Process of Emotion Regulation in Indian Couples During Gottmans Dreams-Within-Conflict Intervention: A Mixed-Methods Design Study
- Title
- Process of Emotion Regulation in Indian Couples During Gottmans Dreams-Within-Conflict Intervention: A Mixed-Methods Design Study
- Creator
- Rajendrakumar J.; Manjula V.; Rajan S.K.
- Description
- Gottman Couple Therapy (GCT) is based on 40 + years of empirical findings and advocates process research, enabling an understanding of how an intervention works. Dreams-within-Conflict (DWC) is a GCT technique that softens the stand on unresolvable issues by facilitating positive emotion regulation strategies such as expressing vulnerabilities, understanding, and soothing in place of destructive strategiessuch as criticism and defensiveness. The aim of the study is to understand the emotion regulation process during a one-session DWC intervention using a convergent parallel mixed-methods design examining N = 30 individuals (15 couples) during the DWC intervention. The changes in emotion regulation strategies (Extrinsic/Intrinsic affect Worsening/Improving strategiesEW, IW, EI, II) in partners were examined in the presence of individual characteristics of emotion regulation traits (cognitive-reappraisal and suppression) and beliefs using self-assessment questionnaires, feedback reports, thematic coding of video recordings, and a semi-structured interview. Paired-samplest-test results showed that DWC fosters emotion regulation strategies by significantly decreasing partners EW and increasing EI and II strategies. Though IW strategies declined during-DWC, the changes were not significant. Hierarchical linear modeling findings showed that before-DWC emotion regulation strategies, gender, and individual emotion regulation traits of cognitive-reappraisal and suppression predicted EI, and before-DWC strategies predicted II, but none of the variables predicted EW and IW during-DWC. To further understand the interventional implications, the emotional regulation strategies and preferences for expression (over suppression) shared by the Indian couples were examined using thematic analysis. The results show that avoidance, conflict behaviors, and prioritizing parents emotions over partners (in men) were the most often employed regulatory strategies. Simultaneously, Indian couples unanimously agreed that expression of emotions was a crucial factor for marital satisfaction. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2023.
- Source
- Contemporary Family Therapy, Vol-46, No. 1, pp. 112-138.
- Date
- 2024-01-01
- Publisher
- Springer
- Subject
- Dyadic analysis; Emotion regulation strategies; Expression; Gottman couple therapy; HLM; Marital intervention; Suppression; Thematic analysis
- Coverage
- Rajendrakumar J., Department of Psychology, Christ (Deemed to be University), Dharmaram College Post, Hosur Road, Bengaluru, 560029, India; Manjula V., Department of Clinical Psychology, Manipal College of Health Professions, Manipal, India; Rajan S.K., Department of Psychology, Christ (Deemed to be University), Dharmaram College Post, Hosur Road, Bengaluru, 560029, India
- Rights
- Restricted Access
- Relation
- ISSN: 8922764
- Format
- Online
- Language
- English
- Type
- Article
Collection
Citation
Rajendrakumar J.; Manjula V.; Rajan S.K., “Process of Emotion Regulation in Indian Couples During Gottmans Dreams-Within-Conflict Intervention: A Mixed-Methods Design Study,” CHRIST (Deemed To Be University) Institutional Repository, accessed February 24, 2025, https://archives.christuniversity.in/items/show/13332.