Trans-including couples experience systemic marginalization impacting their relationships, yet studies on these relationships or narratives of strength are few. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore emotional bonding and perceptions of fairness between transgender women and their cisgender partners. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was utilized to answer the research question: What are the experiences of emotional bond and fairness between transgender women and their cisgender partners? This research was situated within frameworks of minority stress, romantic attachment, and contextual therapy. Seven couples of transgender women and cisgender partners were interviewed. Three themes emerged: Minority Stress Contexts and Relational Strengths; The Experience of Emotional Bond; and Negotiating Balance. Processes of boundary creation, attunement, affirmations, and balance of care were noted. Findings reframe partner relationships as opportunities to construct transphobia-resistant and resilient narratives. Recommendations for clinicians include prioritizing the couple subsystem as an avenue for building resilience against minority stress. K E Y W O R D S emotional bond, fairness, minority stress, transgender women, transincluding couples JOURNAL OF MARITAL AND FAMILY THERAPY | 649 JOURNAL OF MARITAL AND FAMILY THERAPY | 661experiences clinically and academically and maintain a fluid and plural perspective on experiences of gender and sexuality because of their different subjective experiences they may be remiss in acknowledging nuances in participant narratives. The cisgender, feminine social locations of the researcher may have created limitations in recruitment, data collection, and analysis (Galupo, 2017).How to cite this article: Coppola, J, Gangamma, R, Hartwell, E. "We're just two people in a relationship": A qualitative exploration of emotional bond and fairness experiences between transgender women and their cisgender partners.

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This study's aim was to apply a Contextual theory lens on exploring whether knowledge of parental infidelity affects the Relational Ethics (RE) of adult children. The Relational Ethics Scale (RES) was used to capture horizontal (partner) and vertical (family of origin) relational ethics in a clinical sample of 195 participants. A repeated measures ANOVA tested the differences in RES scores among the participants who reported knowledge of parental infidelity and the participants who did not. Results showed that knowledge of parental infidelity is significantly associated with lower scores on the RES, which indicates problematic relationships, both in partners and with family of origin. Clinical implications on how parental infidelity can affect relational ethics are discussed.

Attachment theory (Bowlby, 1988) and contextual therapy (Boszormenyi-Nagy and Krasner, 1986) have conceptual commonalities relative to dialogue, trust, and creating new relational realities (Diamond, Siqueland and Diamond, 2003; Greenberg and Johnson, 2010; Hughes, 2007). Linking Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT) (Greenberg and Johnson, 2010) and contextual therapy has also been conceptually proposed for couples therapy (Lyness, 2003). Both EFT and contextual therapy centre trust and dialogue as primary relational resources for change (Boszormenyi-Nagy and Krasner, 1986; Greenberg and Johnson, 2010). This article suggests integrating EFT and contextual therapy within couples therapy. A proposed integrated couples therapy model outlines EFT process steps and contextual therapy principles. Rationale for integration and suggested interventions are discussed. Case studies of two examples of this integrated couples therapy are included for illustration. Practitioner points • EFT and contextual therapy are distinct and yet converge on the constructs of trust, dialogue, reciprocal care and risk taking • An integration of EFT and contextual therapy begins with EFT enactments, then infuses the intervention of multidirected partiality • Family of origin work on entitlements may enhance attachment-based enactments in an integrated EFT and contextual therapy approach

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