Understanding characteristics specific to alcoholics' marriages could help therapists to more effectively address the needs of alcoholic clients. To identify some of these characteristics, 26 married couples with an alcoholic husband (ALC) were compared with 26 maritally-conficted (MC) and 26 nonconflicted (NC) couples without alcohol problems.…

It was hypothesized that unhappily married couples would show a deficit in problem solving by indicating significantly more unresolved problems and would indicate less involvement with one another in both elective free-time activities and shared sexuality. All hypotheses were confirmed. (Author)

The Response to Conflict Scale, a 24-item measure of maladaptive responses to marital conflict, was evaluated psychometrically with 420 couples. The inventory showed high internal consistency, test-retest reliability, construct and discriminant validity, and classification efficiency. Clinical utility is discussed. (SLD)

Behavioral and perceptual differences among maritally distressed and nondistressed husbands and wives were investigated. Distressed couples beginning marital therapy and nondistressed couples solicited through community newspapers comprised the criterion groups which were matched for major demographic variables. Couples first enacted and then…