Predictors of increases in marital distress in the first 3 years of marriage were identified for 310 couples. Predictors for wives were low income, living with stepchildren, many rewards, few costs, and high emotional investment. Predictors for husbands were few months of living together. For both husbands and wives, few years of education and not…

A sample of 73 divorced single parents were asked to rate the severity of a variety of child-centered problems. The problems of greatest concern involved discipline, behavior problems resulting from the separation and following the ex-spouse's visit, and the lack of an available male model. (Author)

Related cognitions (ambiguity of stepfather role, optimistic perspective on stepfamilies, and myths about stepfamilies) to satisfaction with (step)parent-child relationships and family/marital/personal life in 27 mother/stepfather pairs. Compared to stepfathers, mothers had more optimistic perspective on stepfamilies, were less likely to endorse…

Single divorced parents were interviewed about the degree of conflict in the preseparation period, their children's reactions to the news of the separation, their children's present attitude toward the divorce, and their own estimation of the strengths their children had acquired as a result of adjusting to the divorce. (Author)

Evaluated the psychometric characteristics of the Children's Beliefs about Parental Divorce Scale with three nonclinic samples. Demonstrated six subscales: Peer Ridicule and Avoidance, Paternal Blame, Fear of Abandonment, Maternal Blame, Hope of Reunification, and Self-Blame. The number of problematic beliefs varied by family structure but not by…