Reviewed articles from journals in fields of family, religion, sociology, psychology, and therapy that examined both religion and the family. Review reveals pressing need for more serious theoretical and conceptual work that incorporates multidimensional approaches and is specifically designed to illuminate interrelationships between religion and…

Analyzed marital satisfaction of wives from the perspective of integrating the combined effects of preschool children, employment, social class, and marital social desirability. Rather than indicating a mild problem for all wives, the family life-cycle data actually reflected a very severe source of distress for a small group of wives. (Author/ABL)

Used data from mothers and fathers to examine patterns and levels of functioning in families of 106 first-married and 108 remarried couples. Compared with first-married group, remarried families scored significantly lower on 9 of 15 standard measures of family functioning. Patterns of functioning as assessed by relationships among 15 measures were…

Presents tabulations for remarried couple households in the June 1980 Current Population Survey. Found that in 20 percent of households maintained by married couples at least one spouse had been divorced; one-sixth of U.S. children under age 18 lived in such households. (NRB)

Used vital statistics data and census data to examine impact of women's marriage opportunities on family formation and dissolution. Linked measures of quantity/quality of potential spouses specific for woman's age, race, education, and area of residence to marriage, divorce, and nonmarital fertility rates. Greater marriage opportunities appear to…

A sample of 394 married couples is employed to test the possibility of an association between marital satisfaction and personal (attitudinal) anomie. The hypothesis is supported. Conclusions are offered relevant to anomie theory, and to utilization of marital and family phenomena as independent variables in causal explanations of nonfamily events.…

Results indicated that for each of the eight life data'' criteria considered, significant prediction was possible from the personality, motivation, or marriage role variables. (Author)

Traces family demography development in United States, summarizing findings from research since 1940. Focuses on family life cycle, historical trends, intermarriages, socioeconomic status and family stability, the marriage squeeze, international trends in marriage, health issues, cohabitation, one-parent families, gender issues, divorce, and…

Notes that U.S. children are more mobile than children in other Western countries and Japan. Explores explanations of this "excess" mobility, concluding that most likely explanation is greater family disruption and childhood poverty in U.S. Identifies average number of moves for children at successive ages and models association of selected…

Data regarding consensus and mental health were collected from 252 women, their husbands, and an adolescent child in 3-generation households. Suggests consensus is best represented by six separate constructs and mental health by three separate constructs. Mental health of individual family members was differentially predicted by indicators of…

Discusses asexual reproductive technologies (in vitro fertilization, cryopreservation, artificial insemination, sperm banks, genetic engineering, ovum transfer, cloning, ectogenesis, surrogacy) and suggests that theoretical implications of technologies may bring dramatic social changes in the family. Outlines symbolically representational…

Synthesizes and elaborates current thinking on gender perspective. Presents basic concepts, questions, and connections at each level of analysis. Uses care in marriage to illustrate perspective. Notes that, rather than ask whether women or men are more caring, gender perspective asks what conditions are necessary for women and men to care.…

Studied organization of family system among 54 couples whose oldest child was 12 months and 61 couples whose oldest child was between 24 and 66 months. Couples completed interviews, Family Ritual Questionnaire, and Dyadic Adjustment Scale. Preschool family group reported more family rituals than did infant group. Preschool families who reported…

Discusses the Social Relations Model (Kenny and LaVoie, 1984), which allows one to partition social interaction into component parts. Family interaction data are reanalyzed using the model, and the subtle influence of partners on the behavior of actors is highlighted. The strengths and limitations of the model are discussed. (JAC)

This paper suggests a reexamination of governmental involvement, and after a careful analysis of pertinent research on marriage and family support systems, proposes the creation of a cabinet-status U.S. Department of Marriage and the Family. The historical background, rationale, constitutionality, and political opportuneness of the proposed…