Development and Family Studies, Colorado State.pdf

Journal of Family Psychology 1997, Vol. 11, No. 3, 373-377 Copyright 1997 by the American Psychological Association, Inc. 0893-3200/97/53.00 Client Gender as a Process Variable in Marriage and Family Therapy: Are Women Clients Interrupted More Than Men Clients? Ronald Jay Werner-Wilson Colorado State University Sharon J. Price The University of Georgia Toni S. Zimmerman and Megan J. Murphy Colorado State University Influenced by language and therapeutic discourse as well as the feminist critique of marriage and family therapy, the authors conducted research to evaluate conversa- tional power in marriage and family therapy. Research on interruptions has received the most empirical attention, so the authors examined videotaped therapy sessions to see if women clients were interrupted more than men clients. This strategy integrated scholarship on gender and conversation into research on marriage and family therapy process. Multivariate analysis of variance was used to examine the different treatment of women and men clients; gender of therapist was used as a control variable. Results indicated that marriage and family doctoral students interrupted women clients three times more than men clients. We conducted research to evaluate conversa- tional power in marriage and family therapy. This research was influenced by two themes: language and therapeutic discourse as well as the feminist critique of marriage and family therapy. Empirical research has demonstrated that men and women use different conversa- tional tactics in cross-gender interactions. Women, for example, frequently ask questions and follow-up on topics introduced by men; these tactics support conversation (Fishman, 1983). Men, on the other hand, are more likely Ronald Jay Werner-Wilson, Toni S. Zimmerman, and Megan J. Murphy, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Colorado State University; Sharon J. Price, Department of Child and Family Development, The University of Georgia. Megan J. Murphy is