This article examines the four options a couple has upon reaching the conclusion that their present marriage is at an end. The options are staying together as they are "for the children", divorcing with "blame's the game", a "re-built" marriage, or a "victimless" divorce. (Author)

Studied couples' resolution of existing marital issues. Videotapes of distressed and nondistressed couples were coded by two groups. Hypothesis which were studied involve the function of metacommunication, the expression of feelings, summarizing self versus other, feeling probes, nonverbal behavior during message delivery, context differences, and…

Article discusses many factors influencing modern marriages, and some of the current approaches to marriage counseling for Black couples. Some theoretical orientations, therapies, and crisis situations are mentioned. A significant need of the field is clarification of the legitimate limitations and roles of marriage counseling. (Author/SMR)

Assessed the utility of the premarital inventory, PREPARE, in predicting marital success. Conducted a three-year follow-up study with couples (N=164) who took PREPARE during their engagement. Found that the PREPARE scores from three months before marriage could predict with 80-90% accuracy which couples were separated and divorced from those that…

Investigated the effectiveness of communication training in treating marital discord for conjoint and conjoint group modalities. Results showed that conjoint couples (N=16) improved on five of seven outcome variables, while conjoint group couples (N=13) improved on two. One-year follow-up showed substantial reduction in treatment gains. (WAS)

Investigated the usefulness of Arnold's Signs in examining marital discord among married couples (N=72) who were parents of children brought to a mental health facility seeking marital counseling, or in the process of divorce. Results revealed that the counseling group was consistently higher on all signs that reached significance. (Author/JAC)

Investigated the relative effectiveness of therapeutic components common to behavioral marital therapies: procedures designed to change behavior and attitudes, and nonspecific therapeutic effects. Ordering produced three treatment conditions--nonspecific, behavioral, and behavioral-attitudinal. The behavioral-attitudinal group showed significantly…

Marriages of respondents that ended in divorce were not as good as marriages of other couples they had known nor did the marriage meet expectations held prior to entering into the relationship. The most frequent problem was unfaithfulness. (Author)

Couples completed questionnaires designed to test assumptions of the Spouse Observation Checklist. The assumption that the checklist represents the universe of marital pleasing and displeasing events received some support. Data did not support the assumption that couples can reliably observe their own behavior. (Author)

Two marriage counseling approaches were explored: (1) couples received counseling one hour per week for an indefinite time period; (2) couples were seen two hours biweekly for five visits. Couples receiving biweekly counseling reported more satisfaction and optimism and tended to be more committed to the counseling relationship. (DS)

Studies involving couples focused on the development of a Marital Satisfaction Inventory (MSI). Correlational analyses confirm that measures of communication are the best single predictors of global marital satisfaction. Profile analyses demonstrate the ability of the MSI to discriminate between couples in therapy and a matched control group.…

If counselors can stretch themselves further to reach into the community to share knowledge with other institutions and can together set up programs to inspire greater self-esteem and self-respect, they might be able to significantly reduce the divorce rate by raising the status of singlehood. (Author)

Examined negative affect among 349 adults. Indices of salient social support and salient interpersonal stress irrespective of source were related to level of negative affective symptoms. Marital relationship was most frequently named source of support, but coworkers were named equally often as source of interpersonal stress. Marital satisfaction…

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…

Despite the increasing incidence of infidelity, little empirical evidence is available to guide the efforts of marriage and family therapists in this area. This study examines how gender, participant training, and follow-up mitigating information relate to perceptions of individuals in couple relationships presenting for therapy with a history of…