Reports the situational and psychological reasons why parents have just one child. The situational reasons include biological factors and marital stability. Psychological reasons concern factors in the decision-making process that lead individuals to have an only child. (Author/MA)

The author examines seven myths, such as: divorce is preferable to an unhappy home; children anticipate divorce; turmoil ends with separation; and divorce damages children. She concludes that divorce initiates a prolonged and often difficult transition for children, which may benefit or harm them depending on how parents handle it. (SJL)

Reviews the literature on the role of family distress in the treatment of children's behavior disorders. Describes a system for integrating marital- and child-focused treatments and makes suggestions for improving the design of studies assessing the impact of contextual factors on parent-child interaction. (FMW)

Lifestyles of parents of autistic children were assessed through volunteer participation in a telephone survey, and comparisons were made between responses of mothers (N=21) and fathers (N=12). Almost half of the fathers contacted did not answer the survey. The study examined a variety of therapy-related and demographic variables, including…