Compared personality characteristics of couples in alcoholic and nonalcoholic marriages. Couples in which one spouse was alcoholic showed fewer personality interrelationships than nonalcoholic couples, raising questions about the hypothesis that alcoholic marriage partners complement each other. Alcoholic and nonalcoholic males differed…

A sweeping panoramic overview of the broad field of marriage counseling, this paper gives attention to some of the major problems and issues it faces and offers a suggestion concerning coordination and cooperation. (Author)

Presents analyses of data from the National Comorbidity Survey to assess the extent to which problems within marriage spill over to produce work loss. Results indicate that marital distress is positively associated with work loss. Suggests family interventions targeted at prevention of marital problems may result in important psychosocial and…

For mysterious reasons only a small proportion of couples with relationship problems seek counseling. This qualitative study included 36 women and 16 men in structured small group discussions. Questions concerned attitudes to relationship counseling. Both groups expressed denial of the problems in the relationship, the seriousness of these…

Examined how spousal behaviors related to global and daily marital satisfaction. Eighty-two couples completed daily checklists of spousal behaviors for seven days using an individualized or a standardized assessment method. Daily behavioral event measures were significantly related to global and daily measures of marital satisfaction,…

Describes a cognitive-behavioral model for treating couples' negative reactions to infertility. After a discussion of why the cognitive-behavioral approach can competently address the goals of couples coping with infertility, three phases of treatment are outlined: assessment, therapy, and closure. Areas for assessment include spouses, marital…

The Inventory of Pre-Marital Conflict (IPMC) is a systematic procedure for the diagnosis and assessment of pre-marital conflict and related issues. The self-report component of the IPMC involves a series of 18 hypothetical conflict situations. The individual responds to each of these by evaluating who is primarily responsible for the problem, and…

Involved a 10-year review of the major marriage and family therapy related journals for articles involving racial and ethnic minorities. Despite an awareness of the importance of such scholarship, fewer than 5% of published articles focused on racial and ethnic minority populations and issues. Provides a benchmark against which future publication…

Examined marital and child factors in predicting divorce potential and divorce occurrence. Participants included 140 adolescents and their parents. For both parents, lower levels of marital satisfaction predicted higher levels of divorce potential. In turn, divorce potential predicted greater likelihood for divorce up to seven years later. No…