Keywords

Couple Play, Couple Bonding, Physical and Emotional Health, Couple Counseling, Couple Counseling Intervention

Abstract

Traditional couple counseling research focused on why people end relationships, with research only recently addressing what factors contribute to relationship satisfaction and stability. Yet, throughout this research, minimal attention has been paid to the role of play in couple counseling. The research available on play in couple counseling had varied definitions of couple play and was not based on current couple counseling theory. The research and anecdotal data on couple play proposed a strong relationship between couple play and the factors that predict successful, long-term couple relationships, individual physical health and emotional health. This study applied current couple counseling theory and research to define couple play and the relationship between couple play and couple bonding, physical health and emotional health. The hypotheses of the study were couple play would predict couple bonding; couple play would predict individual physical health; and couple play would predict individual emotional health. The results from a sample of 30 couples demonstrated couple play predicted measures of couple bonding, including relationship satisfaction, communication, conflict resolution, and the couple's view of the relationship. Couple play demonstrated no relationship to individual physical or emotional health. Since couple play was predictive of successful, long-term couple relationship measures, the implications were discussed for using couple play in assessment and intervention in couple counseling and future research.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2005

Semester

Spring

Advisor

Robinson, Edward H. (Mike)

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Education

Department

Child, Family, and Community Sciences

Degree Program

Counselor Education

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0000426

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0000426

Language

English

Release Date

January 2015

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access)

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