Past research suggests that commitment to one's marriage is a variable which should be a contributing factor to marital satisfaction and the process of marital therapy. To examine the predictive utility of commitment, the relationship between commitment to marriage at the onset of therapy and changes during therapy was examined for a sample of 42…

Assessed the interaction and cognitive styles associated with negative affect for husbands and wives. Wives' negative affect was directly related to confronting the problem and inversely related to their conciliation attempts. Husbands' negative affect was inversely related to both spouses' attempts to be conciliatory and to the wives' viewing the…

If the selection of a spouse is based on the unconscious wish to correct disturbances which previously existed in the parent child relationship, the marriage is threatened from the start. This article examines motivations derived from early developmental phases which form convictions which later become the nucleus for mate choice. (Author/CJ)

Developed scale for each sex to measure defensiveness about the marital relationship and to measure defensiveness about the sexual relationship of couples. Presents evidence to support that these content specific scales surpass a global defensiveness scale as a measure of defensiveness regarding couples' sexual or marital relationship. (Author)

Followed a sample of young, married couples who recorded daily their housework tasks and levels of stress. Results showed that stress inside and outside the home influenced the amount of housework done. Concludes that housework time arises from a dynamic decision-making process sensitive to the social environment. (RJM)