Subjective emotion trajectories in couple therapy and associations with improvement in relationship satisfaction

  • Crenshaw, A. O., Libet, J., Petty, K., Teves, J. B., Huang, A., & Mitchell, J. (2023). Subjective emotion trajectories in couple therapy and associations with improvement in relationship satisfaction. Family Process, 62(4), 1542-1554. https://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12843
  • Integrative behavioral couple therapy (IBCT) is a form of therapy that aims to help couples connect through the sharing of their subjective emotional experiences. This study used a sample of 27 Veterans and their romantic partners (N = 54 individuals) who participated in IBCT to investigate whether changes in “hard” negative emotions (i.e., anger, annoyance, irritation), “soft” negative emotions (i.e., sadness, hurt, disappointment), and positive emotions (i.e., happiness, satisfaction, contentment) were related to changes in relationship satisfaction over the course of their therapy sessions. Participants individually rated their relationship satisfaction at the beginning of each session. At the end of each session, participants rated the extent to which they had experienced specific emotions during the session. Overall, increases in positive emotions and decreases in “hard” negative emotions led to improved relationship satisfaction.

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Research summaries convey terminology used by the scientists who authored the original research article; some terminology may not align with the federal government's mandated language for certain constructs.

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