<p> The transition to parenthood can be a challenging time for the relationships of new parents and result in declines in relationship satisfaction. Although a robust literature has identified characteristics that predict changes in relationship satisfaction during this period, the relationships of Black mothers postpartum remain understudied. To address this gap, we examined a set of relational, individual, and external characteristics as predictors of relationship satisfaction trajectories over the first four months postpartum. First‐time Black mothers ( <italic>N</italic>  = 93, 22.6% married, 52.7% cohabiting, 24.7% not cohabiting) reported on relational, individual, and external characteristics at 1 week postpartum and their relationship satisfaction at 1, 8, and 16 weeks postpartum. Mothers who reported more commitment and partner support were higher in initial satisfaction, as were mothers who were married or cohabiting with a partner (relative to mothers who were not cohabiting with their partner). Mothers with clinically significant depressive symptoms at 1 week postpartum had lower initial relationship satisfaction than mothers without clinically significant depressive symptoms. Mothers' sleep difficulties and experiences of racial discrimination were associated with changes in relationship satisfaction over time; mothers experiencing more sleep difficulties and racial discrimination experienced larger declines in satisfaction. These findings offer new insights into risk and protective factors associated with relationship satisfaction among Black mothers during the early postpartum period and can inform multicomponent interventions to enhance their relationship functioning. </p>

The COVID-19 pandemic was a socionatural disaster that unprecedentedly disrupted the daily lives of individuals, families, and communities. Prior research indicates that Black American men living in rural contexts, particularly in Southern parts of the United States of America, were disproportionately affected by the psychological and economic effects of the pandemic. Despite these disparities, few studies have examined the pandemic’s impact on rural Black American men’s social networks. This study aimed to explore the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on rural Black American men’s interpersonal relationships. Informed by the principles of critical ethnography and guided by van Manen’s hermeneutic phenomenology, seventeen men were interviewed using a semi-structured interview protocol. Interviews were transcribed and then analyzed using an iterative thematic reduction process consistent with van Manen’s approach. Four themes were generated: Familial Reorganization, Adaptive Fatherhood, Rona Romance, and Essential Community. Participants recounted how the pandemic motivated them to improve their relationships with family members and children but contributed additional stress to their romantic relationships. Participants further recounted how their friendships were the least impacted as they were willing to make exceptions to their normal protective protocols to socialize with close friends. Participants also noted feeling disconnected from their wider community because they could not attend church even though their religious beliefs remained unchanged. Findings highlight the need for scholars, clinicians, and policymakers to consider men’s relational health when developing and implementing pandemic recovery efforts, as it can significantly influence their ability to recuperate mentally and physically. Future research should be dedicated to (1) investigating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on fathers, as prior research has nearly exclusively focused on mothers’ experiences and (2) delineating protective effects of rural Black American men’s involvement in the Black Church from their individual spiritualities to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the influence of contextual crisis on their long-term health and wellbeing.

Secondary traumatic stress (STS), or experiencing trauma through exposure to clients’ traumatic stories, occurs across helping professions. No studies have focused solely on STS in Marriage and Fam...

Mistrust of the medical community lies not only in the shadows of history but also in the shadows of present day. As a consequence of that mistrust, African Americans are not as likely to seek the help of clinicians when experiencing challenges in their marriages; they underutilize the clinical/therapy route (Nightingale in J Fam Psychother 30(3):221–244, 2019). When strife emerges, some couples do seek professional help and use therapy as a way to mitigate couple distress (Lebow in in J Marital Fam Ther 38(1):145–168, 2012); however, others, particularly African Americans, tend to seek help from God, religious leaders, or friends (Tulane in Marriage Fam Rev 47(5):289–310, 2011; Vaterlaus in Contemp Fam Ther 37(1):22–32, 2015). One study reported that less than 10% of African Americans in their sample sought therapy as a means of dealing with marital problems (Vaterlaus in Contemp Fam Ther 37(1):22–32, 2015). Although much is known about help-seeking behaviors, that research is largely centered around samples of White couples; relatively, little is known about help-seeking among marginalized married populations. We aim to fill this gap in the literature. This topic is important because relational distress is negatively associated with mental health and negatively associated with general well-being (Lakey in Psychol Rev 118(3):482–495, 2011). In 2016, over one million African Americans experienced depression, and only 6 out of 10 who met criteria for depression received treatment (for review, see Nguyen in J Affect Dis 253:1–7, 2019). Given the connections between relational distress and mental health, exploring what couples (particularly African American couples) do when they are experiencing relational strife is critical.

Resilience is defined in different ways. Though there are nuanced differences, most scholars and laypersons alike agree that in its broadest sense, resilience is a positive response to adversity. Resilience is a process; whereas, resilient is an outcome. The process-outcome debate generates a somewhat contrived dichotomy. In recent years, there have been notable attempts to add a greater level of complexity to scientists’ and practitioners’ understanding of resilience by underscoring the impact of contextual factors on an individual’s ability to adapt under dire circumstances. Addressing contextual factors involves revisioning the concept of resilience. Race is context; so, too is the environment in which individuals are embedded. Many Black Americans in high-risk environments may be adversely affected by their own processes of resilience. The process of resilience may very well contribute to allostatic load and weathering. For many Black Americans, persevering and thriving in the face of pervasive adversity has led to significant health challenges—challenges that Medical Family Therapists can address through clinical, financial, operational, and training worlds.

<p> Past research has documented that structural factors produce a skewed dating market in African American communities that advantages men over women. Using data collected from a sample of 495 African American young adults (55.8% women, M _age = 22), we tested the idea that African American men can be more selective when choosing dating partners than their female counterparts due to their power advantage. Consonant with this hypothesis, our results indicated that women who had characteristics consistent with men’s mate preferences were significantly more likely to be involved in dating relationships. However, there were no associations between the likelihood of men’s dating frequency or relationship status and whether they typified women’s mate preferences. These findings support the contention that, unlike their male counterparts, African American women may have to compromise their mate preferences and date less desirable partners due to the gendered power disadvantage in the dating market. </p>

Despite considerable literature documenting associations between relationship functioning and depressive symptoms, there has been relatively little direct examination of this association among Afri...

Trauma literature has proposed multiple theories of trauma development, maintenance, and transmission, which has led to a lack of clarity surrounding trauma in individuals, families, and communities. We investigated the impact of community-level trauma experiences on individual posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms using a sociointerpersonal model of PTSD (Maerker & Horn, 2013). A nationally representative sample (N = 2, 690) of Cambodian households across all regions of the country was surveyed regarding individual trauma experiences during and after the Khmer Rouge regime, symptoms of PTSD, and current stressors. Individual experiences of war trauma and current stressors were aggregated based on the district in which each individual lived. District mean and individual war trauma and current stressors were included in a multilevel model as predictors of individual levels of PTSD. Findings indicated that mean trauma experiences, β =.05, p <.001, and current stressors, β =.10, p <.001, in the district in which individuals live were positively and significantly associated with their individual PTSD symptoms. Individual war trauma, β =.02, p <.001, and current stressors, β =.08, p <.001, were also positively and significantly associated with individual PTSD symptoms. District trauma experiences accounted for 7% of the variance in individual PTSD symptoms, R 2Level 1 =.21, R 2Level 2 =.80. Additionally, current stressors at both the individual and district levels had a greater impact on individual PTSD symptoms than war trauma at either level of the model. Implications for policy and intervention are presented.

Racial discrimination is a common stressor for African Americans, with negative consequences for mental and physical well-being. It is likely that these effects extend into the family, but little research has examined the association between racial discrimination and couple functioning. This study used dyadic data from 344 rural, predominantly low-income heterosexual African American couples with an early adolescent child to examine associations between self-reported racial discrimination, psychological and physical aggression, and relationship satisfaction and instability. Experiences of discrimination were common among men and women and were negatively associated with relationship functioning. Specifically, men reported higher levels of psychological aggression and relationship instability if they experienced higher levels of racial discrimination, and women reported higher levels of physical aggression if they experienced higher levels of racial discrimination. All results replicated when controlling for financial hardship, indicating unique effects for discrimination. Findings suggest that racial discrimination may be negatively associated with relationship functioning among African Americans and call for further research on the processes underlying these associations and their long-term consequences.

Previous studies have explored the direct association between mental health and marital quality; however, the processes moderating that association are not yet well understood. The present study examined associations between depressive symptoms, perceived partner emotional expression, and marital quality among 462 married individuals. Findings suggest that (a) low commitment, low satisfaction, and marital instability may be symptomatic of mental well-being; (b) individuals experiencing depressive symptoms are more inclined to have negative views of their relationships; and (c) perceptions of their partners’ expressions of gratitude and understanding serve as a buffer against the negative association between depressive symptoms and marital quality. Thus, perceptions of positive emotional expressiveness may serve as a resource facilitating marital quality when individuals are experiencing depressive symptoms.

This study investigated (a) the stress spillover pathways linking contextual stressors, changes in couple relationship functioning and depressive symptoms, and changes in individuals' physical health, and (b) the stress-buffering effect of participation in an efficacious, family centered prevention program designed to protect couples from the deleterious effects of stressors. The sample consisted of 346 rural African American couples (63% married) who participated in a randomized controlled trial of the Protecting Strong African American Families (ProSAAF) program. Participants were assessed at three time points across 17 months. Results examining stress spillover within the control group indicated that elevated current, but not prior, financial hardship was associated with decreased effective communication, relationship satisfaction, and relationship confidence as well as increased depressive symptoms; current levels of racial discrimination also predicted greater depressive symptoms. Relationship confidence and relationship satisfaction, but not communication or depressive symptoms, in turn predicted declines in self-reported physical health. Results examining stress-buffering effects suggested that participation in ProSAAF protected individuals' relationship confidence from declines associated with elevated financial hardship. In addition, the indirect effect linking financial hardship to declines in physical health through relationship confidence that emerged among participants in the control group was no longer evident for ProSAAF couples. Results highlight the effect of contextual stressors on African Americans' couple and individual well-being and the potential for the ProSAAF program to provide a constructed resilience resource, protecting couple's confidence in their relationship from the negative effects of financial hardship and, consequently, promoting physical health.

Following the 1994 Rwandan genocide, many defendants on trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) testified on their own behalf. This article analyzes transcripts of their testimonies to learn (1) how defendants discuss the grave crimes of which they are accused, and (2) how their explanatory styles allow them to rationalize their actions and negotiate their tarnished identities. We find that defendants employ Gresham Sykes and David Matza's (1957) classic techniques of neutralization as a means of rationalization , impression management, and identity negotiation. Nevertheless, these techniques, along with those developed in the decades since, do not capture all aspects of defendants' accounts. We thus identify additional techniques of neutralization to provide a more comprehensive understanding of how defendants account for their actions. By extending this classic literature, we call attention to the situational context of international trials, the nature of the crime of genocide, the relatively high social status many defendants once occupied, and existing narratives surrounding the legitimacy of the ICTR. In doing so, our analysis contributes to understandings of narratives of violence and accused genocide perpetrators. K E Y W O R D S : genocide; accounts; neutralization; international criminal tribunal; symbolic interaction. In 1994, mass violence claimed up to one million lives in the small East African nation of Rwanda. Despite mounting evidence of atrocities and large-scale systematic killings, the international community was slow to respond. After the violence subsided, however, the United Nations Security Council quickly mandated the creation of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) to help bring those responsible for the genocide to justice (United Nations 1994). The ad-hoc Tribunal issued its first indictment in 1995 and, prior to closing in 2015, tried 75 individuals for planning and executing the violence. Many of these accused perpetrators testified on their own behalf and thus acquired an international stage on which to explain their actions. This article draws upon testimonies of