Although marriage and family therapists are being called on to help at-risk families, some say that clinicians have insufficient knowledge about the impact of policies on families involved in the foster care system. The purpose of this qualitative investigation was to identify how the Adoption and Safe Families Act informs decision making, to…

This study investigated the direct and indirect effects of marriage and family therapy trainees' perceptions of their supervisors' multicultural competence in supervision on the supervisory working alliance, trainees' multicultural competence (case conceptualization abilities in etiology and treatment), and perceived supervision satisfaction. Path…

There has been little research on intimate partner violence (IPV) in faith-based communities. This qualitative study examines social attitudes and religious values in an Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community that affect the incidence of IPV and prevent women survivors from seeking help. Interviews were conducted with 8 Orthodox women and 11 community…

This literature review examined the relationship between depression and marital interaction patterns in marriages where one spouse is depressed. The social exchange process between the depressed individual and the spouse is dysfunctional in comparison to the processes in non-depressed couples and may be responsible for the maintenance of…

The role of cognitions in marital relationships has received increasing attention. Specific beliefs about marital relationships have shown consistent correlations with overall marital satisfaction. As a measure of dysfunctional beliefs about intimate relationships, the Relationship Belief Inventory provides five dysfunctional beliefs scores. This…

The spouses were counseled jointly with a cognitive approach and separately with behavior modification techniques for the husband's obesity and the wife's lack of affective verbalization. After eight weeks, the husband had lost thirty pounds and the wife's affective language had increased markedly. (Author)

The author focuses on the needs that married couples try to satisfy at the level of nonconsciousness and which, as a rule, produce problems at the cognitive and behavioral levels. Suggestions for the marital therapist are included. (Author)

This paper presents rationale, methodology, and implications for using action plans to facilitate behavior modification of college students in marriage education courses. Case studies are given as illustration of how action plans may be implemented. (Author)

The authors propose the utilization of IDENTICOM as a mechanism for alleviating marital difficulties within the family unit. IDENTICOM is based on a combination of a behavioral and phenomenological model, using video tapes. (Author)

The courtship contracts serve as conceptual frames of reference to understand the normative structure and the psychodynamic components in distress. The contract established during courtship is explored in order to develop, during the time of marital crisis, explicitly negotiated standards. The goal is to re-educate the spouses to meet each others'…

The Conflict Tactics Scale questionnaire on marital violence was administered to 29 alcoholics and their wives at entry to, and 1 year after, completing a behavioral marital therapy (BMT) treatment program. In the year prior to BMT, prevalence rates of any violent act, of minor to moderate violent acts, and of severe violent acts were five to six…

The Guilford-Zimmerman Temperament Survey (GZTS) has been described as one of the most widely used tests in marriage counseling. The GZTS was administered to 61 couples when they entered marriage counseling between 1980 and 1985. When counseling ended, couples were divided into three groups--married and together after counseling (MT); married but…

This information analysis paper is based on a computer search of the ERIC database from November 1966 through March 1984, and on pertinent outside resources related to marriage and family counseling. A brief historical perspective of the field of marriage and family counseling is provided, and the differences and overlaps between family,…

Individual marital therapy (IMT) is therapy in which one or both spouses are treated separately by different therapists who do not communicate with each other about treatment. Gurman and Kniskern (1978) reported an improvement rate of 48% and a deterioration rate of 11.6% for nonbehavioral IMT. These outcome data and the conclusions drawn from…

The increasing popularity of contracting and negotiation training with marital couples suggests a need for systematic analysis of the models available for such training. Working within a behavioral framework two major categories of contracting are developed, and their logical form is considered. (Author)