Fifty couples who had the most positive or negative reactions in a group of Marriage Encounter couples were interviewed. Results indicated nine couples experienced significant negative changes related to Marriage Encounter, suggesting that distressed couples who attend Marriage Encounters are susceptible to further marital deterioration.…

Investigated the relationship between participation in Marriage Encounter and subsequent marital or family distress. An analysis of 13 case reports suggested that Marriage Encounter weekends can cause marital or family deterioration through increased marital conflict, avoidance of constructive problem solving, or marital enmeshment at the expense…

Presents the second part of a cognitive model of family conflict. Proposes that high efficacy enhances persistence in family problem solving while low efficacy inhibits such efforts, and that chronic low efficacy may lead to learned helplessness responses in family members. (Author)

Examined the relationship between spouses' (N=58) attributional styles for marital problems and their negative social reinforcement in a laboratory interaction procedure. Results indicated wives who attributed other couples' marital problems to undesirable personality traits or negative attitudes were more likely to verbally criticize their…

Compared psychological well-being of men and women before and after marital separation with that of control group who remained married during same period. Prior to separation, men and women in disrupted group had lower psychological well-being scores than controls. Scores of separated women, but not men, declined even further after separation.…