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Identifying Informal Help-Seeking Patterns in African American Couples.
Aimee Hubbard1, Steven Harris2, Chalandra M Bryant2
1Kansas City Relationship Institute.
Journal of Marital and Family Therapy
|March 11, 2025
Summary
African American couples often use informal support systems like religious communities and family for relationship help. Factors such as discrimination, racial identity, and religiosity influence this informal help-seeking behavior.
Area of Science:
- Social Psychology
- Family Studies
- African American Studies
Background:
- African American couples often bypass formal relationship support services.
- Informal and community-based resources are crucial for relationship support within this demographic.
- Quantitative research has not yet identified key factors driving informal help-seeking among African American couples.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between discrimination, racial identity, and religiosity with informal couple help-seeking.
- To examine two primary forms of informal help-seeking: religious community support and support from family/friends.
- To analyze the interdependent nature of couple help-seeking using an actor-partner interdependence model (APIM).
Main Methods:
- Quantitative research design.
- Utilized an actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) to assess relationship interdependence.
- Examined the influence of discrimination, racial identity, and religiosity on informal help-seeking behaviors.
Main Results:
- Identified specific factors associated with informal couple help-seeking among African Americans.
- Highlighted the significant role of religious community and family/friend support networks.
- Demonstrated the interdependent nature of help-seeking within couples.
Conclusions:
- Informal resources are vital for supporting African American relationships.
- Understanding factors like discrimination, racial identity, and religiosity can inform culturally sensitive support strategies.
- Couple help-seeking is an interdependent process, emphasizing the couple unit in support-seeking.
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