Causes which need to be considered in assessing and treating discord between partners include the precipitating event, reaction of a person to that event, interactional dynamics of the partners, and goals and objectives of the relationship. This approach permits one to accept legitimate responsibility for his/her behavior and feelings. (Author)

Negative affect and negative affect reciprocity appear to be robust properties of marital interaction, and they also have been found to discriminate satisfied from dissatisfied marriages. There is more evidence of consistency across tasks using sequential rather than nonsequential variables. (Author)

The impact of the husband's retirement on the wife's conception of three aspects of her role as housewife was studied. Retired teachers and their wives were surveyed. The shift for women was toward increased accommodation to their husbands' needs. Negative changes were offset by increased opportunities for nurturing of spouse. (Author)

Concepts associated with divorce, family, and self were rated. The observed conceptual/attitudinal changes indicate that a so-called didactic-educational course may have an impact over and beyond the mere acquisition of factual information. (Author)

Although differences between remarried and first-married individuals are found with respect to past distress and feelings of family role inadequacy, the remarried appear similar to first-marrieds in current well-being and role adjustment. The remarried have developed a viable pattern of affective and role functioning. (Author)

Supports marital enrichment as an effective intervention technique with couples. Linear letters can enhance the enrichment process and can be assessed more effectively by the instruments used to measure change in this study than can change induced through the paradoxical letters. (Author)

Fifty-five couples served in the study using a between-subjects design, additional response measures, and additional positive communication training. The reciprocity counseling produced significantly more improvement than the discussion-type counseling for the three marital adjustment measures after four sessions. (Author)

Data were collected from 20 couples with satisfactory marriages and 20 maritally dysfunctional nonviolent couples to evaluate characteristics associated with wife abuse. Abusive husbands were less assertive, abusive to children, and witnesses to parental spouse abuse; they were also likely to be conservative and alcoholics. (Author/RC)

Studies viewers' impressions of husbands and wives in four Ingmar Bergman films in terms of socio-intellectual status, dynamism, and aesthetic quality. The agreement of viewer ratings indicates that viewers reacted more in tune with the underlying symbolic significance of characters than did most critics. (JMF)

Examines actual and expected male roles in the household and the consequences of household involvement after retirement. As androgynous behavior increases and facilitates adjustment, household involvement by males may assist in their adaptation. Spouses may experience role strain if the division of labor is not negotiated in retirement.…

Investigated how married professional women feel about the women's movement. Data revealed that the majority were working to change societal definitions of women's roles but that a sizable minority had little interest in the women's movement. The women's movement has also brought about increased role conflicts for many. (Author/BEF)

Data on couples show that rates of domestic violence are related to attitudes about violence and to social structural variables. With respect to physical punishment of one's children and to spousal violence, findings show a spouse's violence has greater impact on the respondent's violence than the respondent's own attitudes about violence.…

Single suicides and married suicides with dependent children were compared to similar groups in the general population. Married people with dependent children experienced the lowest average suicide rate, but had a larger mean number of children than the population as a whole. (Author)

Examined the effect of divorce and remarriage on global happiness. Remarried men report themselves significantly more happy than men in first marriages. Remarried women are less happy. Observed differences in global happiness seem to be systematically related to differences in social integration, socioeconomic status, and general and marital…

Explores how global and political issues affect microsystems like the marital unit. A variety of interactional patterns emerged in the observation of 30 couples marital interactions during a prolonged stressful situation. Couples reporting a deterioration of their relationship had more disagreements regarding the meaning of a peace process and its…