The Marital Attitudes Scale: Assessing and Treating Ambivalent Clients

Hinson, Waymon; Hargrave, Stephanie; Northrup, Jason; Robertson, Jean

doi:10.1080/10502556.2017.1343543

Cited by 2 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 29 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It is also important for educators and therapists to recognize that the processes of marital commitment uncertainty may serve a positive relational function. The pressure to reduce marital commitment uncertainty may motivate couples to take positive relationship actions (such as starting therapy) that could trigger restorative or reparative processes (Hinson et al, 2017; Owen, Rhoades, et al, 2014). As such, commitment uncertainty should be considered both a potential mechanism of change and an effective target for intervention (Gordon & Lawrence, 2014; Owen, Keller, et al, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This could help therapists best understand and address the couple's relationship goals and determine the most effective means of intervention (Knopp et al, 2014; Owen, Keller, et al, 2014). Further, when working with couples, Hinson et al (2017) argued that many clinicians may give up too early and, by doing so, miss an opportunity to employ helpful strategies from which ambivalent and conflicted couples could benefit (Hinson et al, 2017). This is important because Owen, Keller, et al (2014) found that couples who start therapy with high levels of commitment uncertainty can turn that around and experience small‐to‐medium sized gains in relationship satisfaction with the proper help.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Scholarly discussions of the concept now have begun to explore the temporal dynamics of commitment and commitment uncertainty. For example, Hinson et al (2017) used a marital attitudes scale to assess participants' cognitions, emotions, behaviors, and schemas to place them within a three-stage model of moving from relational pre-ambivalence to ambivalence and then post-ambivalence. Within this model, couples could find themselves in various stages at different points over the course of their relationship and move in either a lockstep fashion through all three stages or with nonlinear, back-and-forth fluidity.…”

Section: Shifting From Outcomes To Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Luebcke et al (2014) found that for couples with high levels of commitment uncertainty, exploration, and action interventions were more effective than insight approaches because they led to more constructive and less avoidant communication patterns. Another effective approach to working with ambivalent couples has been discernment counseling, which helps couples decide whether they want to maintain a status quo, separate/divorce, or, for a time-limited period, engage in counseling to work on the relationship (Hinson et al, 2017). Research indicates that couples can temporarily adjust to living with uncertainty and increase their tolerance for ambiguity over time.…”

Section: Implications For Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent scholarship in the domain of commitment uncertainty (Owen, Rhoades, et al, 2014), marital ambivalence (Hinson et al, 2017), and divorce ideation (Allen & Hawkins, 2017; Hawkins et al, 2017) suggests the importance of better understanding the fluid pushes and pulls involved in navigating marital commitment uncertainty over time. More than half of married U.S. adults have had serious thoughts about divorce at some point in their marriage, and a quarter have had recent thoughts (Hawkins et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Day‐to‐day changes and longer‐term adjustments to divorce ideation: Marital commitment uncertainty processes over time

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to use in‐depth, qualitative interviews and longitudinal analysis to explore fluctuations in divorce ideation over time with 30 participants who had thoughts about divorce in the previous 6 months.BackgroundScholarship on marital ambivalence and divorce ideation suggests the importance of better understanding the dialectical tensions involved in navigating the many areas of life affected by marital commitment uncertainty. To model complex relational processes of change over time, researchers need to move beyond contextualized snapshots of relationship outcomes to a more continuous mapping of relationship processes, including changes in emotions, beliefs, and behaviors regarding the future of their marital relationship.MethodsWe completed in‐depth interviews with participants who had recently been thinking about divorce at two times approximately 8 to 10 months apart. Our team used qualitative thematic analysis to elucidate emergent themes and processes.ResultsWe found complex and dynamic patterns of leaning‐in, leaning‐out, and holding‐on emotions, attitudes, and behaviors that suggest theoretical models that may better capture the dynamic process of how commitment uncertainty influences the ways in which married partners think about the future of their marriage.ConclusionThis research can help improve how we theoretically model commitment uncertainty processes embedded in divorce ideation within the complex processes of day‐to‐day and longer term relational changes over time.ImplicationsFamily practitioners and the couples they serve can benefit from expanded conceptualizations of marital commitment outcomes that also include the processes of marital commitment as a way to normalize the ebbs and flows of relationships.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Shifting From Outcomes To Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Implications For Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Day‐to‐day changes and longer‐term adjustments to divorce ideation: Marital commitment uncertainty processes over time

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Do couple- and individual-level ambivalence predict later marital outcomes? The mediating role of marital conflict

Surjadi

Wickrama

Lorenz

2022

Journal of Social and Personal Relationships

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Ambivalence is common in close relationships, but the implications of marital ambivalence for later relationship outcomes have been less well known. Using five waves of data from 370 long-term married couples over 8 years, we investigated the influence of couple-level and individual-level ambivalence on marital satisfaction, marital instability, and divorce 7 years later. We also examined the couple-level process—whether marital conflict mediated the association between couple-level ambivalence and couples’ relationship outcomes. We found that couple-level ambivalence (i.e., couples’ shared perceptions of ambivalence toward one another) was associated with higher marital conflict, which in turn predicted divorce. Among continuously married couples, individuals who were initially more ambivalent toward their spouses tended to be less satisfied with their marriages and were more likely to consider divorce than those who initially had lower degrees of ambivalence. Altogether, the findings provide insights into the role of ambivalence in marriage at different levels and highlight the need for specific strategies to help couples resolve their ambivalence and strengthen their marriages.

show abstract

The Marital Attitudes Scale: Assessing and Treating Ambivalent Clients

Cited by 2 publications

References 29 publications

Day‐to‐day changes and longer‐term adjustments to divorce ideation: Marital commitment uncertainty processes over time

Day‐to‐day changes and longer‐term adjustments to divorce ideation: Marital commitment uncertainty processes over time

Do couple- and individual-level ambivalence predict later marital outcomes? The mediating role of marital conflict

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About