Reviews literature on complex ethical and legal issues that may arise in counseling families (defining the client, welfare and rights of individuals versus those of family system, informed consent and manipulative therapeutic techniques, family members who refuse to participate, confidentiality, and family values). Concludes with specific…

Used nationally representative sample of 2,031 adults aged 18 to 90 to compare housework and family care as primary activity with paid work and with volunteer work, leisure activities, home and yard maintenance, and schoolwork. Found that unpaid domestic work was more routine, and it provided less intrinsic gratification and fewer extrinsic…

Uses a cohort of unmarried young adults who were sampled when they were 18, 21, or 24 years old and resampled seven years later. Results indicate no differences between cohabitators and married couples in levels of depression. Cohabitating men report more alcohol problems than married and single men; cohabitating women reported more alcohol…

Examines the relationship between trainees' conjugal family experience, current intergenerational family relationships, and the client's perception of therapeutic alliance with first-year-practicum family trainees (N=74) and their clients (N=90). Results indicate a moderately significant relationship between conjugal family experience and…

This study began validation of the Family Profile Form, constructed to link evaluation of couples and families with specific structured enrichment exercises. Reliability and validity with different samples of participants were found to be within acceptable limits of statistical significance. (Author/MKA)

Examines the American Association for Marital and Family Therapy's Code of Ethics to explore ways in which marriage and family therapists can provide services within the framework of existing ethical principles and standards for accountability and professionalism to families with an adolescent child experiencing same-sex attraction. (Author/MKA)

Husbands' beliefs regarding justifying wife beating, holding violent husbands responsible for their behavior, and blaming battered wives for violence against them are investigated among Palestinian men. Patriarchal ideology provides a conceptual framework for presentation and discussion of the findings from multiple regression analyses.…

Contextual and essential explorations of how couples' interactions are gendered were compared by examining the relationship between demanding and withdrawing within couples and the partners' involvements outside the couple. Results showed that wives were more often in the demanding/pursuing role than their husbands and that this pattern was…

Discusses a Master's program exit interview that used questions from narrative therapy to celebrate the transition of Masters students into the world of marital and family therapy professionals. This process helps to underling students' agency and competence, and elevates them to the level of consultant during the interview. (Author/MKA)

Reviews enrichment research of the 1990s. Examines marriage preparation and premarital counseling; specific programs, such as Training in Marriage Enrichment; specific populations, such as children; and continuing research needs, particularly in the areas of measurement, participants, and program characteristics. Claims that marriage and family…

Guidelines for counselors in the use of forgiveness in counseling are proposed. Theological and counseling understandings of forgiveness are presented; counseling-related literature concerning healing, reconciliation, and the importance of forgiveness is reviewed. A counseling approach called "intentional forgiving" is described and its…

Marital interaction processes that are predictive of divorce or marital stability and processes that discriminate between happily and unhappily married stable couples are explored (N=130). Seven types of process models are examined, and results are discussed. Divorce and stability were predicted with 83% accuracy, and satisfaction with 80%…

Presents a case study in which students build a Markov chain reaction of marriage and divorce and perform statistical analyses to identify the chance of divorce and divorcing in a given year. (YDS)

Presents the results of a survey that examined the internship requirements by accredited doctoral Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) programs. Results suggest that although most programs perceive the internship requirement as beneficial, many participants expressed concern regarding the effects of the internship requirement on other aspects of…

Examines factors influencing the outcome of cohabitation first partnerships with men and women born in Britain in 1958. Results show that conception was a key factor in promoting marriage for both men and women. Findings also suggest that the role of cohabitation varies according to socioeconomic background. (Author/MKA)