Marriage and Family Therapists' Attitudes toward Marriage

As marriage and family therapy continues to become an evidence-based discipline, it is vital to understand therapist attitudes toward marriage, which may impact the implementation of empirically validated couple treatment approaches. Demographic and family of origin factors are known to have significant impact on marital attitudes among the general population, but this connection has not been explored among therapists. A group of 223 California-based clinical members of the American Association for Marital and Family Therapy (AAMFT) was surveyed on demographic, professional, and family of origin variables and attitudes toward marriage. Results showed that marital and family therapists' (MFTs) attitudes toward marriage are less positive than those of college undergraduates (Braaten & Rosen, 1998), although this effect is predominantly due to age. Further, MFTs' attitudes toward marriage correlate with an assortment of demographic and professional variables but not with family of origin variables. Implications for therapist training, practice, and future research are discussed.