The self perceptions and ideal women of black and white women were slightly self achieving. White women as in previous samples said men prefer a home oriented woman. Black women, however, felt men wanted a woman balanced between home and career aspirations, and black men agreed. White men also delineated a balanced ideal woman unlike what white…

Describes free-standing post-degree training programs in marital and family therapy and focuses on the Marriage Council of Philadelphia and the Blanton Peale Graduate Institute. Such programs have continuing possibilities for flexibility and innovation in the training field. The free-standing institute is the almost complete integration of…

Describes a comprehensive doctoral training program in marriage and family therapy (MFT) at East Texas State University. Students and faculty realize the dynamic breadth and depth that MFT training gives counselor education. The need is there and marriage and family therapy education should not be ignored. (Author)

The need for pre-marital preparation and its current status is discussed. Group counseling is supported as the technique best suited to meet this need. Both the benefits and limitations of this method are noted. (Author)

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…

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)

This survey of 265 social work graduate students indicates that, although most students are committed to social work and express a strong interest in traditional social work client groups and practice, they plan to enter private practice as therapists. (Author/MLW)

Research was conducted to identify the events and experiences influencing the development of clinical self-confidence during the first year of client contact for beginning marriage and family therapists. Thirty-nine recent graduates of a master's degree training program participated in a semistructured interview in which they were asked to…

This curriculum guide contains articles from numerous experts in the field of mental health counseling. This issue includes: (1) "Therapeutic Approaches to Anxiety Disorders" (Robert L. DuPont); (2) "The Role of Nutrition in Detoxification from Drugs and Alcohol" (Jeffrey S. Bland); (3) "'Repair' vs. 'Growth' Approaches to…

This paper presents a model or framework of marital adjustment, for both the researcher and the practitioner, which provides description, explanation, and modification, i.e., ways in which the model can be changed that are theoretically connected with the description and the explanation. A typology of relationship processes is proposed which…

In Australia, the institutions of marriage and family are changing as reflected by the statistics on separation, divorce, and remarriage. Recent figures reveal an increase in divorce in the earlier years of marriage as well as a dramatic increase in the number of remarriages occuring across all age groups. Under the Family Law Act the government…

This paper outlines a family systems model for treating incestuous families and discusses strategies for working effectively with families who remain intact after disclosure or who attempt to reunite after a separation. This systems model suggests that incest results not from intrapsychic problems of the victim or the offender, but from a pattern…

This article describes a sequence of marriage and family counseling courses offered within the context of a Masters program in counselor education. Following the rationale for the courses and a general program discussion, the seven courses in the family counseling sequence are enumerated and explained, including: (1) theories of family counseling;…

A theoretical outline for an ideal or constructed type for the concept of "love" is presented. According to the definition presented, there are five basic elements or indicators which are sufficient conditions for the existence of love in its broadest sense: empathy, desire for the presence of the other, sharing, sacrifice and joy. Under…

This article describes the reactions of a small sample of college students from a Northeastern, private nonsectarian university to a marriage contract that was designed by a couple on this campus. The major reasons for writing the contract included apprehension about the pre-marital socialization system in our society, concerns regarding marital…