support. Implications for future research and for financial practice are discussed.

Reentry research has received much less attention than research on cultural adjustment in a foreign country, especially in the marriage and family therapy (MFT) field in the United States. Lack of research on international students’ job experiences and professional developments during reentry does not provide further information to evaluate the quality of MFT education in the United States. This study was intended to extend the reentry literature and specifically to understand personal and professional reentry experiences and cross-cultural transformation of MFT returnees in Taiwan. Thirteen participants were interviewed, and the resulting data was analyzed using constructivist grounded theory. Analyses results demonstrated macro contextual factors that situated unique personal and professional reentry phenomena for international MFT graduate in Taiwan. The returnees strived to explore their MFT identity and interpret cross-cultural differences by developing four coping strategies (e.g., not wanting to fit in, doing what you were supposed to do or could do, processing with others, and therapists’ multicultural awareness) that were associated with three conditions, such as personal networks linking to professional networks, supervision, and training in MFT. Findings suggested that reentry adaption was varied and fitting into Taiwanese society might not be the final goal for the returnees. Training implications in the MFT field were provided based on the findings.

People who divorce experience a number of negative impacts, and yet divorce also offers opportunities for growth and transformation. This qualitative study of older adult women offers the possibility that divorce may be sexually empowering, especially for women, based on in-depth interviewing of women who had gone through one or more divorces. Detailed examples of the experiences of fourteen women with divorce and sexual expression are offered, focusing on in which situations divorce might be empowering and how it could contribute to sexual exploration and satisfaction. Overall, for the fourteen women in the study who had experienced divorce, the quality of sex in the marriage impacted the quality of sexual expression after the divorce. Also, these findings supported the idea of transformational learning through divorce, and expand divorce-stress-adjustment and transformational learning perspectives to apply more specifically to sexual expression. Understanding possible impacts of divorce over the lifespan, including strengths-based aspects, is important for social workers as the population they serve ages.

This article presents an interactional framework for working with couples. Building on theories of social constructionism, systems theory and ethnomethodology, and incorporating practices of improvisation and meditation, a new framework is provided for conducting drama therapy with couples. This is a relational perspective that attends to interaction focused on dialogue. This relational perspective also brings into practice a theory-based approach to address relational power and social inequalities. How we interact determines how we come to assign and define what is real.

This paper presents how meditation practices can be used throughout the mediation process. Skills for both mediators and disputants are presented. Additionally, different epistemological frameworks for mediation and meditation are provided and discussed. A postmodern critique of neoliberal ideals of individuals as objective and stable units independent of social context is presented. An approach of mediation and relational meditation is offered that acknowledges and incorporates cultural, historical, racial, gendered and other discourses as critical aspects to consider as the mediator facilitates alternative narratives and new relational positions for the participants. Regardless of one’s epistemological frameworks, this paper presents skills for all participants in the mediation process to practice deep listening, respectful communication, mindfulness and flexibility for achieving new resolutions.

Older adult women make up a growing part of the population, and yet literature on the sexual activity over their life spans is lacking. This qualitative interview study explored the experience of 16 women aged 57-91 to better understand sexual pleasure over a lifetime. The participants described having to challenge cultural rules to create a supportive environment for sexual expression. Having access to Novel contexts in which to learn, cultivating Intimacy with partners and with oneself, being Creative with sexual activities, and Extending one's sense of sexual possibility into advanced age (NICE) supported sexual pleasure as women aged.