Surveyed a representative sample of 3,745 adults to measure the incidence of parental child snatching. Results showed 55 respondents, or 1.5 percent of the sample, reported recent personal involvement in a child snatching incident, suggesting a projected estimate of 459,000 to 751,000 incidents of child snatching each year. (JAC)

Examined relationship between cohabitation and marital instability among U.S. women born between 1928 and 1957. Although cohabitation was generally associated with higher risks of marital dissolution, differential was much smaller (or reversed) in recent cohorts where cohabitation was more common. Association between cohabitation and marital…

Examined female employment-marital instability linkage using data from study of intact marriages in Bangkok, Thailand. Found that effects of employment per se and number of hours worked were class-linked and tended to be mediated by marital processes (spousal disagreements, marital problems, marital companionship or positive affect, and wife…

Examined whether greater instability of marriage begun by premarital cohabitation can be accounted for by cohabitors' greater unconventionality in family ideology. Hypothesis was largely unsupported. Family attitudes/beliefs did not account for differences in stability. Controlling for background differences, only serial cohabitation was…

Tested two hypotheses relative to duration of marriage in 11,559 divorcing families in northern California. Confirmed that the presence of children is associated with longer marriage duration but not that the presence of children younger than age two was associated with longer marital duration. (NRB)

Extends the study of marital disruption to include the three largest Hispanic populations, to broaden the comparative scope of the analysis. Emergence of important interaction effects suggests the sharpness of marital-instability contrasts must be interpreted in terms of the joint effects of certain demographic and socioeconomic factors.…

Examined childbearing and marital stability among women (N=825) still childless at remarriage. Found that, among White women two-thirds have a first child in the new marriage. Among Black women, only one-third begin childbearing in remarriage. Marital disruption may delay the beginning of childbearing or contribute to a childless lifestyle. (JAC)

Used data from National Survey of Families and Households to examine cohabitation. Couples who cohabited before marriage reported lower quality marriages, lower commitment to institution of marriage, more individualistic views of marriage (wives only), and greater likelihood of divorce than couples who did not cohabit. Effects were generally…

Much analysis of the correlates of divorce fails to take into account the time dependency of this event with respect to marital duration. This paper focuses explicitly on the relationship between independent variables and the timing of divorce. Results indicated a perceptual problem model better describes the relationship between various variables…

Explored the frequency of marital separations of 48 hours or more due to marital discord in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, residents (N=1,101). Results indicated one in six couples is likely to separate at some point in their relationship. Income and children account for much of the variation between race, sex, and separations. (Author/BL)

Explores variation between first marriages and remarriages in the incidence of spouse abuse. Experiences of individuals prior to remarriage account for higher rates of spouse abuse in remarried families, regardless of complexity, than in intact, never-divorced families. (Author/ABL)

Investigated three types of extramarital relations in married and cohabiting subjects (N=378): (1) emotional (in love) but not sexual (intercourse); (2) sexual but not emotional; and (3) emotional and sexual. Results showed that 43 percent of the subjects indicated having at least one of the defined extradyadic relations. (LLL)

Estimates the effects of welfare on marital dissolution and remarriage. Data from females indicated that those who received AFDC, food stamps, or other public assistance dissolved their marriages more frequently than those not receiving welfare. The relationship between welfare and marital dissolution decreased somewhat as duration of marriage…

Examined prevalence and determinants of stable unhappy marriage using data from national survey. Results indicated age, lack of prior marital experience, commitment to marriage as an institution, low social activity, lack of control over one's life, and belief that divorce would detract from happiness were all predictive of stability in unhappy…

Examined effects of marital disruption on children's behavior. Disruption was associated with a higher incidence of several behavior problems, negative effects being greatest with multiple marital transitions. The negative effects are lower if the child lives with the same-sex parent following divorce or maintains a good relationship with one or…