Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy (IBCT) posits that emotional reactions to a partner's behavior can be as important to the relationship as the behavior itself. This study examined whether acceptance (a) is distinct from relationship sentiment, (b) mediates the link between a partner's behavioral frequency and own relationship satisfaction,…

Findings indicate that wives attempt to treat husbands' alcoholism at home long before they seek professional help. Wives' strategies reflect their changing beliefs about alcoholism, about their marital relationships, and about their failure to cope. Home treatment strategies of amelioration under stress contribute to the stress as well.…

Discusses three alternative life styles to monogamous marriage: swinging, open marriage, and group marriage. Includes brief reviews of both the critique of monogamous marriage as not fulfilling intimacy needs, and research on individuals in alternative life styles as displaying potentially normal behavior. (Author)

Presents the conceptual model underlying RELATE, a relationship evaluation instrument, and describes how this instrument can be used by instructors, clinicians, and therapists. The RELATE model contains measures of the four primary contexts of a couple's experience: the individual; the family; the culture; and the couple. Use of the instrument and…

Outlines conceptual distinction among avoidance, cooperation, and competitive conflict resolution strategies used by marital partners. Couples (N=43) were audiotaped as they discussed previous disagreements. Found the temporal aspects of speech, including turn-taking and interruptions, need to be considered in the study of couples' conflict…