title: Initial levels of differentiation and reduction in psychological symptoms for clients in marriage and family therapy.
abstract: Using Bowen Family Systems Theory as a theoretical underpinning, in this study, we investigated the hypothesis that clients with higher levels of differentiation would improve more quickly in therapy than clients with lower levels of differentiation. Hierarchical Linear Modeling was used to analyze the data over nine sessions of therapy in a sample from an on-campus training clinic. The results suggest that there was variation in the initial levels of psychological symptoms and that differentiation was a significant predictor of this variance. The results also suggest that although psychological symptoms decreased over the nine sessions of therapy, there was very little variance in this change. These results are discussed in relation to Bowen Theory. The difficulties of doing this type of research and the lessons learned from this project are also discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Development and Family Science, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA. haring.19@osu.edu
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bartle-Haring
authors.forename: Aaron C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Glade
authors.forename: Rohini
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vira
mesh_terms: D005196:Family Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008388:Marital Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D008393:Marriage / Q000523:psychology*; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*