Papers by Spencer Bradshaw
Parental psychological control has been found to be associated with both internalized and externa... more Parental psychological control has been found to be associated with both internalized and externalized problems for youth and adolescents. Research contributing to an understanding of the possible antecedents of parental psychological control is both limited and of need; specifically regarding parents' psychological attributes. This study sample included 323 twoparent families and an identified target child from each family. Bowen's theory of family systems, [chronic] stress, and differentiation of self and its relation to parental psychological control was examined. Differentiation of self was hypothesized to mediate the relationship between chronic stress and parental psychological control. Differentiation was conceptualized and measured using two subscales assessing emotional reactivity and emotional cutoff. Fathers and mothers were included in the same model to assess for potential partner influences as well possible gender differences. Parental age, parental education, and family income were also included as control variables. Study analyses included bivariate correlations, independent T-tests, and structural path models; all based on study variables constructed in a structural equation measurement model. To test for mediation by differentiation of self, an initial structural model examining the relationship between levels of parental chronic stress and parental psychological control was utilized. Only paternal chronic stress and paternal education predicted child-reported levels of parental psychological control. Parent-reported levels of differentiation of self, when included in a structural path model, did not mediate the relationship between chronic stress and psychological control but did have a significant indirect effect on this relationship. Both maternal and paternal chronic stress significantly predicted individual parental levels of emotional reactivity and emotional cutoff. Systemically, maternal levels of emotional cutoff predicted paternal levels of parental psychological control and paternal levels of emotional reactivity predicted maternal levels of parental psychological control. No control variables other than paternal education had a salient, significant, or interpretable effect on endogenous study variables (differentiation of self and parental psychological control). Paternal and maternal levels of emotional reactivity appeared to partially mediate the relationship between paternal education and maternal psychological control. Interpretation for results, study limitations and future directions, and clinical implications are discussed.
Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, Dec 27, 2018
Bowen family systems theory (BFST) identifies differentiation of self as a crucial characteristic... more Bowen family systems theory (BFST) identifies differentiation of self as a crucial characteristic that relates to one's individual and relational maturity. Bowen theorizes that an individual's level of differentiation typically remains static over time and that individuals select and pair in relationships with others who have similar levels of differentiation. This study aimed to test the hypotheses of BFST by using components of differentiation of self, emotional reactivity, and emotional cutoff, in dyadic structural equation modeling. Specifically, a longitudinal dyadic confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation longitudinal panel model were two analyses utilized to statistically test the dyadic nonindependence and stability of emotional reactivity and emotional cutoff across time. Results indicated mixed support for Bowen's assumptions regarding similarity (nonindependence) and stability. That is, small levels of nonindependence and significant stability paths across time were found. Theoretical implications and considerations for future research are discussed. BOWEN FAMILY THERAPY Bowen family systems theory (BFST) is considered a foundational influence on the marriage/ couple and family therapy field. This article will look at a key aspect of BFST, differentiation of self, measured by components of emotional reactivity, and emotional cutoff in a sample of married couples. The purpose of the article is to test some of Bowen's assumptions; specifically, that individuals choose romantic partners with similar levels of differentiation, and that levels of differentiation-of-self remain fairly stable over time. These foundational assumptions are important to the understanding and implementation of BFST, and its explanation of individual and relational health. Differentiation of Self-Explained Of the many concepts that make up BFST, differentiation of self is most critical when conceptualizing both individual and relational maturity. From an individual perspective, one basic assumption of BFST is that people are emotional beings who can be reactive and instinctual when it comes to emotional responses. However, BFST also suggests that individuals have the cognitive ability to respond in a rational manner, purposefully choosing their actions and reactions (Bowen, 1978). From this perspective, Bowen endorsed the triune brain (MacLean, 1990), the idea that the brain is made up of three interacting subsections: (a) an emotional, more primitive, instinctive, and
Innovation in Aging
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an established in-person therapy but can be provided s... more Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an established in-person therapy but can be provided self-guided online. Recently, online ACT has been adapted to support dementia family caregivers. A primary goal of ACT is to connect individuals with their self-identified values, with the assumption that increased progress towards values will lead to improved well-being. While there are established negative associations between depression and progress towards values, the lagged influence of progress toward values at one time point on another time point within intervention is less understood. Our sample was 51 dementia caregivers who completed an online self-guided ACT intervention. Participants were 80.3% female, 53% spouse, with a mean age of 65.98 (SD =11.66). We created an auto-regressive cross-lagged panel model to examine longitudinal associations between progress towards values and depressive symptoms at three time points. Controlling for time 1 (pre-intervention) depressive sympto...
Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly
Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly
Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly
Computer, 2022
The United States is currently experiencing an unprecedented opioid crisis, and opioid overdose h... more The United States is currently experiencing an unprecedented opioid crisis, and opioid overdose has become a leading cause of injury and death. Effective opioid addiction recovery calls for not only medical treatments, but also behavioral interventions for impacted individuals. In this paper, we study communication and behavior patterns of patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) from social media, intending to demonstrate how existing information from common activities, such as online social networking, might lead to better prediction, evaluation, and ultimately prevention of relapses. Through a multidisciplinary and advanced novel analytic perspective, we characterize opioid addiction behavior patterns by analyzing opioid groups from Reddit.com-including modeling online discussion topics, analyzing text co-occurrence and correlations, and identifying emotional states of people with OUD. These quantitative analyses are of practical importance and demonstrate innovative ways to use information from online social media, to create technology that can assist in relapse prevention.
Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 2020
Family functioning impacts individuals with a substance use disorder (SUD) and relates to treatme... more Family functioning impacts individuals with a substance use disorder (SUD) and relates to treatment recovery outcomes. A family system and each family member mutually influence one another. Research has also shown alterations in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) functioning of family members who have a loved one with a SUD. This study examined associations between family functioning and PFC activation of such family members using functional near-infrared spectroscopy to measure cerebral blood flow in response to SUD loved-one images. A relationship was found between family functioning and left superior frontal sulcus activation. This PFC region is associated with social responding and self-referential processing. These findings support the importance of family member involvement in recovery processes, and highlight family functioning as an important factor connected with individual functioning and well-being.
Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 2021
ABSTRACT Alcohol use disorder (AUD) thrives in isolation. Recovery requires healthy and supportiv... more ABSTRACT Alcohol use disorder (AUD) thrives in isolation. Recovery requires healthy and supportive relationships in order to heal and grow. Many individuals in alcohol recovery find it challenging to establish and maintain meaningful romantic relationships, yet little research has examined this concept. With a particular focus on relationship insecurity and relationship safety, this study explored persons’ experiences of romantic relationships in AUD recovery. Twenty-three participant interviews were analyzed. A conventional content analysis was first used to inductively uncover categories and then a summative content analysis was utilized to examine textual frequencies. Categories, themes and coded frequencies informed the overall analyses. Three main categories emerged with themes explaining participants’ relationship experiences (Identifying Unsafe Relationships: negative and positive impact of conflict; Addressing Relationship Insecurity: anxiety and avoidance; and Establishing Relationship Safety: trust and recovery). Although there were several limitations, this study offers new insight on romantic relationships in AUD recovery. We emphasize the importance of establishing safety and addressing maladaptive attachment behaviors in order to better navigate toward healthy and supportive romantic relationships in recovery.
Antecedents of Parental Psychological Control: A Test of Bowen’s Theory Spencer D. Bradshaw Depar... more Antecedents of Parental Psychological Control: A Test of Bowen’s Theory Spencer D. Bradshaw Department of Marriage and Family Therapy, BYU Master of Science Parental psychological control has been found to be associated with both internalized and externalized problems for youth and adolescents. Research contributing to an understanding of the possible antecedents of parental psychological control is both limited and of need; specifically regarding parents’ psychological attributes. This study sample included 323 twoparent families and an identified target child from each family. Bowen’s theory of family systems, [chronic] stress, and differentiation of self and its relation to parental psychological control was examined. Differentiation of self was hypothesized to mediate the relationship between chronic stress and parental psychological control. Differentiation was conceptualized and measured using two subscales assessing emotional reactivity and emotional cutoff. Fathers and mothe...
Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 2021
ABSTRACT (a) Objective: This study examined the reliability and validity of the Texas Risk Assess... more ABSTRACT (a) Objective: This study examined the reliability and validity of the Texas Risk Assessment System (TRAS) alcohol and drug use screeners. (b) Method: We examined internal consistency, inter-item correlations, and used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and item response theory (IRT) to assess item-specific information regarding a single latent dimension of substance use severity. (c) Results: Results supported the TRAS alcohol and drug screeners to measure a single dimension of alcohol and drug use severity. More specifically, the instruments appear to be effective screeners of moderate to severe alcohol use problems, and thus effective screeners for referral for further assessment and possible treatment. (d) Conclusions: Treatment can only be provided for problems that are well defined and diagnosed. Continuing evaluation of substance abuse screeners and assessment is important, especially for justice-involved persons. Effective screeners can lead to more people getting needed assessment and treatment. Recommendations were to drop one item on each screener due to redundancy.
Journal of Groups in Addiction & Recovery, 2017
This article presents a revised curriculum for a family program developed for family members who ... more This article presents a revised curriculum for a family program developed for family members who are participating in a family program at a residential treatment for addiction. The article consists of a comprehensive overview of the modules developed for the program, inclusive of multifamily groups, psychoeducational components, and other family therapy modalities. In addition, preliminary results are presented demonstrating the positive effects of the program, while simultaneously building a foundation for the development and necessity of family member recovery. The 2014 National Survey on Drug use and Health (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [SAMSHA], 2014) report shows that 52% of Americans age 12 and up are current alcohol users and 17 million of those have an alcohol use disorder (AUD). This report also shows that over 7 million Americans qualify for a substance use disorder (SUD). In 2013, 2.4 million people attended some form of treatment (nonprofit, private, government, community, etc.) for substance or alcohol use disorders (SAMSHA, 2013). Given these numbers, Orford, Velleman, Natera, Templeton, and Copello, (2013) estimated that 100 million adults around the world are affected by a relative that is suffering from addiction. With this significant number of family members impacted by a loved one's addiction, many treatment facilities have found the inclusion of families in treatment to be important to the recovery of individuals struggling with addiction (Copello, Velleman, & Templeton, 2005). The inclusion of families during the treatment process is valuable in helping to sustain the recovery process in addicted individuals (Baharudin et al., 2014). While supporting the individual in their recovery is important, families also suffer from a lack of support in their own personal recovery within the context of their loved one's addiction (Orford, Velleman, Copello, Templeton, & Ibanga, 2010; Templeton, 2009). Understanding addiction as a family disease (Klostermann & O'Farrell, 2013) implies that the entire family should pursue some level of treatment (Harrawood,
Biodemography and Social Biology, 2019
Members of birth cohorts who were alive in 1918 and survived the influenza pandemic were likely t... more Members of birth cohorts who were alive in 1918 and survived the influenza pandemic were likely to have been "primed" for heart disease in later life. We examine the hypothesis that the twentiethcentury heart disease epidemic was a cohort effect reflecting the changing susceptibility composition of the population. We estimated heart disease death rates by single years of age for cohorts born in 1860-1949. We prepared age-specific rates for calendar years 1900-2016, as well as age-standardized cohort and calendar year rates. Males born in 1880-1919 contributed 90 per cent to 100 per cent of all heart disease deaths among males aged 40-64 from 1940 to 1959, when the heart disease epidemic was at its peak. There was no heart disease epidemic among females aged 40-64. Death from heart disease in females tends to occur at older ages. Cigarette smoking, unemployment, and other factors may have played a role in the heart disease epidemic in men and would have interacted with injury from influenza, but our results suggest that having been alive at the time of the 1918 influenza pandemic probably played an important role.
Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 2020
The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of trauma on Alcohol Use Disorders (AUD) and ... more The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of trauma on Alcohol Use Disorders (AUD) and recovery, specifically through examining associations between past trauma and prefrontal cortex activation in response to alcohol cues. This study utilized functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIR) to evaluate activation of the PFC in individuals in recovery for an AUD when presented with positive, negative, neutral, and alcohol related images. Results showed that a history of trauma and length of recovery are associated with PFC responses to affective images for individuals in recovery. These findings suggest that the PFC of individuals in recovery from AUD who have been physically abused exhibit a more hyperactive response to surroundings, but this hyperactivity may decrease over time as recovery length increases. Those in recovery from AUD who do not report a history of physical abuse demonstrate reduced PFC activation in response to affective images, however, this activity increases as recovery progresses. Additionally, the results showed a significant but opposite pattern with respect to reporting a history of emotional abuse. Authors recommend that clinicians working with those seeking recovery from AUD provide psychotherapy that addresses the complex relationship between PFC functioning, trauma, and AUD and provides an individualized recovery process.
Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 2018
Substance use disorders (SUDs) have been viewed traditionally as an acute individual illness. How... more Substance use disorders (SUDs) have been viewed traditionally as an acute individual illness. However, professionals are beginning to shift SUD treatment practices to match empirically driven models that consider family recovery as an important mechanism of systemic change. This study aimed to explore the relationship between family member hope and readiness to change (RTC). The method includes a dyadic actor-partner interdependence model, exploring change processes observed over a brief family treatment program located within an SUD treatment facility. Results of this study highlight actor effects for parents' RTC and hope. Implications for research and clinicians are discussed.
Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 2018
Bowen family systems theory (BFST) identifies differentiation of self as a crucial characteristic... more Bowen family systems theory (BFST) identifies differentiation of self as a crucial characteristic that relates to one's individual and relational maturity. Bowen theorizes that an individual's level of differentiation typically remains static over time and that individuals select and pair in relationships with others who have similar levels of differentiation. This study aimed to test the hypotheses of BFST by using components of differentiation of self, emotional reactivity, and emotional cutoff, in dyadic structural equation modeling. Specifically, a longitudinal dyadic confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation longitudinal panel model were two analyses utilized to statistically test the dyadic nonindependence and stability of emotional reactivity and emotional cutoff across time. Results indicated mixed support for Bowen's assumptions regarding similarity (nonindependence) and stability. That is, small levels of nonindependence and significant stability pat...
Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 2017
ABSTRACT Cognitive impairment, emotional reactivity, and circuitry differences have been examined... more ABSTRACT Cognitive impairment, emotional reactivity, and circuitry differences have been examined for anxiety using functional magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography, and near infrared spectroscopy, with no overwhelming consensus as to the impacted brain regions. In the present study, 32 participants in recovery from alcohol use disorder were administered the Penn State Worry Questionnaire to assess tonic anxiety level and viewed aversive images during functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIR) prefrontal cortex (PFC) assessment. Negative cue examination revealed a positive association between anxiety level and left dorsolateral and dorsomedial PFC activation. Previous alcoholism research demonstrates potential confounds in these dorsolateral and dorsomedial regions, limiting generalizations to addiction-naïve populations. However, fNIR presently showed reliability as an imaging technique for assessing anxiety-related PFC activity that could augment standard diagnostic procedures for anxiety disorders. In addition, this type of research could impact understanding of comorbidity in alcohol use disorder treatment and recovery.
Journal of Groups in Addiction & Recovery, 2016
ABSTRACT Unhealthy family dynamics often develop in families where addiction is present and negat... more ABSTRACT Unhealthy family dynamics often develop in families where addiction is present and negatively impact individual and family health. Family members becoming ready to make personal changes might positively impact family functioning and improve family support. More research is needed to examine this relationship in family recovery. Using structural equation modeling, family member readiness to change and family functioning over time were examined. Readiness and family functioning were positively and reciprocally associated with each other across 2 assessment points. Gender was associated with initial readiness to change and family functioning. Individual readiness to change may enhance family functioning and promote recovery-oriented changes for each family member.
Journal of Groups in Addiction & Recovery, 2015
Addiction adversely affects families, making family recovery important. Family members appear to ... more Addiction adversely affects families, making family recovery important. Family members appear to benefit from hope, healthy coping skills, and a readiness to change. Family recovery research is limited and relationships between these variables are underexplored. Using structural equation modeling, preparation for change at initial assessment before a family treatment program predicted higher hope and coping skills after participation. Initial levels of hope predicted coping skills posttreatment. Gender, treatment track of the addict, and family members’ relation to the addict showed significant effects. The importance of family members’ hope, coping, and readiness to change in family recovery are discussed.
The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 2015
Background: Addiction science has primarily utilized self-report, continued substance use, and re... more Background: Addiction science has primarily utilized self-report, continued substance use, and relapse factors to explore the process of recovery. However, the entry into successful abstinence substantially reduces our assessment abilities. Advances in neuroscience may be the key to objective understanding, treating, and monitoring long-term success in addiction recovery. Objectives: To explore functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIR) as a viable technique in the assessment of addiction-cue reactivity. Specifically, prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation to alcohol cues was explored among formally alcohol-dependent individuals, across varying levels of successful abstinence. The aim of the investigation was to identify patterns of PFC activation change consistent with duration of abstinence. Methods: A total of 15 formally alcohol-dependent individuals, with abstinence durations ranging from 1 month to 10 years, viewed alcohol images during fNIR PFC assessment. Participants also subjectively rated the same images for affect and arousal level. Results: Subjective ratings of alcohol cues did not significantly correlate with duration of abstinence. As expected, days of abstinence did not significantly correlate with neutral cue fNIR reactivity. However, for alcohol cues, fNIR results showed increased days of abstinence was associated with decreased activation within the dorsolateral and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex regions. Conclusions: The present results suggest that fNIR may be a viable tool in the assessment of addiction-cue reactivity. Results also support previous findings on the importance of dorsolateral and dorsomedial PFC in alcoholcue activation. The findings build upon these past results suggesting that fNIR-assessed activation may represent a robust biological marker of successful addiction recovery.
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Papers by Spencer Bradshaw