Data from the first year's operation (August 1, 1977 - July 31, 1978) of the Vernon Transition House, Vernon, British Columbia, Canada indicate that wife battering is a serious problem. Wife battering is not related to age or cultural background, but spans all ages, cultures, and income levels. Use and abuse of alcohol play major roles in family…

Examined husbands' and wives' perceptions of parents' relationships with shared and unshared children, and spousal differences in these perceptions, in first married and remarried families. Found significant differences in parental relations with "his,""hers," and "their" children, and in parental perceptions of these…

Like the family, the schools may be viewed as a self-contained social system with a unique organization and unique patterns of expectations that are binding on its members. The article reviews why it is becoming increasingly difficult for the school to stand in as surrogate for the family. (MH)

This working paper discusses the effects of recent legislative changes regarding divorce in Australia. The introduction describes the 1975 Family Law Act and gives a summary of its principles. The second section presents background information to the Act and lists the philosophical principles behind its formation. The third section describes…

Describes a project designed to reach low-income, multiproblem families, utilizing couples therapy in the home. Reviews major characteristics of multiproblem families. Emphasized therapeutic techniques based on modeling, role playing, and demonstration. Designed tasks which increased the individual and couple functioning of spouses. Reinforced…

A study was conducted of the effectiveness of marriage counseling with respect to marital status and the long-term stability of relationships. Data were gathered from clients of approved Australian marriage counseling agencies (n=540) who took a pre-counseling survey during a 4-week period in October-November 1987 and a post-counseling survey 8…

Assessed socioeconomic determinants and probability of marital dissolution at five-year intervals for first legal and consensual marriages in Puerto Rico. Determined probability of dissolution was decreased by young children, wives' religious participation, and higher marital age; increased by wives' labor force participation, urban living, and…

To estimate the influence of maternal stress, marital conflict, and psychosocial risk on the interaction between mothers and their children, this study observed 97 mother-child pairs in a laboratory setting in the presence of another unfamiliar mother-child pair. All families were francophone families from the Montreal, Canada, region; children…

This study examines changes in parents' marriages following older-child adoption, using in-depth interviews with seven couples prior to and following placement. The interviews indicated that parents' experiences followed similar patterns. Children's acting-out behavior and their ability to exploit parents' vulnerabilities placed stress on the…

Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine which factors best predict parental use of single versus multiple types of violence. Methodology: The study uses data from a Quebec telephone survey conducted with a representative sample of 2,469 mothers of children aged 0-17 years. The interview covered topics such as mother's attitudes and…

Background: This study examined the impact of family transitions, that is, parental separation, divorce, remarriage and death, upon the lives of Australian children and adolescents in a longitudinal study of temperament and development. Methods: Using longitudinal and concurrent questionnaire data, outcomes for young people experiencing…

Addressing a gap in process-oriented understanding of relations between marital conflict and children's adjustment, propositions of the emotional security hypothesis from a family-wide perspective were tested in a longitudinal research design. Participants were 181 families and their 11-12 year-old-child (115 boys, 76 girls) living in Wales, in…

Second in a series of seven volumes containing the proceedings of the 1983 Australian Family Research Conference, this publication deals with family law. Papers and authors included are: "Attitudes of Divorced Men and Women to the Family" (Margaret Harrison), "Dispute Resolution in Australian Family Law" (Henry Finlay),…

Background: The clinical profile of depressive disorder in children and young people in Child Adolescent and Family Services (CAFS), Northampton was studied. Methods: Twenty-five patients who had attended the CAFS over a period of 2 years were analysed retrospectively. Results: The age range of subjects was 8 to 19 years. Majority of patients were…

Counselors should begin to think not only of the needs of children involved in the process of their parents' divorce, but of an approach to marriage counseling as a whole. Children participate in the context of divorce as family members in the social interaction that makes a family work or not work; there are, therefore, various stages or points…