Current Research Projects

Dr. Gottman has pursued three related lines of research.  The research groups include: 1) marriage and couples, 2) gay and lesbian couples and 3) parenting.

Parenting

Bringing Baby Home Research Project Marital conflict often increases when a baby arrives.  After the baby is born, anywhere from 40 to 70% of couples experience declines in marital satisfaction.  The Couples Becoming Parents Project at the University of Washington seeks to address these problems. Conducted at Swedish Hospital in Seattle, the project is testing several interventions for helping families when “baby makes three.”

Transition from childhood to adolescence. 200 Puget Sound families are needed for free study exploring relationships, communication in children's transition to adolescence.

“This study looks at how parenting influences children’s emotional development or what researchers call emotional IQ,” said Sybil Carrère, PhD, who is the principal investigator of the Family Health Project. “Puberty is a time when we see a lot of emotional turmoil and mental health problems in children. We see increases in depression among girls and increases in physical aggression and conduct disorders among boys.” John Gottman is co-PI of the study.

Couples Relapse Prevention Project At the University of Washington, Kim Ryan and John Gottman designed a “relapse prevention program” to see how they could help couples maintain the improvements to their relationship that they had gained in a couples workshop. To learn more on the Couples Relapse Prevention Project, click on the link above.

Gay and Lesbian Couples

Twelve-year study of gay and lesbian couples A twelve-year study of gay and lesbian couples has been the research basis for therapy and couples education programs to help capitalize on the strengths of gay and lesbian partners. Click here to read about study results.

Questions? 

Please contact the Relationship Research Institute at 206-832-0300.