Argues that the ambiguous evidence regarding gender differences in empirical research can be traced to conceptual and methodological issues such as construct definitions, measurement techniques, sampling, and inattention to historical context. Focuses on division of household labor to illustrate how attention to these issues promotes understanding…

Refers to the literature showing that marital commitment is affected by love/caring and positive conflict resolution. Examines whether additional factors stemming from recent gender-based changes might affect the nature of the marital bond: gender role preferences, religious devoutness, and locus of control in marriage. Presents theoretical…

Investigated the idea of spatial arrangement as applied to married couples as a first step in the study of the diagnostic value of spatial relationships in family therapy. Showed that couples' space can be used to identify conflicted marital relationships and to differentiate between distressed and nondistressed couples on the basis of husbands'…

Examines the relationship between sex role attitude--traditionality and nontraditionality--and perception of psychological abuse. Thirty most traditional and 30 least traditional women were compared in terms of their reactions to vignettes depicting marital interactions. Nontraditional women were more sensitive in their perception of psychological…

Indicates that couple type was significantly related to communication about marital conflict, but that there were neither any clear overall sex differences in communication nor sex differences within couple types. Also indicates that conflict styles are so strongly reciprocal that mutual influence within conversations tends to remove individual…

Presents flow chart of the process of psychotherapy with couples as way for practitioners to integrate various models of marital therapy into their treatment. Discusses sequentially basic steps and questions to be addressed; resolution of each stage is considered important for movement to following stages. Notes flow chart allows intervention…

Discusses coverage of relevant treatment areas for dual-career couples described in the literature. Includes a case example and analysis. Recommends an integrated multilevel approach because of the structural complexities and intricate psychological and interpersonal adaptations inherent in dual-career relationships. (ABL)

Examined relationship between sex-role orientation and marital adjustment in 112 married couples. Spouses separately completed Bem Sex Role Inventory and Dyadic Adjustment Scale. Results indicated that in general both androgynous and sex-typed individuals and their spouses were significantly higher in marital adjustment than were undifferentiated…

Administered Marriage Quiz to 279 college students to measure their beliefs in myths about marriage and family relations. Found that women missed significantly fewer items than did men; less romantic students missed significantly fewer items than did romantic students; and students who completed marriage and family course missed significantly…

Examined how ten rural married couples adjusted to income loss. Husbands had been unemployed and were working for reduced wage at time of study. Interviews revealed five features of underemployment: interpretation of the situation, personal resources, health and stress, marital relationship, and family and social support. All but personal…

Developed and tested a multivariate model of marital adjustment among 92 couples in dual-earner marriages. For both genders, higher levels of occupational commitment by wives adversely affected marital adjustment, whereas both men and women perceived that marital adjustment was unaffected by the occupational commitment of husbands. (Author/NB)

Describes a two-year treatment of a case of marital abuse. Used psychoanalytic and family systems theory to understand the processes contributing to the emergence of violence. Documents resistances to total change. (Author/ABB)

Describes the development of a personalized version of the Spouse Observation Checklist (SOC), using computer word processing functions to delete neutral and irrelevant items. Comparison of the original and revised checklists with 22 married individuals indicated no significant differences between dependent variables on the two versions. (JAC)

Predicted that parents' gender, level of psychological differentiation, perceptions of the marital relationship, and occupational identities would account for differences in parental experiences. Sex differences were found. Greater marital harmony and more advanced occupational identity statuses predicted more confident parenting; better marital…

Reports on the results of a survey of psychiatrists and residents who received marital and family therapy training during their second year of residency. Data indicate that such training has an immediate positive effect on practice and is carried forward into later practice. (Author/BL)