Marital conflict was examined as a predictor of the quality and quantity of sleep in a sample of healthy 8 to 9 year-olds. Parents and children reported on marital conflict, the quantity and quality of children's sleep were examined through an actigraph worn for 7 consecutive nights, and child sleepiness was derived from child and mother reports.…

This study examined direct and indirect associations between overt and covert interparental conflict (IPC), parent-child conflict, and their links to youth problem behaviors. Data were collected from a sample of 641 school-age youth, ages 12 to 18 years, using a school-based survey. Analyses yielded direct positive linkages from overt IPC to…

This article uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Cohort Mother-Child files to explore the idea that child well-being can be improved by encouraging and enhancing parental marriage. I consider how children's living arrangements, the stability of parental marriages, and changes in living arrangements are related to…

The author investigated the acute effects of alcohol intoxication on anger experience and expression among 46 maritally violent (MV) and 56 maritally nonviolent (NV) men randomly assigned to receive alcohol, placebo, or no alcohol. Participants completed an anger-arousing articulated thoughts in simulated situations (ATSS) paradigm and imagined…

Tested two hypotheses relative to duration of marriage in 11,559 divorcing families in northern California. Confirmed that the presence of children is associated with longer marriage duration but not that the presence of children younger than age two was associated with longer marital duration. (NRB)

Extends the study of marital disruption to include the three largest Hispanic populations, to broaden the comparative scope of the analysis. Emergence of important interaction effects suggests the sharpness of marital-instability contrasts must be interpreted in terms of the joint effects of certain demographic and socioeconomic factors.…

Examined childbearing and marital stability among women (N=825) still childless at remarriage. Found that, among White women two-thirds have a first child in the new marriage. Among Black women, only one-third begin childbearing in remarriage. Marital disruption may delay the beginning of childbearing or contribute to a childless lifestyle. (JAC)

It is apparent that many adults do not want the job of parenthood, yet they are socially pressured to have children. (MM)

Examines the role of premarital cohabitation as a determinant of cohabitation after marital disruption. The author proposed that people who cohabitated prior to first marriage were more likely to cohabitate after marital disruption than those who did not. It was found that the hazard rate of postmarital cohabitation was over 50% higher for…

Used data from National Survey of Families and Households to examine cohabitation. Couples who cohabited before marriage reported lower quality marriages, lower commitment to institution of marriage, more individualistic views of marriage (wives only), and greater likelihood of divorce than couples who did not cohabit. Effects were generally…

Studied 73 couples twice 4 years apart. Proposed typology of five groups of couples (validators, volatiles, avoiders, hostile, and hostile/detached) based on observational data of Time 1 resolution of conflict, specific affects, and affect sequences. Over four years, groups differed significantly in serious consideration of divorce and in…

Used United Nations cross-national data to examine the relationship between low sex ratio, marital opportunity, and teen pregnancy. Geographical region, per capita gross national product, marital rate, and urban and rural status were used as control variables in analyses that utilized sex ratios to predict teen births. Overall, early childbearing…

This study examined the interplay between interparental conflict and child cortisol reactivity to interparental conflict in predicting child maladjustment in a sample of 178 families and their kindergarten children. Consistent with the allostatic load hypothesis (McEwen & Stellar, 1993), results indicated that interparental conflict was…

Two studies investigated associations between family instability (changes in parents' intimate partners, work hours, residence, children's schools) and adolescent adjustment. In Study 1 (N = 141, M age = 15.23 years), instability was associated with increased caregiver-reported externalizing and internalizing behaviors (including youth-reported…