Couples whose early wounds cause narcissistic and borderline defenses may benefit from treatment with a psychodynamically oriented couples therapist. This article presents a treatment method that helps partners become attuned to each other's underlying injuries and vulnerabilities. The goal is to rebuild damaged structures of the self and to…

Finding a qualified marriage and family therapist that the couple or family will be comfortable with requires some effort on the part of the consumer. There are many people out there who advertise themselves as marriage counselors or family therapists but do not have the credentials. The client must shop around, interview prospective therapists,…

Empirical research on behavioral marital therapy (BMT) was reviewed and it was concluded that BMT, with its emphasis on working on a strictly behavioral level with married couples, was an effective form of therapy. Six component analysis studies were then examined which showed a general trend in the studies indicating that strictly behavioral…

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…

Offers an overview of couples' complaint behavior by describing complaint types, response types, complaint-response sequencing, and the environment in which such complaining occurs. Examines differences in reported complaint behavior between males and females and between satisfied and dissatisfied couples. (RAE)

Investigated the interactions of married couples at play with infant sons and daughters. Found that maritally distressed parents of boys more commonly displayed hostile-competitive coparenting behavior, whereas distressed parents of girls were more likely to show discrepant levels of parenting involvement. Findings also indicate the importance of…

A case study of Relationship Enhancement (RE) therapy with a couple, in which the woman was identified as having vaginismus, is presented including excerpts of transcripts from the therapy sessions. RE's effectiveness at improving communication skills and providing structure in which the couple could discuss the intimate issues affecting the…

Compared a sample of spouses of workaholics and spouses of nonworkaholics on ratings of marital estrangement, positive feelings toward husband, and locus of control. Spouses of workaholics reported greater marital estrangement and less positive affect towards husbands and higher external locus of control than did spouses of nonworkaholics. (BF)

The current study evaluated Couple CARE, a flexible delivery relationship education program. Fifty-nine couples were randomly assigned to either Couple CARE or a control condition and assessed on relationship self-regulation, satisfaction and stability, and communication. Retention, engagement, and satisfaction with the program were all high. As…

Sixty married couples participated in a study of the effects of husbands' gender role conflict on outcomes for wives. Hypothesized relationships between husbands' gender role conflict and wives' marital adjustment and depressive symptoms were supported. Hostile and dominant behaviors were recorded by outside raters viewing videotaped segments of…

Longitudinal research has shown that communication deficits (negative interaction) precede the development of relationship distress. To investigate the antecedents of relationship stability and adjustment 31 couples who were seriously considering marriage participated in a longitudinal study. The couples initially completed the Marital Inventories…

Assessments of marital interaction during conflict resolution obtained when children were five-years-old predicted teachers' ratings of children's internalizing and externalizing behaviors when the children were eight-years-old. In particular, the "Mutually Hostile" marital interaction pattern correlated with later marital dissolution…

Among 1,243 adults nationwide, individuals who experienced parental divorce as children scored lower than those from happily intact families of origin on measures of psychological, social, and marital well-being. Multiple parental divorces and divorces involving deterioration of parent-child relations appeared particularly problematic. Contains 39…

Examined whether links between marital relations and six- to nine-year olds' adjustment were mediated by children's emotional security. Latent variable path analysis results supported theoretical pathway whereby marital dysfunction was linked with adjustment problems as mediated by emotional insecurity regarding parental conflicts. Emotional…

Study examined the effect of triangulation on depression in children. Clinical samples and nonclinical samples were taken from Utah and Illinois. Results showed children's depressive symptoms to be most strongly linked to the father's level of marital satisfaction, marital stability, and perceived family triangulation. Mothers' variables did not…