Kayla Christine Knopp

VA San Diego Healthcare System | VASDHS

Purpose: Sexual minority (SM) women are a heterogeneous group who commonly report negative health care experiences at the intersection of their diverse sexual orientations and racial/ethnic identities. However, scarce research has evaluated how negative health care experiences may affect health outcomes among this population. Informed by the Health...

Objective Health care discrimination contributes to medical mistrust among marginalized communities. Sexual minority women of color (SM-WOC) are marginalized because of the intersection of their sexual orientation, gender, and race/ethnicity and regularly report poor health care experiences at the intersection of these identities. However, research...

Insomnia contributes to individual mental and physical health and relationship well-being. Veterans' PTSD symptoms are associated with their own insomnia. However, research has not explored whether and how veterans' PTSD symptoms are associated with their partners' insomnia. The present study examined the association between veterans' PTSD symptom...

Youth sex and relationship education programs aim to improve adolescent well-being by changing their knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes regarding sex and their health. However, there is a gap in existing research linking these cognitive targets to relevant behaviors, and a particular dearth of data on links with sexual behaviors. The current study t...

Military veterans experiencing relationship or family difficulties are able to access family services (i.e., couple and family therapy) through the Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Care System. Although family services have historically been provided face-to-face (F2F), the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a sudden shift to the provision of care via tele...

Objective: This three-arm randomized trial tested a brief version of cognitive-behavioral conjoint therapy (bCBCT) delivered in two modalities compared to couples' psychoeducation in a sample of U.S. veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and their intimate partners. Method: Couples were randomized to receive (a) in-person, office-ba...

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) Veterans report greater emotional distress, trauma exposure, and PTSD rates than both LGB civilians and non-LGB Veterans. Traumatic experiences impact intimate relationships, potentially placing LGB Veterans at higher risk of relationship dysfunction secondary to trauma and PTSD. However, limited research has examin...

Asian American women routinely face multiple and intersectional forms of discrimination based on their marginalized social identities, including during their interactions within the US health care system. However, most research on discrimination against Asian American women is limited by its exclusive focus on race-, gender-, or language-based form...

Relationship and family difficulties are common experiences for military veterans, who are able to access family services (i.e., couple and family therapy) through the Veterans Affairs (VA) Healthcare System. This study examines demographic, mental health, military, and referral source variables associated with referral to and utilization of family...

Objective: Relationship education programs have proven effective in promoting relationship quality and preventing divorce among married couples. However, according to theories of Environmental Sensitivity, people differ for genetic reasons in their sensitivity to environmental influences with some more affected by both negative and positive experi...

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) have been found to influence one's own mental health and relationship satisfaction in adulthood; however, the association between one's own ACEs and their partner's individual and relationship functioning has not been explored. Veterans (n = 103) and their significant others (S-O; total N = 206) completed assess...

This study tested moderated mediation-that is, whether the mechanisms of program impacts are different for different groups of people-in the Supporting Healthy Marriage (SHM) study of relationship education (RE) programs for low-income married couples. Large-scale evaluations of RE programs have yielded small effects in community settings. Understa...

en The current study presents implementation and impact data from a cluster randomized trial of a youth relationship education curriculum. High school students (n = 1,135) were randomized at the school level to receive curricula-as-usual or a healthy relationships program delivered by facilitators who were not employed by the high schools. Program...

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms are robustly associated with intimate relationship dysfunction among veterans, but most existing research has focused on male veterans and their female partners. Links between PTSD and relationship functioning may differ between female‐veteran couples and male‐veteran couples. The current study used act...

A large body of existing research on African American relationships perpetuates a deficit model that assumes Eurocentric norms and emphasizes between-group differences (e.g., cross-racial comparisons with the majority group-European Americans). The current study examined within-group variability and the influence of culturally unique factors, Afroc...

Objective To evaluate the feasibility, preliminary effects, and acceptability of the first comprehensive couple-based treatment for suicide, called Treatment for Relationships and Safety Together (TR&ST). Method In a preliminary examination, five couples (N = 10) participated in 10 weekly sessions of TR&ST. All couples included a veteran who repor...

Low-income couples are at increased risk for relationship instability and divorce. In response, online relationship education programs such as ePREP and OurRelationship have been developed to more easily reach this population. A previous trial indicated that these programs promote relationship functioning (Doss et al., 2020) and individual well-bei...

Background: Couple HOPES (Helping Overcome PTSD and Enhance Satisfaction) was created to help overcome a range of barriers to accessing psychotherapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and commonly associated intimate relationship problems. Objective: Couple HOPES is a guided, online self-help intervention adapted from Cognitive-Behavioural C...

Objective: Female same-gender couples experience higher rates of intimate partner violence (IPV) as compared to other couples, yet research on IPV in this population is limited and almost exclusively focused on individual-level correlates. Given the interdependent nature of IPV, the current study examined actor and partner associations of recent IP...

Objective: Military couples need and desire relationship interventions. Online interventions improve access; however, their effectiveness within the military population is untested. Using a subsample from a larger randomized controlled trial of OurRelationship and ePREP online relationship programs for low-income couples, this study examined basel...

Intimate relationship distress has been identified as one of the most common precipitants of suicidal thoughts for U.S. military populations. Sexual functioning is associated with relationship distress and has recently been identified as a predictor of suicidal ideation with female military personnel; however, no studies have examined this associat...

Although there are studies on voting similarity in mate selection, very little research has examined party identification and relationship quality. We assessed associations between reports of personal and partner voting behavior (Democrat, Republican, or Independent) and both relationship adjustment and commitment to one's partner. We used a nation...

“Defining the relationship” (DTR) conversations are a topic of interest among lay people, yet have been the focus of little empirical research, leaving a gap in the psychological literature on romantic relationship development. This article presents descriptive data from two studies about the characteristics and correlates of DTR talks in adolescen...

Objective: Although low-income couples experience greater relationship challenges, they have limited access to effective relationship interventions. Furthermore, most previous efforts to improve low-income couples' relationships have yielded very small effects (Hawkins & Erickson, 2015). In an effort to overcome these limitations, this study inves...

Initial evidence suggests that gains in relationship functioning from brief, web-based programs are maintained through one year following the intervention; however, whether these results generalize to a low-income sample is unclear. Furthermore, previous research from in-person couple therapy suggests there may be different shapes of maintenance sl...

Despite a growing number of female same-gender (FSG) relationships, couples-based research and interventions have focused primarily on mixed-gender couples. Consequently, research has applied a heteronormative lens to understanding some relationship factors, including sexuality. The current study sought to provide descriptive data regarding frequen...

en This study examined the within‐family and between‐family associations between fathers’ military‐related PTSD symptoms and parent ratings of children's behavioral and emotional problems. The sample included married couples (N = 419) with children composed of a civilian wife and an active‐duty husband serving in the U.S. Army. Results indicate tha...

Using data from 570 male service members and their wives, the current study investigated over-time associations between male service members’ self-report of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and marital functioning (marital satisfaction, positive bonding, conflict behavior) as perceived by both spouses. Analyses spanned 5 time points ov...

Although there is a large body of research addressing predictors of relationship infidelity, no study to our knowledge has specifically addressed infidelity in a previous relationship as a risk factor for infidelity in a subsequent relationship. The current study addressed risk for serial infidelity by following adult participants (N = 484) longitu...

This study clarifies within-family and between-family links between marital functioning and child well-being. Expanding on existing prospective research, this study tests whether changes in parents' marital functioning are associated with corresponding changes in their children's well-being, independent from associations that exist when comparing d...

Commitment uncertainty represents an ongoing state of conflicted feelings or thoughts about the future of a relationship. It is currently an underexplored dynamic within romantic relationships and may be a key component of young adult relationships that may influence the likelihood of relationship termination. When commitment is uncertain, individu...

This study examined the association between changes in commitment uncertainty and couple therapy outcomes. Thirty couples participated in couple therapy at a university training clinic. The results demonstrated that changes in commitment uncertainty explained approximately 8% of the variance in posttreatment relationship satisfaction and approximat...

Fluctuations in self-reported commitment (dedication) to a romantic relationship were examined among adults in well-established, but mostly unmarried, opposite sex relationships (N = 616) over a period of 3 years, and the associations between individuals’ own dedication fluctuations and relationship outcomes at a later time point were analyzed. Gre...

The current study investigated therapeutic interventions in couple therapy with 3 couples, 2 who experienced higher levels of commitment uncertainty. A multiple case study design was used to analyze couples’ reactions to interventions within and between sessions of therapy. Four sessions for each couple were coded, selected from the first, second,...

This article provides a conceptual overview of commitment uncertainty and fluctua-tions in commitment. In doing so, we distinguish commitment uncertainty from related concepts, such as ambivalence about commitment and doubt. In addition, we describe the onset and course of commitment uncertainty. Finally, we highlight several issues regarding the t...

Theorists agree that commitment has different components, but the interaction between two fundamental aspects of commitment—dedication (interpersonal commitment) and constraint (external pressures to stay together)—has not been examined to our knowledge. The effects of the interaction between dedication and constraint on several measures of discomf...