Examined factors influencing the decisions of 251 battered women to leave their partners. Results showed women who left had had shorter relationships and were more likely employed and non-White. Women who stayed with their assailants cited love, economic hardship, and belief the abuser would change as reasons. (JAC)

Tested Lewis and Spanier's theory of marital quality and marital stability using a sample of 131 married and 166 divorced social survey respondents. Examined the relationship between the quality and stability of their marriages and assessed the influence of alternative attractions and external pressures to remain married. (JAC)

This study examines relationships between measures of empathy, communication, and marital adjustment and seeks information descriptive of the nature of empathy and of communication of maritally adjusted and maritally maladjusted couples. (CT)

Examined simultaneous effects of multiple indicators of wife's employment on marital disruption for women (N=1,798) who first married between 1968 and 1982. Results indicated the rate and timing of marital disruption was negatively related to wife's income and positively related to number of hours worked per week and amount of premarital work…

Used data from National Longitudinal Surveys to investigate patterns and determinants of marital dissolution for first marriages. Found that risk of marital instability was highest among couples with heterogamous education and nontraditional employment patterns. Couples who equalized their original education and conventionalized employment status…

Sixty marital dyads completed Dyadic Adjustment Scale and participated in problem discussions while using communication box. Intent ratings of distressed wives were significantly more negative than those provided by distressed husbands or by nondistressed wives. Distressed wives predicted that impact of their messages would be more negative than…

Tested effects of 3 religious homogamy types (denominational affiliation, church attendance, and Bible belief) upon marital satisfaction and stability using national probability sample of adults in over 6,000 households. Found denominational affiliation most critical although church attendance contributed only slightly to marital success. Found no…

Assessed intrapersonal distress and impact of diabetes and vision impairment on marital functioning. Found significant degrees of intrapersonal distress and compromised family functioning. Of 18 subjects in committed relationship at onset of vision impairment, 9 later separated. Totally blind subjects were at greater risk for separation than were…

We use data from the Current Population Survey to investigate racial differences in recent patterns of marital disruption. Although a leveling in the trend of disruption has occurred for White women since 1980, our results suggest less stabilization in rates of disruption among Black women. We also observe significant differences by race in the…

Using data from the June 1980 Current Population Survey, Morgan, Lye, and Condran 1988 reported that families with a daughter have a higher divorce risk than families with a son. They attribute this finding to the higher involvement of fathers in raising a son, which in turn promotes marital stability. We investigate the relation between gender…

We draw on three waves of the Fragile Families Study (N = 2,249) to examine family stability among a recent birth cohort of children. We find that children born to cohabiting versus married parents have over five times the risk of experiencing their parents' separation. This difference in union stability is greatest for White children, as compared…

Cohabiting couples and couples who cohabit prior to marriage have less stable relationships than married couples who did not cohabit, and these differences in stability may be linked to different processes within the relationships. This research examines the similarity of partners' beliefs about the division of household labor using the National…

Numerous studies have asserted the prevalence of marital conflict among families of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but evidence is surprisingly less convincing regarding whether parents of youths with ADHD are more at risk for divorce than are parents of children without ADHD. Using survival analyses, the authors…

This study examined the relationships between alcohol abuse and spousal violence for 96 women in alcoholism treatment as compared to these comparison groups: 78 women receiving mental health treatment; 98 women receiving services for family violence; 91 women from a random sample of households; and 100 women in a driver education program following…

Family-related conflict has been a central focus of theory as well as research on adolescent development, both with respect to the characteristics of nature of conflict and the influence it has on adaptational outcomes. Conflict in families of adolescents was studied by examining three characteristics of family conflict (locus, content, and…