Week 7 Marriage and Family Key Terms

AASECT

A professional organization that provides certification for individuals

seeking advanced professional recognition in the areas of teaching, counseling, and

therapy related to sexuality (Acronym)

American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and

Therapists

AASECT

Affection

A factor in enhancing intimacy, consisting of hugging, cuddling, sharing humor, and other physical and nonphysical expressions of emotional closeness within a relationship.

Cisgender

An individual whose gender identity aligns with the sex assigned to them at birth.

Communication

A factor in enhancing intimacy, defined as listening and sharing ideas directly, which helps lower sexual dissatisfaction for couples facing stressors.

Coming Out

The continuous revelation of sexual preference experienced by sexual minorities; a process that involves stages of identity development.

Deconstruction Question

A type of question used in narrative therapy that helps the client externalize the problem, separating the person from the issue.

DSM-5

The primary guide for diagnosing mental disorders, which also includes V codes for contextualizing family-focused issues (Acronym)

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th ed.

DSM-5

Egalitarianism

A factor in enhancing intimacy, defined within a relationship as an equitable division of household tasks and power sharing; correlated with higher sexual passion.

Ego-dystonic Homosexuality

A diagnosis that replaced homosexuality as a mental disorder in the third edition of the DSM, later removed in the fourth edition.

Emotional Intimacy

Plays an important role in sexual and marital satisfaction, characterized by closeness and connection that goes beyond physical acts.

Evolutionary Theory

A theoretical perspective suggesting that current male and female mating rituals and mate selection are influenced by the unconscious primary sexual motivation to raise genetically superior offspring.

Externalizing the Problem

A narrative therapy technique where the counselor helps the client separate the person from the problem, viewing the problem as an unwelcome invader.

Family Life Cycle

A conceptual model that describes the stages a family goes through over time, characterized by specific tasks and transitions as members enter and leave the primary familial unit.

Family Systems Theory

A theoretical approach that views the family as an interconnected and interdependent system, where each part influences every other part.

Gender

Social, psychological, and cultural differences that influence society's perceptions of an individual as being either male or female, distinct from biological sex.

Gender Identity

An individual's internal sense of being male, female, both, neither, or somewhere else along the gender spectrum.

Gender Minority

A person whose gender is transgender, nonbinary, or gender nonconforming, and whose gender identity falls outside current culturally accepted standards.

Gender Similarity Theory

A theoretical perspective positing that males and females are more similar than different across various domains, including cognitive ability, mental health, and sexual behaviors.

Genetic Sex

The biological determination of sex based on chromosomes (e.g., XX for female, XY for male).

Heterosexism

Prejudicial attitudes and actions directed toward sexual minorities, often based on the assumption that heterosexuality is the only normal or preferred sexual orientation.

Heterosexual-Homosexual Rating Scale

Alfred Kinsey's continuum scale illustrating that people do not fall into discrete homosexual or heterosexual categories, and that sexual thoughts and feelings can intensify or diminish over time.

Homophobia

The fear or prejudice against homosexuality or homosexual people.

Inhibited Sexual Desire Relationship

A category of sexual functioning where one partner feels rejected by the other due to low sexual desire, often leading to a cycle of blame and guilt.

Intersex

A person whose biological sex is unclear or falls on a continuum between male and female, presenting with atypical sex characteristics.

Internalized Heterosexism

An internalized negative view of sexual and gender minority groups as a result of living in a heterosexist society

Internalized Homonegativity

Believing and internalizing culturally accepted and negative stereotypes about homosexuality.

Internalized Homophobia

Negatively judging oneself as a result of one's sexual orientation.

Kinsey's Research

Comprehensive studies on human sexual behaviors conducted by Alfred Kinsey in the mid-20th century, which revealed a wide range of sexual activities and challenged societal norms regarding sexuality.

Masters and Johnson's Sexual Response Cycle

Research that identified four biological phases of sexual response (excitement, plateau, orgasm, resolution) common to both genders.

Minority Stress

Anxiety and distress experienced by individuals due to negative societal messages about their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Narrative Therapy

A therapeutic approach, based on social constructionism, that helps clients re-examine problem-saturated stories about their lives and rewrite them to create more productive, healthier narratives.

Nonconsummated Relationship

A category of sexual functioning where sexual activity has never occurred between partners.

Problem-Saturated Narrative

In narrative therapy, a story or belief system that focuses predominantly on what is wrong or problematic within an individual's or couple's life, often overlooking strengths or exceptions.

Sexual Addiction

A pattern of harmful, compulsive, and uncontrollable maladaptive sexual activities, often seen as a coping mechanism for underlying issues.

Sexual Dysfunction

Any problem that prevents an individual or couple from experiencing satisfaction from sexual activity.

Sexual Minority

A person whose sexual orientation is not strictly heterosexual or whose gender identity falls outside current culturally accepted standards.

Social Constructionism

A theoretical perspective that emphasizes how individuals create their realities through social interactions and language, rather than discovering objective truths.

Termination

The final phase of counseling, conceptualized as an intentional and planned process that occurs when goals are achieved or counseling must end for other reasons.

Transgender

An umbrella term for individuals who challenge social gender norms, including genderqueer, gender-nonconforming, transsexual, and crossdressers, requiring self-identification.

Transsexual

A person who experiences intense, persistent, long-term discomfort with their body and self-image due to the awareness that their assigned sex is inappropriate, and may take steps to change their body, gender role, and expression.

V Codes (Z Codes)

Diagnostic categories in the DSM-5 that provide a contextual framework for issues that may be a focus of clinical attention but are not attributable to a mental disorder, often used in couples and family counseling.