Abstract
Intimate relationship conflicts in young people are crucial experiences for change. They can lead to more or less satisfactory relationships, depending on individuals’ skills to cope with these conflicts. This may or may not lead to violence in couples. Acceptance and self-regulation processes are an effective strategy to address individual factors such as avoidance and anxiety in intimate relationships of people in these age groups, thus preventing violence. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of an eight-session mindfulness and acceptance-based program (MAP). Participants (n = 40), who were aged from 18 to 25 years old, were randomly assigned to a group receiving the MAP or an active control group. Outcome measures were anxiety about abandonment, intimacy avoidance (Experiences in Close Relationships scale), well-being (Psychological Well-being Scale), dispositional mindfulness (Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire) and flexibility (Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II). Measures were taken at pre-intervention, post-intervention and follow-up. Results showed that the MAP decreased anxiety (p = 0.025) and avoidance (p = 0.01) and increased mindfulness (p < 0.001) and flexibility (p = 0.001). In general, these improvements persisted at follow-up. Results are discussed in relation to the usefulness of mindfulness-acceptance strategies to cope with non-pathological intimate relationship conflicts.
Highlights
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), domestic violence often takes place within couples
As regards the primary variables, results showed a decrease in anxiety levels beour results seem to favor this combination as participants showed improvements in their emotional regulation strategies and in their flexibility in intimate relationships
Given that our program intervention referred to an individual level of analysis, in accordance with the ecological approach advocated by the WHO, the extent of our results was limited because there are several other levels/systems that affect intimate relationships [2]
Summary
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), domestic violence often takes place within couples. ACT, when applied to couples therapy, considers important elements of the psychological flexibility model such as the following [38]: experiential avoidance refers to how individuals try to manipulate the thoughts, emotions and feelings that emerge when interacting with their partner; creative despair identifies the problematic interaction pattern in the couple and analyzes its consequences in the short and long term; another element of the model is acceptance, not of the behavior itself but of the functions that it exerts by placing it in a different context that can be acceptable and less painful; cognitive fusion occurs when the members of the couple over-identify with their thoughts about the present and the future and react to them as if they were literally true [39,40]. The main aim of this study was to assess the effects of the MAP on the levels of intimacy avoidance and/or anxiety about abandonment experienced by young people in their intimate relationships
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