Human Development & Family Science

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Research from the Department of Human Development & Family Science. The department website may be found at https://www.ndsu.edu/hdfs/

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Browsing Human Development & Family Science by browse.metadata.program "Couple and Family Therapy"

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    Adolescent Sibling Relationships and Disordered Eating
    (North Dakota State University, 2012) Haugen, Emily Catherine
    Researchers have begun to explore the role that family members play in maintaining or recovering from an eating disorder. However, little research has addressed the sibling relationship, including nurturance, quarreling, and favoritism. Self-report questionnaires were collected from 120 girls and 87 boys in middle school (N=161) or high school (N=46). Linear regressions, ANOVAs and mediation analyses were conducted to determine the effects of siblings on adolescents’ disordered eating. Sibling favoritism and modeling of bulimic behavior were the only variables significantly related to relationship quality. Our results indicate that family dynamics and structure may play a larger role in adolescent maladaptive behavior than sibling relationship quality. Additionally, sibling relationship quality, bulimic modeling and sibling favoritism may be part of a very complex process leading to disordered eating behavior. Future research should continue to utilize the sibling subsystem as a means of understanding the development of disordered eating behavior among adolescents.
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    How Does Christian Religious Affiliation Influence Therapists' Beliefs about Sexual Orientation and Competence Working with Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Clients
    (North Dakota State University, 2013) Waldack, Sara Jane
    This study explored the relationship between therapists' religious affiliation, their beliefs about sexual orientation in general and about lesbian and gay clients in particular. Specifically, therapists' who self-identified as belonging to one of the three most prevalent religious denominations in the United States, which include; the Roman Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist Church, and the United Methodist Church. This study utilized an existing data set consisting of 759 participants who were clinical members of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT). In general participants reported relatively low levels of homophobia. Overall, participants reported that they somewhat agree to agree that they feel competent working with LGB clients. In general participants were supportive of AAMFT's position statements regarding equality for same-sex couples and families. Overall, participants reported that reparative therapy is unethical. In general participants reported that it is ethical to refer clients based solely on their sexual orientation.
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    LGB Affirmative Training and Clinical Competency: Differences in Couple and Family Therapy Students Who Receive Training at Religious Vs. Secular Institutions
    (North Dakota State University, 2013) Thompson, Keilah Ann
    This study determined if any differences exist in the level of affirmative training received, beliefs about sexual orientation, and perceived clinical competency with lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) clients of 231 couple and family therapy (CFT) students who attend COAMFTE accredited institutions. Independent t-tests were used to compare mean scores of students who attend secular versus religiously affiliated institutions to determine if there was a difference in levels of affirmative training received, beliefs about sexual orientation, and perceived clinical competency with LGB clients. Significant differences were found in overall LGB affirmative training levels as well as therapist competency in working with LGB clients. Students did not report differences in the level of affirmative curriculum content pertaining to LGB topics that they received. Training implications are discussed such as COAMFTE providing more structured guidelines for schools to prepare students to work with LGB clients in a positive affirming manner.
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    Mothers and Fathers, Churches and Schools: Formal and Informal Sources of Sexual Information as They Relate to Emerging Adult Women’s Safe Sex Practices and Sexual-esteem
    (North Dakota State University, 2015) Schwartz, Elizabeth Anne
    This study sought to explore which individuals and institutions 455 emerging adult women recalled as having provided them with sexual information. Independent-samples t tests were run to explore how these sources of information related to the emerging adult women’s safe sex practices and sexual-esteem. Most common sources of sexual information included mothers, peers, and high school courses, with approximately 28% of participants reporting no individual sources, and approximately 32% of participants reporting no institutional sources. Receiving sexual information from a sibling was related to more frequent safe sex practices, and receiving sexual information from a middle school course was related to higher sexual-esteem scores. These results contribute to the discussion of how best to support the sexual health and wellness of emerging adult women, and have implications for couple and family therapists working with young women and their families.
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    The Relationship between Dating and Body Image in Adolescence
    (North Dakota State University, 2013) Smestad, Christina
    During adolescence, individuals often experience dating for the first time, and negative body image as a result of increased socialization. In this study, we sought to investigate the connection between dating and body image among adolescents. A self-report questionnaire was given to 85 girls and 75 boys, and included measures of current dating status, desired dating status, drive for muscularity, drive for thinness, and body dissatisfaction. We found no significant relationships between dating status and body image for girls or boys. However, when examining the links between desire to date and body image, we found that girls who wanted to date had significantly higher levels of drive for thinness and body dissatisfaction than girls who did not want to date. It is likely that adolescent girls who are interested in dating have greater body image concerns because they want to appear thinner and more attractive to potential dating partners.
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    The Role of Women’s Friendships in Later Life: Implications for Married and Widowed Women
    (North Dakota State University, 2016) Dorsey, Simóne
    Increasingly, aging research demonstrates the importance of social support for well-being in later life, particularly among women. Women often rely on their spouse as a source of social support; however, it is unclear how older women’s support, particularly friendships, adapts when their spouses die. The current study selected a sample of 253 women from the Social Integration and Aging Study (Fuller-Iglesias & Rajbhandari, 2015) with the goal of examining whether friendship characteristics differ between married and widowed older women and determining the implications for well-being. Results revealed married and widowed women did not differ in friendship number, frequency of contact, and satisfaction. Moreover, married women’s happiness was linked to in-person contact whereas widowed women’s happiness was associated with better friendship satisfaction. These results suggest friendships matter in later life despite marital status, yet the function may shift upon widowhood, highlighting important implications for research about and practice with older women.
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    Spiritual Diversity in Couple and Family Therapy Training: Student Perspectives
    (North Dakota State University, 2012) Roberts, Nicole Lea
    The current study assessed couple and family therapy (CFT) students' levels of self-reported competence working with clients from non-Christian spiritual traditions, levels of content that students reported receiving related to preparing them to work with Christian and non-Christian clients, and perceptions of the training students received on working with clients of diverse spiritual faith traditions. Participants were CFT students from accredited Master's and doctoral programs of the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE). Results indicated that there were significant differences in the content students reported receiving regarding working with clients of Christian faith traditions compared to clients of non-Christian faith traditions. Students received more content on Christian faith traditions than non-Christian faith traditions; however, both mean scores were low. Qualitative analyses revealed several themes regarding the specific content that students were taught about working with clients of non-Christian faith traditions. Recommendations for clinical training are provided.
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    Strategies for Integrating Spirituality in Therapy: Student Perspectives
    (North Dakota State University, 2013) Smith, Cosette E.H.
    Spirituality and religion are considered an important aspect of the human experience and is considered to be valuable to the practice of Couples and Family Therapy (CFT). However, there is nothing in the literature that speaks to what students find most helpful in preparing them to integrate spirituality and religion into their clinical work. The study utilized data from a secondary data set, which was part of a larger study that surveyed 341 master's and doctoral students from programs accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education; however, a sample of 230 participants was used for this study. The purpose of this study was to explore the following research question; what are couples and family students being taught about integrating spirituality into their clinical work that they find helpful? Inductive thematic analysis was used to code participant answers to an open-ended question. Findings suggest that while some training programs are teaching students strategies related to integrating spirituality into therapy, these strategies appear to be introductory in nature and may lack the level of specificity needed for students to more fully integrate spirituality in a meaningful way.
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    Using Objectification Theory to Interpret the Relationships Among Self-Schemas, Cognitive Distraction, and Sexual Satisfaction in Emerging Adult Women
    (North Dakota State University, 2013) Henschel, Kassondra
    The sexual objectification of women is prevalent in Western culture, and researching how this impacts sexual satisfaction is important. This study used objectification theory to explore how cognitive distraction may be associated with the sexual satisfaction of 271 emerging adult women. Cognitive distraction was assessed as occurring as a result of negative sexual and appearance self-schemas. Relationships among appearance self-schemas, sexual self-schemas, cognitive distraction, and sexual satisfaction were assessed with two mediation models that used bivariate and multiple regressions. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to explore the influence of relationship status on how sexual and appearance self-schemas were associated with sexual satisfaction. Results indicated significant relationships between sexual satisfaction and both appearance and sexual self-schemas, which were at least partially mediated by cognitive distraction regardless of a woman's relationship status. This study has important implications for education, theory development, and therapy.
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    "You'd Better Get in There and Be the Advocate": Parents of Gender Nonconforming Children's Perspectives on Support
    (North Dakota State University, 2013) Schofield, Samantha
    In this project parents of gender nonconforming children shared their perspectives on finding emotional support for themselves and their family. Ten women-identified mothers participated in semi-structured interviews via online chat or phone. Three research questions produced eight categories, each with multiple themes which illustrate these parents' experience. Main findings include the centrality of the internet in a parent's search for support, the importance of community, advocacy efforts of parents to support their child and other families, and both personal and professional qualities that are characteristic of supportive people. From reflections on what has been most helpful to these participants, clinical implications are discussed to provide family therapists with direction to better support parents of gender nonconforming children.