Previous studies have revealed that the ways couples deal with stress in their lives are significantly associated with their marital quality and overall marital functioning. However, there has been little empirical evidence linking dyadic coping with marital quality over time. This study addresses the relationship between dyadic coping and marital quality among 90 couples over a period of 2 years. The results reveal that dyadic coping was significantly associated with marital quality over 2 years. For women, both their own dyadic coping and that of their partner were significant predictors, whereas for men only their own dyadic coping was predictive. The results are discussed with regard to prevention of marital distress.

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Callous-unemotional (CU) traits identify adolescents at high risk for severe and recurrent antisocial behaviour and are included in the DSM-5 as a specifier to conduct disorder. The Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits (ICU) might be the most cost-effective screening instrument for detecting CU traits in youth. We aimed to address an important gap in research by comparing the factor structure and psychometric properties of ICU scores across gender, age, and setting (community versus institutionalized). Community-based (n=397) and institutionalized (n=164) adolescent boys and girls completed self-reported measures of psychopathic traits (including the ICU), externalizing problems and aggression, and a laboratory measure of emotional recognition; the staff reported antisocial behavior for institutionalized children. Factor-analytic results indicated that a three-factor bifactor model best fit the data across samples, with measurement invariance across gender, age, and setting, supporting the construct validity of the ICU. In support of its criterion validity, across groups ICU scores were positively correlated with analogous dimensions from the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory, measures of proactive aggression, and self-and staff-reported antisocial behavior, and were associated with poorer accuracy in recognizing distress-related emotions. Our findings thus support the overall utility of the ICU for assessing CU traits in adolescent populations regardless of gender, age, and community or institutionalized status, but suggest a need for refining its assessment of the shallow affect dimension.

BackgroundPersons with dementia experience a progressive decline associated with an increasing dependency. Most of the support they require to stay at home comes from their informal caregivers (IC). Dementia informal caregiving imposes high costs on IC’s health and quality of life, related to long periods of chronic stress. Based on evidence that more adequate coping strategies can reduce chronic stress and its negative consequences, and that psycho-educative interventions have the broadest effects on IC quality of life, the program “Learning to feel better… and help better” was developed in French-speaking Canada. This group intervention focusing on coping with the daily stress of dementia caregiving showed efficacy in decreasing the behavior problems of the person with dementia and the associated stress reactions in their IC. The objectives of our study were to examine within a one group pre- and post-test design 1) the feasibility of implementing the program in two regions of French-speaking Switzerland, 2) the effects of the program, and 3) the participants’ use of the trained strategies in daily life.MethodA mixed-methods concurrent nested design was used to quantitatively evaluate the feasibility, the effects on five core outcomes, and strategy use in daily life. Additional qualitative data documented in depth the acceptability and impact of the intervention.ResultsWe analyzed 18 complete data sets. Regarding feasibility, qualitative and quantitative results converged towards a very good acceptance of the program and a strong implication of the participants. Regarding effects, the program resulted in substantial and significant improvements in burden (d = 0.41, p < .05), psychological distress (d = 0.54, p < .05) and self-efficacy (d = 0.43, p < .05). The qualitative results emphasized the benefits of a group format: Participants felt understood by peers, could build new social bonds and experienced reduced social isolation. Data regularly collected in daily life showed that participants were using more and more over time the strategies they learned (β01 = 0.55, p < .001), particularly reframing.ConclusionThis study expands on the original one conducted by the developers of the program in French-speaking Canada, by showing the feasibility and the very promising effects of this intervention in two regions of French-speaking Switzerland.