Supported the hypotheses that blaming one's spouse for marital problems is negatively associated with marital satisfaction and perceived personal control over conflicts is positively associated with marital satisfaction. The wife's satisfaction was found to be related to her perception of both husband's and wife's contributions. (Author)

Investigates the differential adjustment of men and women during the process of marital separation. Prior to separation, women reported significantly more severe psychological symptoms. During the early postseparation period, men reported significantly more severe symptoms. A brief self-report measure of psychopathology is described. (Author)

Couples (N=50) were interviewed conjointly, and spouses were rated separately on a 61-item checklist to demonstrate the actuarial validity of the marital satisfaction inventory. Findings supported the basic interpretive intent of individual scales and demonstrated convergent validity. (Author)

Described a psychological autopsy analyzing deaths modified for analyzing marriage and separation. This interview and investigation technique was administered to a pilot sample of divorced, married, and unmarried adults. Significant differences were found between the groups on four of the six measured variables. (RC)

Negative affect and negative affect reciprocity appear to be robust properties of marital interaction, and they also have been found to discriminate satisfied from dissatisfied marriages. There is more evidence of consistency across tasks using sequential rather than nonsequential variables. (Author)

Concepts associated with divorce, family, and self were rated. The observed conceptual/attitudinal changes indicate that a so-called didactic-educational course may have an impact over and beyond the mere acquisition of factual information. (Author)

Among women divorcing before age 25, being childless increased the likelihood of remarriage; among women divorcing at 35 or older, having no children decreased it. For women divorcing at age 25 to 34, there was no effect. (Author)

Fifty-five couples served in the study using a between-subjects design, additional response measures, and additional positive communication training. The reciprocity counseling produced significantly more improvement than the discussion-type counseling for the three marital adjustment measures after four sessions. (Author)

Data were collected from 20 couples with satisfactory marriages and 20 maritally dysfunctional nonviolent couples to evaluate characteristics associated with wife abuse. Abusive husbands were less assertive, abusive to children, and witnesses to parental spouse abuse; they were also likely to be conservative and alcoholics. (Author/RC)

To investigate the validity of three methods of dealing with anger--calm, rational discussion, "fair fighting," and sharing of hurt and of fear of hurt--two studies were performed. Results suggest that intimacy may be found in sharing of hurt feelings. (Author)

Single suicides and married suicides with dependent children were compared to similar groups in the general population. Married people with dependent children experienced the lowest average suicide rate, but had a larger mean number of children than the population as a whole. (Author)

Explores how global and political issues affect microsystems like the marital unit. A variety of interactional patterns emerged in the observation of 30 couples marital interactions during a prolonged stressful situation. Couples reporting a deterioration of their relationship had more disagreements regarding the meaning of a peace process and its…

Explores some of the methodological issues which arose during an investigation into experiences of bereaved parents. Notes the values of ethnographic approaches in researching intimate and painful experiences and argues that parents' stories about their children's lives are central to processes of identity reconstruction during grief. (RJM)

Analyzed rules for public and private marital conflicts determined by married couples (N=32) after viewing their videotaped, simulated public and private conflicts. Analyzed rating of rules (how often followed, importance, applicability to different relationships/situations) by married people (N=194). Found five factors influencing rule selection:…

Explored effects of marital conflict, family coalition type, and student gender on psychological separation and college adjustment among 554 college students whose parents were married and living together. Students from maritally-distressed families reported significantly lower conflictual independence from both parents and significantly lower…