Identifies 20 major issues in remarriage families from the professional literature and places issues in 4 categories: initial family issues, developing family issues, feelings about self and others, and adult issues. Discusses each issue using citations from the primary sources. Offers many suggestions for counselor assessment and intervention.…

Examined relationship between stressors and all deaths over 4 generations in a family's history and current functioning of family members in 24 families. Results were mixed but provided some intriguing findings about differential impact of loss histories on mothers and fathers and some evidence for multigenerational and systemic effects of…

Couples in which one spouse had terminal cancer reported expressions of love, marriage problems, and commitment to each other after diagnosis of cancer and before diagnosis. Cancer group reported expressing more love to each other after diagnosis and more love than comparison group of healthy subjects. Cancer couples were less committed to each…

Reviewed records of 134 police officers. Fifty-five percent admitted to suicide attempts. Logistic regression model correctly classified 79.1% of subjects as to whether or not they attempted suicide. Results indicated that officers reporting marital problems were 4.8 times more likely to have attempted suicide and 6.7 times more likely if they had…

Studied 71 nonurban homeless adults over a period of approximately 3 years at 2 separate shelters. Two-thirds of the sample were local people. Common reasons for homelessness were family problems, economic problems, and personal problems. There was no evidence that mental illness played a substantial role in this homelessness. Describes…

Examined divorced fathers (n=84) who had infrequent or no contact with their children. Found four sets of fathers: (1) those embroiled in conflict with former spouses; (2) those with personal problems or barriers; (3) those who are long-distance parents; and (4) those with teenage children with busy lives. (ABL)

Notes that working with marital and family problems complicates the concept of therapeutic responsibility. Discusses several societal contributors to ethical dilemmas in contemporary family therapy and summarizes an ecological framework for therapy on the basis of which a profile of the ethical family therapist is derived. (Author/NB)

This article identifies characteristics and challenges encountered by families that include young children with autism. Emphasis is on three issues in providing needed support services: (1) enhancing family competence and confidence; (2) addressing support from a lifestyle perspective; and (3) arranging for stability and continuity in support…

Using longitudinal data on South Korean youth, the authors addressed limitations of previous tests of general strain theory (GST), focusing on the relationships among key strains, situational- and trait-based negative emotions, conditioning factors, and delinquency. Eight types of strain previously shown most likely to result in delinquency,…

Counselors who work with children and adolescents are well aware of the problems, frustrations, and feelings of hopelessness that these youngsters often bring to the counseling session. However, counselors may be less aware of what is happening in society-at-large. The 1980s and early 1990s have been characterized by high unemployment. It is clear…

Although popular literature cites between 25,000 and 100,000 parental child snatchings a year, no empirical studies have been conducted to support this estimate. To determine an empirical estimate of the extent of parental child snatchings, telephone interviews were conducted by Louis Harris and Associates with a representative cross section of…

Study of 50 marriage counseling cases of 1970-71 where both partners were under 20 years of age concludes that the vulnerability of early marriages is greatly increased by the failure of communities to provide the basic economic and human supports formerly offered by family networks. (Author)

The author proposes a model format for the initial conjoint marital interview. Implementation of the model is discussed with regard to anxiety reduction, elicitation of pertinent data, diagnosis, treatment plan development, resultant length of therapy, and effectiveness as a teaching-supervising tool. (Author)

Infertility is a widespread health problem in the United States, affecting anywhere from 10 to 15 percent and perhaps even a greater percentage of U.S. couples. Infertility can have far-reaching effects on life satisfaction, well-being, and psychological adjustment. This paper presents an analysis of sex and intimacy among infertile couples based…

The introduction of a child into a foster home has a profound and multifaceted effect upon the parents and children of the foster family. This paper describes some of the resultant stresses, and outlines ways to manage them productively. (Author/CS)