Psychology
Attitudes toward relationship treatment among underserved couples
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Attitudinal and instrumental barriers exist for couples broadly that prevent couples from accessing professional relationship help. These barriers may be even more pronounced among couples from low-income, and other underserved, backgrounds. The current study examined how couples' (N = 651 couples) presenting attitudes toward seeking couple treatment, and change in these attitudes, differed as a function of demographic variables within a brief relationship education program, Relationship Checkup (Gordon et al., 2020). Results revealed that individuals who identified as male, a person of color, had lower income, or were cohabiting evidenced poorer baseline attitudes relative to their demographic counterparts. Further, people of color and people who were cohabiting evidenced greater change in attitudes across the intervention relative to their demographic counterparts. Thus, clinicians may benefit from considering that underserved couples appear to face attitudinal barriers in addition to known instrumental barriers (e.g., financial, transportation, childcare, time, etc.). Clinical and research implications are discussed.
Publication Title
Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice
Publication Date
2020
Volume
9
Issue
3
First Page
156
Last Page
166
ISSN
2160-4096
DOI
10.1037/cfp0000142
Keywords
attitudes toward couple therapy, gender differences, marital status, people of color, poverty status
Repository Citation
Wischkaemper, Katie C.; Fleming, C. J.Eubanks; Lenger, Katherine A.; Roberson, Patricia N.E.; Gray, Tatiana D.; Cordova, James V.; and Gordon, Kristina Coop, "Attitudes toward relationship treatment among underserved couples" (2020). Psychology. 32.
https://commons.clarku.edu/faculty_psychology/32