This study charted the longitudinal trajectories of wives' and husbands' reports of marital love, satisfaction, and conflict and explored whether and how first- and second-born offspring's pubertal development was related to marital changes. Data were drawn from the first 7 years of a longitudinal study of family relationships. Participants…

The Children-of-Twins design was used to test whether associations between marital conflict frequency and conduct problems can be replicated within the children of discordant twin pairs. A sample of 2,051 children (age 14-39 years) of 1,045 twins was used to estimate the genetic and environmental influences on marital conflict and determine…

To begin to understand the role that family relationships and interactions play in young gay men's decisions to avoid unsafe sexual practices, parents and sons (ages 16 to 25) in 30 families were qualitatively interviewed about issues and concerns related to HIV risk. Most of the youths reported feeling obliged to their parents to stay healthy,…

This study investigates gender differences in the associations between social characteristics and men's and women's reports of which spouse initiated marital separation. Using retrospective data on 9,147 first marriages from the Household Income and Labor Dynamics in Australia survey (2001), we find that some social characteristics differentiated…

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…

Early adolescents' (11-14 years) responses to marital hostility were examined in a sample of 416 families. The cognitive-contextual perspective and emotional security hypothesis guided the study and 9 adolescent responses were identified. Prospective associations were examined in several structural equation models that included adolescent problems…

We use data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and the Adolescent Health and Academic Achievement Study to estimate how parents' union dissolution influences changes in adolescents' mathematics course work gains, overall grade point average, and course failure rates during a window of approximately 1 year (N = 2,629). A…

Research consistently shows that children exposed to interparental conflict are at-risk for experiencing psychopathology. Establishing a link, however, between interparental conflict and maladjustment is not the same as understanding "how" specific outcomes manifest. Therefore, we examined the relation of interparental conflict and appraisal with…

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)

It is apparent that many adults do not want the job of parenthood, yet they are socially pressured to have children. (MM)