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This study identifies unique mediators of treatment effects and shows that gains in mechanisms predict subsequent relationship satisfaction. Future investigations should focus on the role of emotional closeness and psychological distress-constructs that have often been neglected-in couple therapy. (PsycINFO Database Record

There is considerable evidence that parental corporal punishment (CP) is positively associated with children's behavioral and mental health problems. However, there is very little evidence addressing whether CP perpetrated by teachers or school staff is similarly associated with problematic student functioning. To address this gap in the research literature, data were collected from students in a locale where school CP continues to be widely practiced. Participants were 519 adolescents attending public or private schools in Puducherry, a city in eastern India. Students completed surveys assessing school CP, internalizing problems, social support, and resilience. The results indicated that 62% of the students reported experiencing school CP in the past 12 months, with males and those attending public schools being significantly more likely to report school CP than females and those in private schools. Youth who reported school CP reported more anxiety and depression. That relation was more pronounced in youth who reported family tension. Social support and resilience did not moderate the relations. The findings add to the substantial evidence about negative associations

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Objective Building on earlier work examining predictors of short- and moderate-term treatment response, demographic, intrapersonal, communication, and interpersonal variables were examined as predictors of clinically significant outcomes five years after couples completed one of two behaviorally based couple therapies. Method One hundred and thirty-four couples were randomly assigned to Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy (IBCT; Jacobson & Christensen, 1998) or Traditional Behavioral Couple Therapy (TBCT; Jacobson & Margolin, 1979) and followed for 5 years after treatment. Outcomes include clinically significant change categories of relationship satisfaction and marital status at 5-year follow-up. Optimal subsets of predictors were selected using an automated, bootstrapped selection procedure based on Bayesian Information Criterion. Results Higher levels of commitment and being married for a longer period of time were associated with decreased likelihood of divorce/separation (Odds Ratio [OR] = 1.39, p = .004; OR = 0.91, p = .015). Being married for a longer period of time was also associated with increased likelihood of positive, clinically significant change (OR = 1.12, p = .029). Finally, higher levels of wife desired closeness were associated with increased odds of positive, clinically significant change and decreased odds of divorce for moderately distressed, IBCT couples (OR = 1.16, p = 0.002; OR = 0.85, p = 0.007, respectively) whereas the opposite was true for moderately distressed, TBCT couples (OR = 0.77, p < 0.001; OR = 1.17, p = 0.002, respectively). Conclusions Commitment-related variables are associated with clinically significant outcomes at 5-year follow-up as well as at termination and moderate-term follow-up. Public health significance This study indicates that couples who begin marital therapy with higher levels of commitment are least likely to get divorced and most likely to report improvements in relationship satisfaction five years after ending treatment. In addition, it appears that the impact of wives’ desired closeness depended on the type of treatment moderately distressed couple received.

Objective: To examine the association between women’s prior sexual victimization and their expression of anger in response to unwanted sexual advances. Method: Sixty-five female undergraduate students participated in role plays with male actors. During the role plays, which were conducted using virtual reality technology, the male actor made unwanted sexual advances toward the participant. Participants’ expression of anger in response to these advances was coded and analyzed. Results: Women with a history of sexual victimization were observed to be less angry and used fewer anger words in response to initial unwanted sexual advances, compared with women with no history of sexual victimization. Conclusion: This study highlights the potential importance of women’s expression of anger in response to unwanted sexual advances. Specifically, anger expression might be important to consider in understanding women’s vulnerability to victimization and revictimization, and as an intervention target for programs designed to help women resist sexual violence. Finally, this study illustrates the potential benefits of a unique methodology—role plays conducted using virtual reality—for investigating women’s responses to unwanted sexual advances.

Assertiveness training for resisting sexual coercion holds promise for reducing sexual victimization of young women.