We have been conducting basic and applied research on couples and families coping with psychological distress, psychopathology, and chronic health conditions for more than 20 years. Within this broad scope, our research focuses on three related aims: 1) identifying dysfunctional processes during couple conflict, 2) studying couple-based interventions designed to reduce risk for engaging in dysfunctional processes and to improve relationship outcomes, and 3) developing methods for assessing and characterizing couple interaction processes. We conduct this work with a number of partners and collaborators at the University of Utah as well as at other institutions such as Arizona State, Bar-Ilan, Duke, George Washington, Ohio State, UCLA, UNC-Chapel Hill, University of Bremen, University of Haifa, and Wesleyan.
Selected publications
Baucom, B.R. (2011). Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy. M. Harway & D. Shepard (Eds.), Engaging Men in Couples Therapy (pp. 153 – 178). Florence, KY: Routledge. Published, 01/2011.
Baucom, B.R., & Atkins, D.C. (2012). Polarization in marriage. In M. Fine and F. Fincham (Eds.), Family Theories: A Content-based Approach (pp 145-166). New York, NY: Routledge. Published, 01/2012.
Baucom BR, Atkins DC, Rowe LS, Doss BD & Christensen A (2015). Prediction of treatment response at 5-year follow-up in a randomized clinical trial of behaviorally based couple therapies. Journal of consulting and clinical psychology. Vol. 83, 103-14. Published, 02/01/2015.
Baucom BR, Dickenson JA, Atkins DC, Baucom DH, Fischer MS, Weusthoff S, Hahlweg K & Zimmermann T (2015). The interpersonal process model of demand/withdraw behavior. Journal of family psychology : JFP : journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association (Division 43). Vol. 29, 80-90. Published, 02/01/2015.
Baucom BRW, Leo K, Adamo C, Georgiou P & Baucom KJW (2018). Conceptual and statistical issues in couples observational research: Rationale and methods for design decisions. Journal of family psychology : JFP : journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association (Division 43). Vol. 31, 972-982. Published, 01/01/2018.
Baucom BR, Sheng E, Christensen A, Georgiou PG, Narayanan SS & Atkins DC (2015). Behaviorally-based couple therapies reduce emotional arousal during couple conflict. Behaviour research and therapy. Vol. 72, 49-55. Published, 08/01/2015.
Baucom DH, Kirby JS, Fischer MS, Baucom BR, Hamer R & Bulik CM (2017). Findings from a couple-based open trial for adult anorexia nervosa. Journal of family psychology : JFP : journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association (Division 43). Vol. 31, 584-591. Published, 08/01/2017.
Black, M., Katsamanis, N., Baucom, B.R., Lee, C., Lammert, A., Christensen, A., Georgiou, P., & Narayanan, S. (2013). Towards automating a human behavioral coding system for married couples' interactions using acoustic features. Speech Communication, 55, 1-21. Published, 01/2013.
Crenshaw AO, Leo K & Baucom BRW (2019). The effect of stress on empathic accuracy in romantic couples. Journal of family psychology : JFP : journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association (Division 43). Vol. 33, 327-337. Published, 05/01/2019.
Fischer MS, Baucom DH, Baucom BR, Abramowitz JS, Kirby JS & Bulik CM (2017). Disorder-specific patterns of emotion coregulation in couples: Comparing obsessive compulsive disorder and anorexia nervosa. Journal of family psychology : JFP : journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association (Division 43). Vol. 31, 304-315. Published, 06/01/2017.
Ketcher D, Ellington L, Baucom BRW, Clayton MF & Reblin M (2020). "In Eight Minutes We Talked More About Our Goals, Relationship, Than We Have in Years": A Pilot of Patient-Caregiver Discussions in a Neuro-Oncology Clinic. Journal of family nursing. Vol. 26, 126-137. Published, 08/01/2020.
Khalifian, C. E., Leifker, F., Morland, L. A., Depp, C., Glynn, S., & Bryan, C. (2020). Treatment for Relationships and Safety Together (TR&ST): A novel couples-based suicide-specific intervention. the Behavior Therapist, 43(8), 318–325.
Leifker, F. R., White, K. H., Blandon, A. Y., & Marshall, A. D. (2015). Posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms impact the emotional experience of intimacy during couple discussions. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 29, 119-127.
Leo, K., Leifker, F., Baucom, D.H., & Baucom, B.R.W. (in press). Conflict management and problem solving as relationship maintenance. To appear in B. Ogolsky & K. Monk (Eds.), Relationship Maintenance: Theory, Process, and Context. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Accepted, 11/30/2018.
May AM, Crenshaw AO, Leifker F, Bryan CJ & Baucom BRW (2019). Knowledge of suicide history, current depressive symptoms, and future suicide risk within couples. Behaviour research and therapy. Vol. 120, 103394. Published, 01/09/2019.
Perry NS, Huebner DM, Baucom BR & Hoff CC (2016). The complex contribution of sociodemographics to decision-making power in gay male couples. Journal of family psychology : JFP : journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association (Division 43). Vol. 30, 977-986. Published, 09/01/2016.
Perry NS, Huebner DM, Baucom BR & Hoff CC (2016). Relationship Power, Sociodemographics, and Their Relative Influence on Sexual Agreements Among Gay Male Couples. AIDS and behavior. Vol. 20, 1302-14. Published, 05/01/2016.
Reblin M, Baucom BRW, Clayton MF, Utz R, Caserta M, Lund D, Mooney K & Ellington L (2019). Communication of emotion in home hospice cancer care: Implications for spouse caregiver depression into bereavement. Psycho-oncology. Vol. 28, 1102-1109. Published, 03/01/2019.
Smith TW & Baucom BRW (2017). Intimate relationships, individual adjustment, and coronary heart disease: Implications of overlapping associations in psychosocial risk. The American psychologist. Vol. 72, 578-589. Published, 09/01/2017.
Thorgusen SR, Suchy Y, Chelune GJ & Baucom BR (2016). Neuropsychological Practice Effects in the Context of Cognitive Decline: Contributions from Learning and Task Novelty. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society : JINS. Vol. 22, 453-66. Published, 03/01/2016.
Weber DM, Fischer MS, Baucom DH, Baucom BRW, Kirby JS, Runfola CD, Matherne CE & Bulik CM (2019). The Association between Symptom Accommodation and Emotional Coregulation in Couples with Binge Eating Disorder. Family process. Vol. 58, 920-935. Published, 12/01/2019.
Yaptangco M, Crowell SE, Baucom BR, Bride DL & Hansen EJ (2015). Examining the relation between respiratory sinus arrhythmia and depressive symptoms in emerging adults: A longitudinal study. Biological psychology. Vol. 110, 34-41. Published, 09/01/2015.