Examined changes in spouses' experiences of their mates and marital relationships from last trimester of pregnancy through 3 years postpartum. Found 4 distinct patterns of marital change (accelerating decline, linear decline, no change, modest positive increase). Findings from 128 families revealed that patterns of marital change were determined…

Assessed relationship between religious heterogamy and marital happiness of Catholics, using data from National Opinion Research Center General Social Surveys. Findings showed that heterogamy was not related to marital happiness for Catholics, either at bivariate level or when religiosity and other variables were controlled. Religiosity had…

Proposes Family Goal Recording as a systemic approach for measuring change in the presenting concerns of couples and families. Describes the procedures for using Family Goal Recording as an outcome measure for family therapy and a device to enhance goal attainment. In addition, the results of an initial study on the reliability and validity of…

Examined psychological aggression by self and partner, physical aggression by partner, and marital dissatisfaction as longitudinal predictors of instances of physical aggression during marriage from a sample of engaged couples. Found that psychological aggression by self and partner predicted initial incidents of physical aggression in marriage,…

Reexamines the Mental Research Institute associates' intervention of reframing in marital therapy. Describes use of Ericksonian strategies of ratification and utilization, with emphasis on nonverbal language, conjoint reframing, unconscious wisdom, and recursive therapy. Presents ratification and utilization interventions. (Author/ABL)

Explored use of therapeutic metaphor among marriage and family therapists (N=102) belonging to the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy. Three major themes emerged, including metaphors pertaining to the process of change, those relevant to stages in family life cycle, and methods by which therapeutic metaphors can be constructed and…

Explored degree to which adolescent living arrangement, mother's educational level, religion, region of country, area of residency, birth cohort, and year of survey can account for racial difference in timing of initiation of sexual activity, first marriage, first birth, and divorce. Variables examined did not provide satisfactory explanation of…

Addresses lack of attention in marriage therapy literature to romantic love and sexual attraction. Notes that few guidelines are available to therapists concerning how to deal with love as an issue in therapy. Presents model based on assumption that marriage problems are emotional in nature and that success of marital therapists depends upon skill…

Presents letter writing intervention that attempts to reestablish priority of digital language. Contends that, by having couples in therapy write letters to each others, much analogic communication is removed. Notes that letter writing allows couples to exchange new information and slow down speed with which they respond to each other, giving them…

Presents atheoretical short-term marital therapy model in which treatment is limited to six to eight sessions and focuses on special problems raised by couple and on couple's capacity to react positively to clinical suggestions. Describes highlights of therapy model: homework assignments, negotiation of conflict issues, communication training, and…

Used data on 4,667 women from the Iran Fertility Survey to examine trends and social correlates of consanguineous marriage. Found modest increase in proportion of marriages between cousins in Iran from 1940s to 1970s. Results suggest that modernization may be eroding social bases on consanguinity, whereas increased availability of cousins may lead…

Examined data from Public Use Sample of 1980 Census to identify salient sociodemographic correlates of women's likelihood of marrying outside normative age patterns. Found that black women were significantly more likely than white women to be in age-heterogamous marriages. Remarried subjects exhibited highest probability of entering such unions.…

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…

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…

Spouses (n=29) engaged in discussions in which husband requested change in wife and wife requested change in husband. Neither conflict structure (who requested change) nor gender was associated with positivity or negativity of spouses' behavior. Husband-demand/wife-withdraw interactions predicted increase in wives' satisfaction one year later;…