The concept of commitment has been studied both in theory and in research. Commitment is considered as having two constructs, personal dedication and constraint commitment. This study was conducted to examine several questions concerning commitment. It examined whether constraint or dedication increase over time; whether there is a difference…

A professor involved in the HELDS project (Higher Education for Learning Disabled Students) discusses changes in a psychology course on courtship and marriage to accommodate LD students. Requirements, assignments, and expectations are outlined for in-class as well as out-of-class activities. The course, it is explained, focuses on information,…

The strategy of quid pro quo negotiation as it is applied to couple therapy and taught as a problem solving method to couples with unsatisfactory relationships is examined and the theoretical basis for the clinical application of quid pro quo and its potentials as a therapeutic tool presented. (Author)

The attempts to establish an equity in marriage---with no sacrificial lamb---not the husband, the wife or the children---has received little attention in professional journals. These shifts need careful study by clinicians so that we may help couples with options that lead to self realization and fulfillment for both. (Author)

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)

The marital-role preferences of 300 female college students--100 each in Thailand, India, and the United States--were examined. (NQ)

This study evaluated whether alcoholics who receive relapse prevention (RP) sessions in the year after a short-term behavioral marital therapy (BMT) do better at long-term follow-up than do those not receiving the additional RP. Sixty couples with an alcoholic husband, after participating in 10 weekly BMT couples group sessions, were assigned…

Coding systems have become popular methods of cataloging the verbal and nonverbal interaction occurring during marital and family therapy. One such system, Pinsof's (1981) Family Therapist Coding System (FTCS), was the first designed explicitly to identify and differentiate specific verbal behaviors of family therapists independent of their…

Becoming a mother-in-law is a challenging task but one which has received little serious attention from theorists and researchers. In Family Life Cycle developmental theory, this stage has been referred to as a post-parenting phase. In Family and Couple Developmental Theory, emphasis is placed on the need of the individual or couple to separate…

Most models of marital choice are attempts to explain choices within the field of available eligibles. The essence of compatibility testing is that people select their mates by evaluating the match between psychological characteristics after sorting the available field on the basis of social characteristics. A compatibility model seems to require…

The dependence of married women upon men for their achievement of social status is examined. Results indicate that both husbands and wives appear to pay rather little attention to the attainments of wives when evaluating their own social status. However, a status-sharing model is not totally ruled out. (Author)

Instruments used to measure marital satisfaction over the family life cycle in two previous studies that obtained contradictory results were used on a new sample. The results suggest that the apparent contradictions were a function of measurement differences rather than population differences. (Author)

Criticisms of marital adjustment rating techniques are presented from the literature. Research from the study in this article demonstrates that results by different clinical assessment modalities and different judges are comparable, suggesting an academic rather than a practical problem. (Author)

The best age for marriage and childbirth appear to be much later than the popular age for marriage presently. Evidence indicates that women should wait until 25 to marry and should have their 2 children at age 28 and 30. (EK)