Jeff Jackson

As a researcher-practitioner in the field of marriage and family therapy (MFT), I value application and translation in scholarship, learning, and engagement. My ultimate goal, in each of these areas, is to assist clinicians in helping clients improve their personal wellbeing and the quality of their family relationships.

My research program centers on using advanced contemporary analysis (e.g., actor-partner interdependence modeling, multilevel growth curve modeling, meta-analysis, grounded theory) in the following areas:

• Improving couple relationships and partner wellbeing through understanding the impact of protective and risk factors on couple relationship quality (such as adjustment and satisfaction) and stability (such as separation and dissolution).
• Clinical intervention research on couple therapy effectiveness, brief strategic therapy (an approach focused on pinpointing the mechanisms that maintain or exacerbate people’s problems and providing strategies to circumvent those mechanisms), and eating disorders.
• The ambiguous loss (an unclear loss of someone who is indefinitely missing without conclusive facts, creating uncertainty as to how to manage the situation) associated with prolonged singlehood among adults who wish they were coupled.
• Understanding and supporting families of children with severe developmental disabilities by identifying risk factors of couple relationship quality and stability, coping processes associated with the decision to place a child in out-of-home care, and identifying ways providers can deliver meaningful support and interventions for these families.
• Using meta-analytic techniques for synthesizing and translating extant research to clinical practice to provide more definitive “big picture” conclusions about a body of research.

In keeping with the translational nature of my research, the goal of my classroom teaching and clinical supervision is to challenge students to consistently think about the application of approaches and interventions they learn in class so that they can integrate their learning and adapt it for implementation in their clinical work with individuals, couples, and families. Similarly, my engagement efforts involve translating my scholarship, and that of others, to provide accessible and practical applications to clinicians and public special interest groups. In addition, I periodically direct a study abroad program to Italy that focuses on clinical training and self-of-the-therapist work.

I have clinical experience working with individuals, couples, families, and groups from all life stages and backgrounds in a wide range of areas.  I have also worked in a variety of clinical settings.  My clinical specializations include couple relationship distress, eating disorders, depression, anxiety disorders including obsessive-compulsive disorder, disability, ambiguous loss, singlehood, premarital counseling, adolescents and parent-child relationships, and reactive attachment.  I frequently present on therapy approaches for couples and families, brief strategic therapy for a wide range of clinical issues, couple relationship enrichment, eating disorder treatment, ambiguous loss, and families of children with developmental disabilities.

Campbell, A. R., Landers, A. L., & Jackson, J. B. (2022). I have to hold it together: Trauma in law enforcement couples. Family Relations. Advance online publication. http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12661

Hoover, R. C., & Jackson, J. B. (2021). Insecure attachment, emotion dysregulation, and psychological aggression in couples. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 36(19-20), NP10908 –NP10936. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260519877939

Jackson, J. B., & Landers, A. L. (2020). Structural and strategic approaches. In K. S. Wampler, R. M. Miller, & R. B. Seedall (Eds.), The handbook of systemic family therapy: Vol. 1. The profession of systemic family therapy (pp. 339-364). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119438519.ch15

Jackson, J. B., & Sabatini Gutierrez, N. (2020). Clinical work with unpartnered individuals seeking a long-term intimate relationship. In K. S. Wampler & A. J. Blow (Eds.), The handbook of systemic family therapy: Vol. 3. Systemic family therapy with couples (pp. 461-486). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119438519.ch79

Falconier, M. K., & Jackson, J. B. (2020). Economic strain and couple relationship functioning: A meta-analysis. International Journal of Stress Management, 27(4), 311-325. https://doi.org/10.1037/str0000157

Miller, C. M., Jackson, J. B., & Landers, A. L. (2020). Married to a marriage therapist: An insider perspective. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 48(5), 385-404. https://doi.org/10.1080/01926187.2020.1750074

Meyer, C., Jackson, J. B., & Gutierrez, N. S. (2020). Long-term experiencing of parental death during childhood: A qualitative analysis. The Family Journal, 28(3), 247-256. https://doi.org/10.1177/1066480720926582

Pietrabissa, G., Castelnuovo, G., Jackson, J. B., Rossi, A., Manzoni, G. M., & Gibson, P. (2019). Brief strategic therapy for bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder: A clinical and research protocol. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 1-7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00373

Salama, C., Jackson, J. B., Negash, N., & Daneshpour, M. (2019). Family of origin predictors of marital outcomes among Coptic Orthodox Christian Egyptian-American couples. Journal of Couple and Relationship Therapy, 18(1), 44-64. https://doi.org/10.1080/15332691.2018.1481800

Jackson, J. B. (2019). Empowering families deciding between home or placement and coping with placement decisions. In B. Turns, J. Ramisch, and J. B. Whiting (Eds.), Systemically treating autism: A clinician’s guide for empowering families (pp. 155-164). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315141831-19

Shivers, C. M., Jackson, J. B., & Mcgregor, C. M. (2019). Functioning among typically developing siblings of individuals with autism spectrum disorder: A meta-analysis. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 22(2), 172–196. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-018-0269-2

Jackson, J. B., Pietrabissa, G., Rossi, A., Manzoni, G. M., & Castelnuovo, G. (2018). Brief strategic therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy for women with binge eating disorder and comorbid obesity: A randomized clinical trial one-year follow-up. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 86(8), 688-701. https://doi.org/10.1037/ccp0000313

Jackson, J. B., Steward, S. R., Roper, S. O., & Muruthi, B. A. (2018). Support group value and design for parents of children with severe or profound intellectual and developmental disabilities. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 48(12), 4207-4221. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3665-z

Jackson, J. B. (2018). The ambiguous loss of singlehood: Conceptualizing and treating singlehood ambiguous loss among never-married adults. Contemporary Family Therapy, 40(2), 210-222. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10591-018-9455-0