Couple and family assessment.

Assessment of Stepfamily Marriages

“…Deal (2012, 2013) cited divorce rates of 67% for second marriages into stepfamilies, and 73% for third marriages, attributing this dissolution rate to 3 times the amount of stress in stepfamilies during the first 5 years. The potential for distress within the marriage and for conflict as to stepparenting seem recursive dynamics, both of which threaten the sustainability of the fragile step union (Snyder, Heyman, Haynes, Carlson, & Balderrana-Durbin, 2016).…”

“…The process of reviewing available assessment tools must be (a) founded in a link to target problems and constructs deemed to be functionally related, (b) to demonstrate evidence of acceptable psychometric properties, and (c) be linked within a theoretical conceptualization of family functioning (Lambert & Dees, 2016; Snyder et al, 2016). So assessments can focus on behavioral patterns (such as conflict resolution deficiencies, partner withdrawal), cognitive schema (such as negative attributions, social narratives), or affective domains (such as chronic, apathy, sadness, or despair).…”

“…In review of the measures, differing orientations appear for the clinician and the family. Snyder, Heyman, Haynes, Carlson, and Balderrana-Durbin (2016) advocated a connection between the assessment treatise with conjoint problem conceptualization (i.e., identification of targeted insight and therapeutic intentionality).…”

“…Independent verification of the psychometric data and provision of outcome studies on stepfamily adjustment, satisfaction, and longevity would build confidence in the utility of these measures. In addition, future study is advised to attend to the sociocultural text of family (Snyder et al, 2016). Given the limited samples on which these inventories were tested, replication of the studies purposefully recruiting additional cultural groups would enhance the validity of the measures.…”

Editorial: The Systemic in Couple and Family Research and Couple and Family Therapy

“…This problem has been further compounded by the technology researchers have had available. Well‐validated measures of individual functioning and more static aspects of couple and family functioning such as relationship satisfaction and cohesion are far more psychometrically advanced and widely used than measures assessing “systemic” processes (Carr & Stratton, ; Snyder, Heyman, Haynes, Carlson, & Balderrama‐Durbin, ). Still, the first wave of “systemic” therapy involved mostly highly directive forms of intervention, which were approaches to therapy that could readily be assessed with traditional research technologies with further technology development.…”