Findings indicate that wives attempt to treat husbands' alcoholism at home long before they seek professional help. Wives' strategies reflect their changing beliefs about alcoholism, about their marital relationships, and about their failure to cope. Home treatment strategies of amelioration under stress contribute to the stress as well.…

Reviews literature on marital status and well-being. Review finds little support for selection hypothesis which asserts that the relationship between marital status and well-being is spurious because emotional maturity explains both conditions. However, the evidence is consistent with protection/support hypothesis that a marital partner who…

Focuses on alcoholism in the husband/father. Disturbed personality and decompensation hypotheses were not supported by the data. Suggests systems theory alone is inadequate to conceptualize the inconsistency of the alcoholic, and his impact on the family. Proposes a combination of systems theory and Hill's (1949) crisis theory. (Author)