Assessing Therapists' Attitudes Toward Consensually Non-Monogamous Clients
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Eastern Michigan University DigitalCommons@EMU Master's Theses, and Doctoral Dissertations, Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations and Graduate Capstone Projects 2020 Assessing therapists’ attitudes toward consensually non- monogamous clients Tara Baluck Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.emich.edu/theses Part of the Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Baluck, Tara, "Assessing therapists’ attitudes toward consensually non-monogamous clients" (2020). Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations. 1025. https://commons.emich.edu/theses/1025 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Master's Theses, and Doctoral Dissertations, and Graduate Capstone Projects at DigitalCommons@EMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@EMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Assessing Therapists’ Attitudes Toward Consensually Non-Monogamous Clients by Tara Baluck Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Psychology Eastern Michigan University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Clinical Psychology Dissertation Committee: Stephen Jefferson, PhD, Chair Karen Saules, PhD Heather Janisse, PhD Melissa Grey, PhD February 29, 2020 Ypsilanti, Michigan Running head: THERAPISTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD CNM ii Acknowledgements My sincerest thanks to the members of my dissertation committee, Dr. Karen Saules, Dr. Heather Janisse, and Dr. Melissa Grey, and to my dissertation chair, Dr. Stephen Jefferson, for their interest in this project and invaluable feedback throughout this process. I also want to express my gratitude to my poly clients for the privilege of being able to work with you in the first place and for inspiring me take on this project. Finally, the most gargantuan “thank you” goes out to my parents, Jim and Renee Baluck, for their constant support and unwavering belief that I would eventually cross this finish line, even when I wasn’t so sure myself. THERAPISTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD CNM iii Abstract Despite a sizeable body of research demonstrating that consensual non-monogamy (CNM) is a viable alternative to monogamy, anti-CNM bias amongst individuals in the general population has been a consistent research finding. While more recent research on this topic has focused on CNM clients’ perceptions of their therapists’ cultural competence working with CNM clients, few studies have addressed therapists’ cultural competence or bias in working with these populations. At the time of this study’s proposal, only two studies were found which examined therapists’ attitudes directly, but these findings are more than 30 years old. The present study attempted to address this gap in the literature by assessing how general multicultural competence, CNM specific knowledge, and contact with CNM therapy clients are related to therapists’ attitudes of CNM. Differences in therapists’ perceptions of a fictitious client as a function of relationship orientation (e.g., monogamous, polyamorous, sexually open) were also assessed. A sample of 127 therapists and graduate student therapists-in-training was obtained. As predicted, therapists’ CNM knowledge and general multicultural competence was found to be positively associated with more favorable attitudes toward CNM and negatively associated with unfavorable ratings of a fictitious client depicted as being involved in either a polyamorous or sexually open relationship. However, there was no relationship between the number of CNM clients a therapist had worked with previously and the therapists’ evaluation of a fictitious client in a polyamorous or sexually open relationship, nor did therapists’ number of CNM clients relate to therapists’ scores on CNM attitudinal measures. Counter to what was hypothesized, therapists’ ratings of the fictitious therapy client’s symptom severity, romantic relationship dissatisfaction, and their level of discomfort/perceived incompetence in working with the client did not differ as a function of the client’s relationship orientation. Several exploratory mediating and moderating THERAPISTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD CNM iv models involving CNM knowledge, CNM attitudes, and multicultural competence were tested; multicultural competence was found to be a significant mediator on the relationship between CNM knowledge and CNM attitudes. THERAPISTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD CNM v Table of Contents Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... ii Abstract .................................................................................................................................... iii List of Figures ........................................................................................................................... ix Introduction ................................................................................................................................1 Problem Statement ..................................................................................................................3 Literature Review ........................................................................................................................4 Types of CNM Relationships ..................................................................................................4 Polyamory ........................................................................................................................... 4 Monogamish ....................................................................................................................... 5 Open relationship ................................................................................................................ 5 Swinging ............................................................................................................................. 6 Prevalence and Demographic Characteristics of CNM .............................................................6 Demographic characteristics ................................................................................................ 7 Race and CNM .................................................................................................................... 7 Gender and CNM ................................................................................................................ 7 Sexual orientation and CNM. .............................................................................................. 9 Difficulties in Researching CNM .......................................................................................... 10 Societal Perceptions of CNM ................................................................................................ 13 Relationship Quality Among CNM Individuals ..................................................................... 19 Jealousy as a Toxin to Relationship Quality........................................................................... 21 Relationship Longevity ......................................................................................................... 23 THERAPISTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD CNM vi Psychological Well-Being in CNM Individuals ..................................................................... 24 STI Transmission Rates ......................................................................................................... 25 Harm to Children .................................................................................................................. 26 Social Rejection and Discrimination ...................................................................................... 29 Benefits of CNM ................................................................................................................... 30 Therapists’ Multicultural Training in CNM Issues ................................................................. 33 Anti-CNM Stigma in Therapists ............................................................................................ 37 Therapists’ Competency with Sexual Themes........................................................................ 40 Therapists Who Specialize in CNM Issues ............................................................................ 41 Aspects of Therapy That May Inhibit CNM Prejudice in Therapists ...................................... 42 Goals and Hypotheses ........................................................................................................... 44 Goal 1 ............................................................................................................................... 45 Goal 2 ............................................................................................................................... 46 Goal 3 ............................................................................................................................... 46 Goal 4 ............................................................................................................................... 47 Goal 5 ............................................................................................................................... 48 Goal 6 ............................................................................................................................... 48 Goal 7 ..............................................................................................................................