This study sought to assess the effectiveness of a marital distress prevention program for couples by examining how marital quality, especially marital competencies such as dyadic coping, could be improved by means of a prevention program focusing on the enhancement of coping resources (Couples Coping Enhancement Training). The study consisted of…

Objective: To determine the independent effects of parental depression and family discord on offspring psychopathology among children at high and low risk of depression. Method: Family discord factors were assessed when subjects were approximately 17 years old, and offspring diagnoses were assessed about 20 years later. Parental and offspring…

A number of factors came together in the 1970s to create a social problem called "battered wives". Then, beginning in 1977, there was an attempt to create a social problem called "battered husbands." So far, such attempts have been unsuccessful. This analysis compares the issue of battered husbands and battered wives to…

Explores the extent to which state divorce laws have an independent effect on divorce rates. Two findings, using regression analysis, are (1) a strong relationship exists between permissiveness of divorce laws and divorce rates; (2) the relationship remains when effects of variations in economic development and social costs are controlled. (Author)

The Parental Attitude Research Instrument (PARI) was administered to 34 wives of nuclear submarine personnel under counterbalanced conditions of father presence and absence. Significant differences were found on seven subscales as a function of the father's status. (Author/SDH)

This document contains papers from a conference which targeted the needs and interests of counselors working with families. Individual papers in the book include: (1) "Economic, Social and Political Influences on Families" (Lynda Henley Walters); (2) "Family Structures and Stresses: A Counseling Perspective" (Edwin Herr); (3) "Cultural Diversity…

Divorce and remarriage may pose special problems for the grandparent-child-grandchild relationship. The kinship relationships after divorce have not been institutionalized; there are not generally accepted forms of behavior. To examine the role of grandmothers in the divorce of their children, 50 parent-grandmother pairs were interviewed. The…

The effects of early childbearing on a woman's later social and economic status are examined in this paper. Previous research has documented an association of early motherhood with lower educational attainment, marital instability, higher subsequent fertility, and later economic poverty. However, these associations have not been tested in…

Men and women were randomly chosen from courthouse divorce files. After initial contact by mail and by phone, those who agreed were mailed questionnaires developed to assess adjustment to divorce and to obtain information about the nature of divorce. Of those sent questionnaires, 44% completed and returned the assessment; the total sample…

Deserting fathers are often the victims of a society which is frustrated, ignorant and failing in its provision of sound family policy. A study of the impact of the criminal justice system on deserting nonsupporting fathers in relation to the fulfillment of their roles as providers indicates that these individuals need assistance in coping with…

Data collected from 161 married couples were analyzed for communication patterns indicative of "domineeringness" and "transactional redundancy" (the degree of randomness contained within a couple's communicative behavior). From this data came the following observations: There is a negative correlation between domineeringness, particularly by the…

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)

Utilizing data from 1970 National Fertility Survey, this paper compares levels of marital homogamy--in age, education and religious identification--of women in their first marriages and women in second marriages, also in previous marriages of twice-wed women. Twice-wed women experience low homogamy in current and first marriages. (Author)

A theory of marital dissolution was developed utilizing the inductive method of grounded theory construction. Approximately 1,300 propositions from the research literature were organized into 20 dynamic and structural categories, yielding a theory that predicts marital dissolution as a combination of cultural, societal, dyadic, and individual…