Modes of Expression in Family Therapy: A Process Study of Roles and Gender*

Abstract

Twenty‐two two‐parent families with a referred adolescent were seen by 11 male and 11 female trainees in family therapy. Mothers, fathers, adolescents, and therapists were rated for verbal expression in affective, behavioral, and cognitive! attributional modes during the first session. Results clearly point to role and content difference in modes of expression. Of particular importance are differences by role which occured as a function of therapist gender. These differences suggest that therapist gender has an impact on family therapists' and family members' verbalizations in first sessions of family therapy.

Evolution of Functional Family Therapy as an Evidence‐Based Practice for Adolescents with Disruptive Behavior Problems

“…In a later study, imbalances of alliances in early sessions (parent minus adolescent alliance with therapist) were also shown to be related to treatment dropout (Robbins, Turner, Alexander, & Perez, ). In a series of studies, the model developers showed how defensive and supportive communication processes in the session are influenced by family role (mother, father, adolescent) and therapist gender (Mas, Alexander, & Barton, ; Newberry, Alexander, & Turner, ). In two studies, the developers documented how therapist reframing can reduce expressions of negativity in early sessions (Robbins, Alexander, Newell, & Turner, ; Robbins, Alexander, & Turner, ).…”

Factors Affecting the Perceived Helpfulness of Therapy with Stepfamilies

“…Another explanation is that differences may reflect differing world views of male and female therapists that affect their perceptions of clients and therapists' actual clinical behavior (Zygmond & Denton, 1988). In any case, findings suggest that male and female therapists may create different contexts for therapy that elicit varying responses from male and female clients (Mas et al, 1985). In turn, the context and resulting client responses may affect the actual process of therapy, clients' experience in therapy, and ultimately, clients' perceptions of the effectiveness of their therapy experience.…”

“…Other studies suggest that gender of therapist influences the amount and nature of communications occurring during therapy. For example, Mas, Alexander, and Barton (1985) found in a study of 22 families in happy family therapy that mothers used a cognitive/attributional mode of expression in their descriptions of people, experiences, or problems more when the therapist was male than they did with female therapists.…”

Generalizing treatment effects of functional family therapy: Three replications

“…Research has demonstrated that therapists' relationship and structuring skills predict treatment effectiveness with the FFT model . Furthermore, the gender of the therapist makes a difference in the likelihood of problematic resistance from same versus opposite sexed family members (Mas et al, 1984;Warburton et al, 1980). Additional research suggests that a therapist's manipulation of delinquent family members' attributions may be an important ingredient in overcoming resistance to change (Barton et al, 1983; Morris et al, in press).…”