Study contrasts male-female behavior in official initiation and completion of divorce proceedings before and after implementation of "no-fault" divorce law. Passage of no-fault law was followed by reversal in male and female filing and completion patterns, with males filing and completing more frequently under "no-fault"…

Examined the negative impact of economic hardship on a spouse's marital instability in White, middle-class couples (N=76). The results indicated economic pressures had an indirect association with married couples' evaluation of the marriage by promoting hostility in marital interactions and curtailing the warm and supportive behaviors spouses…

Using questionnaires administered to 566 unmarried students at the University of South Carolina, a comparison was made between reported premarital sexual behavior and projected extramarital sexual behavior. Individuals who were premaritally sexually active were found more likely to project that they would be extramaritally sexually involved.…

Compared interactions of 11 dissatisfied and 11 satisfied couples on basis of trained observers' ratings of spouses' behavior through time on 3 scales: withdrawn/involved, hostile/friendly, and displeasure/pleasure. Dissatisfied coupled evidenced significantly lower mean ratings of hostility and displeasure, but no differences in withdrawal.…

The proposition that age at first marriage is inversely related to the risk of divorce was examined by means of detailed age-duration-specific divorce rates for California 1969. A strong inverse relationship was found for male ages at marriage 18 through 25 and female ages at marriage 16 through 24. (Author)

Marital adjustment over the family life cycle is reexamined using data from probability samples of married couples studied in coordinated research projects in three different states--Iowa, Ohio, and Georgia. (Author)

Childbirth during marital disruption is found to be a surprisingly frequent occurrence. Both prevalence of intermarital fertility and social policy issues which are involved suggest this phenomenon may be similar in importance to illegitimacy. (Author)