Variation in marital ideologies was tested with a probability sample of 182 wives living in a medium-size city in the midwest. Expressive elements in marriage were particularly salient among the young while economic elements were most emphasized among the old and poorly educated. (Author)

Identified six types of very long-term marriages: stable/positive, stable/neutral, stable/negative, curvilinear, continuous decline, and continuous increase. Case records of 17 marriages lasting between 50 and 69 years revealed that nearly 75 percent of the marriages showed either curvilinear or stable/positive patterns. Found no continuous…

Examined reciprocal relationship between marital interaction and marital happiness with three-wave panel study of national sample of married persons. Overall findings support hypothesis that there exists positive reciprocal relationship between marital interaction and marital happiness, particularly demonstrating important role of marital…

Examined role of interactive processes (nonconsensus, cognitive processes, expressive processes) in predicting physical aggression while dating using national representative sample of 250 young, never-married persons who date. Found that dating aggression had less to do with individuals' background characteristics and more to do with interaction…

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.…

Compared helping interactions of partners in close relationships and of strangers. Participants (N=92) from 46 couples completed semistructured helping tasks with their partner and with an opposite-sex stranger. Partners were less empathic and used fewer acknowledgements and more behavioral advisements, interpretations, and self-disclosures than…

Derives an empirically based classification system of marital relationships, employing a multidimensional self-report measure of marital interaction. Spouses' profiles on the Marital Satisfaction Inventory for samples of clinic and nonclinic couples were subjected to cluster analysis, resulting in separate five-group typologies for husbands and…

Examined factors in the decisions of 98 battered women to leave or remain in an abusive relationship. Results showed that both economic dependence and psychological commitment were significantly, and independently, related to the decision, and results held for both objective and subjective measures. (JAC)

Analyzed relational control behaviors and interaction patterns of 51 couples representing marital life span. Identified three distinct phases of development: short-term couples relied heavily on "equivalence" acts; intermediate couples were more likely to "structure the conversation" but avoided competing for control; and long-term couples relied…

Examined how women cope with physical and emotional abuse while remaining with their abusive partners. Of 130 women who had experienced conflict or violence in close heterosexual relationship, 44 were still involved in abusive relationship. Findings suggest that women who stay with abusive partners employ cognitive strategies that help them…

Examined postdivorce relationships between ex-spouses, using survey data from 265 respondents from couples who had been divorced for 2 to 2.5 years. One-half of respondents had at least monthly contact with ex-spouses; contact was friendlier and quarreling less frequent for those without children than for those with children. (Author/ABL)

Examined data from national probability sample of individuals (n=244) who date to investigate thesis that individuals act to increase their level of control over others in those stages of dating relationships where control over situation has been threatened or disturbed by others either because of high conflict or lack of perspective taking.…

Spousal consensus on 12 different topics is examined. Amount and direction of the influence of these factors (structure, cohesion and stress) thought to account for consensus are evaluated. Interviews with 321 urban couples provided the data for analysis. (Author)

Examined from a social exchange perspective, the interaction between several indicators of relational interdependence and relational commitment in married individuals. Results indicated that a high level of interdependence positively covaried with commitment. Perceived equity in the distribution of outcomes accounted for the largest percentage of…

A longitudinal analysis of 91 dating couples is utilized as an initial test of a developmental framework generated to account for premarital dyadic formation (PDF). The longitudinal test accounts for the dissolution and the continuance of dyads as outcomes of the degree to which the couples had earlier achieved PDF in five or six pair processes.…