Assessing Mechanisms of Action in Family Intervention: The Roles of Empathic Communication and Perceived Understanding - PROJECT SUMMARY Marital conflict is linked with a wide range of adjustment problems in both children and adults, and interparental conflict may trigger parent-child conflict, causing cascading and reciprocal effects for the entire family. Consequently, the way in which family conflicts are behaviorally expressed and managed is critical for family well-being. The degree to which conflicts are communicated and resolved in a constructive versus destructive manner greatly influences long-term relational satisfaction and child development. Research has yet to disaggregate the range of processes accounting for beneficial effects of RCT trials designed to increase constructive behavior on family outcomes, however, so the psychological mechanisms through which positive changes operate are unclear. Thus, a critical need exists to identify these mechanisms of change through multi-method, process-oriented analyses. My objective is to evaluate responses associated with an intervention, the Family Communication Project (FCP), to test the central hypothesis that empathic communication and perceived understanding are key mechanisms that help explain how the intervention improved short-term conflict resolution and long-term emotional security and relational satisfaction within families. The FCP was a multi-component four-week psycho-educational RCT intervention that focused on family conflict, communication, and adolescent adjustment. Participants consisted of a community sample of adolescents and their two primary caregivers (N = 225 families). Each family was randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups or one of two control groups. Assessments were conducted out to 3-years post- intervention, including observational coding of laboratory-based conflict discussions, daily dairies about family conflict in the home, self-report questionnaires, and qualitative interviews. My project is guided by the following three aims: (1) Model the micro-level effects of interspousal support during conflict interaction; (2) Evaluate support and perceived understanding as longitudinal mediators of intervention effects on marital satisfaction, adolescent emotional security, and adolescent adjustment; and (3) Conduct thematic analysis of interviews to contextualize and corroborate the quantitative findings. These analyses may advance empirical and theoretical bases for understanding the processes associated with constructive family conflict behavior, as well as how changes in behavior are causally linked to relational family outcomes. These analyses may also help inform the design of more effective or tailored family interventions. Finally, this proposal reflects an innovative use of mixed methods to corroborate causal inferences and examine longitudinal change. Goals of the fellowship training plan, which will take place at the University of Notre Dame, include: (1) Develop conceptual and methodological expertise in family conflict communication processes and prevention/intervention research; (2) Expand my expertise in data science, advanced quantitative analysis, and qualitative research methods; and (3) Develop practice-based skills in family and organizational conflict resolution.
