Compares assumptions and practices emerging from family systems and feminist counseling. Examines nature of problem definitions; notions about power and appropriate sex roles in relationships; and characteristics of therapeutic relationship. Concludes that feminist perspective has potential for improving marital and family counseling. Suggests…

Investigated Caring Days procedure for marital therapy to determine its potential for positive change with nondistressed married couples. Randomly assigned 32 married couples to either experimental group employing Caring Days technique or to attention control group. Experimental group showed significant positive changes compared to control group…

Relations between parental value concordance and parents' interactive emphases were more readily apparent for parents of boys than for parents of girls. For boys, converging parental value systems were associated with a maternal interactive style. Father-daughter dyads were particularly different from the other three types of parent-child dyads.…

Notes that clinicians are increasingly consulted by couples whose conflicts arise from or are exacerbated by dual-career relationship. Sees therapy with these couples as potentially greatly aided when treatment is tailored to unique needs of their relational system. Describes protocol for tailoring treatment based on comprehensive,…

Describes the five largest psychotherapy occupations (psychiatrist, clinical/counseling psychologist, clinical social worker, marriage and family therapist, clinical mental health counselor) and looks at training requirements, types of practices, trends, and related occupations. Lists professional associations and references for further…

Examines why older, single women become mothers and how their premotherhood motivation and experience compare to those of demographically-similar married mothers. The composite picture that emerged from the single mothers was one of ambivalence toward marriage: a combination of an idealized image of marriage and an unwillingness to accept…

Examined social effects of heavy drinking. In study 1, 44 participants disfavored heavy drinkers as dating and marriage prospects. In study 2, 29 persons who disfavored heavy drinkers gave reasons. In study 3, findings from 94 persons revealed that degree of endorsement of reasons from study 2 correlated with degree of preference for dating and…

Examined gender as conditional variable in effects of family satisfaction and economic strain on psychological well-being among married people (n=197). Analysis supported hypothesis that positive effect of family satisfaction was greater among women than among men. Contrary to predictions, inverse effect of economic strain was same for women,…

Describes investigation examining effects of caring for elderly parent with dementia on marital satisfaction. Suggests changes in women's marital satisfaction were associated with variations in husbands' emotional support and hindrance of caregiving effort which were affected by perceptions that caregiving interfered with wives' performance of…

Analyzed data from National Survey of Families and Households to compare marriages and cohabiting relationships. Found several broad differences in nature of two types of relationships. Cohabitors expressed lower levels of commitment to their relationships, reported lower levels of happiness with their relationships, and had poorer relationships…

Used event histories constructed from National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to investigate roles of structural (pool of marriageable men) and cultural (familism) factors in marriage transitions of 3,853 Mexican American, African American, and Anglo-American women. Found that similarities were outweighed by differences in marriage process across…

Reviewed 26 introductory marriage and family textbooks for content about stepfamilies. Compared results to similar review conducted one decade ago. Current textbooks included more comprehensive material about remarriage and stepfamilies than did textbooks a decade ago. Deficit-family model was still present in current books, which focused on…

Describes the reflecting team model as a group learning experience for counselor trainees. Approach permits trainees to give and receive immediate feedback on perceptions and learn about intervention strategies for working with couples. Discusses evaluation of the model utilizing The Family Therapist Trainee Rating Scale. (Author/CRR)

Summarizes research from the 1980s on topics of adolescent sexual activity, contraception, abortion, marriage, adoption, and childrearing. Emphasizes research about antecedents of adolescent sexual and contraceptive behavior because they are key risk factors in adolescent pregnancy. Notes advances in data and methods and highlights research gaps.…

Summarizes trends in theory and research on marriage and family therapy over the past decade. Finds particularly noteworthy the debates over the "new epistemology" and the feminist critique of family therapy. On basis of identified trends, makes recommendations for research in the 1990s. (Author/NB)