Counselors working with couples who are planning to marry come from a broad array of interdisciplinary backgrounds. The largest portion of this type of counseling is currently provided by clergy. This one volume handbook and training manual for professionals presents a coherent approach for the practice of counseling prior to marriage that draws…

The sexual genogram combines aspects of the sex history with the genogram/family journey to examine the impact of the partners' family loyalties, secrets, and "scripts" on their sexual functioning. The exploration process offers an opportunity for major change to occur. Technique for this method is discussed, along with relevant case…

Incongruency in role expectations produces strain in the marriage. By studying 104 couples divided into experimental and control groups, it was found that there was no more role expectation incongruency in the couples seeking marriage counseling than in those not seeking counseling. It might be that the major differences lies in how couples of…

John L. Schimel, M.D. moderates a discussion by three young married couples concerning areas of possible sexual conflict. (CG)

In an interview, a marriage counselor answers questions concerning sex in marriage. He concludes that sex alone is too narrow a base for a marriage to rest upon and for a successful marriage, there is a need for a deeper basis of companionship. (Author/CG)

The case study analyzes the interactions of a family with a physically handicapped child during periods of change. It is pointed out that the child became the "scapegoat" over problems between husband and wife. (CL)

This study is of heterosexually married couples in which one partner reports having experienced same-sex attraction and both partners report satisfaction with their marriage despite facing such constraints. Analysis suggested a number of themes related to how spouses learned about their partners' experiences of same-sex attraction, motivations for…

Study examined attitudes of adolescents toward aspects of marriage and family life. The majority expressed negative attitudes toward divorce and viewed marriage as a lifelong commitment. While about one third expressed positive attitudes toward premarital sex, a majority indicated they would engage or had engaged in sex. The adolescents…

Describes and evaluates five comprehensive premarital assessment questionnaires that can be used in high school, university, and church settings by family life educators and premarital counselors. Major premarital assessments reviewed vary in coverage of premarital factors, number of items, and cost. These factors must be considered by counselors…

Considering the popularity of marriage enrichment programs, it is important for clinicians and marriage educators to know which programs have received empirical support. Using criteria established for determining empirically supported treatments (ESTs), we provide a comprehensive review of the outcome research on 13 specific marital enrichment…

This study examines intimate partner violence (IPV) attitudes and experience among women and men in Uganda to inform IPV-prevention programs in the region. Nationally representative population-based data from women aged 15 to 49 and men aged 15 to 54 were collected between May and October 2006 as part of the Uganda Demographic and Health Survey.…

Little is known empirically about the characteristics of couples who do and do not participate in marriage preparation. This study assessed the individual, couple, family, and sociocultural context variables that distinguish couples who become involved in marriage preparation from those who do not, using a sample of 7,331 couples. The results…

Narratives of five Seventh-day Adventist heterosexual women whose mixed-orientation marriages ended were analyzed through the lens of ambiguous loss. Thematic coding identified a wave-like process of changing emotional foci that emerged from their experience during marital dissolution. Elements of ambiguous loss included boundary ambiguity,…

We applied the theory of ambiguous loss to couples with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), an age-related decline in memory and other cognitive processes assumed not to interfere with daily activities or the maintenance of personal relationships. Face-to-face interviews with 67 older married couples revealed that lack of understanding about the…