Compared two behavioral treatments for marital discord with a nonspecific control and waiting-list control. Behavioral treatments combined problem-solving skills with contingency management procedures, differing only in contracting form, good faith contracts, and quid pro quo contracts. Both behavioral groups improved significantly more than…

Investigated the relative effectiveness of therapeutic components common to behavioral marital therapies: procedures designed to change behavior and attitudes, and nonspecific therapeutic effects. Ordering produced three treatment conditions--nonspecific, behavioral, and behavioral-attitudinal. The behavioral-attitudinal group showed significantly…

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) was completed by 42 fathers and 71 mothers of pediatric cancer patients and 26 fathers and 29 mothers of hemophilic children. MMPI profiles were examined for signs of emotional disturbance. Results indicated both groups of parents suffered more distress than a normal group. (Author)

No relation was found between assertion and marital adjustment for 187 married graduate students. In a second study, 15 students who completed one of two five-week assertiveness workshops significantly increased levels of assertive behavior relative to a control group, but no significant difference occurred for marital adjustment between groups.…

Reviews the development of the Marital Satisfaction Scale (MSS), designed to assess one's level of satisfaction toward his/her own marriage. Research results indicate that the instrument has very high internal consistency, sufficient test-retest reliability and validity, and a low degree of contamination with social desirability. (Author)

Found that parental hitting, reported by 17 percent of the sample, failed to affect attitudes about women's roles. Behavior did affect attitudes concerning the use of violence against women. Suggests men are more likely to approve of violence against women if they observed their fathers hitting their mothers. (Author)

Examines the Social Security benefit inequities between male and female workers and between one- and two-earner families and traces the cause of such disparities. Discusses the evolution of today's Social Security System and presents two proposals for a possible reform of the system. (CT)

Couples (N=336) were interviewed for their perceptions of the fairness of their own and their spouses's efforts in the family roles of cooking, housekeeping, provider, companion, and parent. Perceived equity in family roles tended to increase over the life cycle for both husbands and wives, but some differences existed. (Author)

Written transcripts of spouses' discussions were coded using two different systems. Findings indicate that the results obtained from one coding system cannot easily be compared with results obtained from the other system. Author calls for resolution of differences in coding procedures if relational communication research is to be usefully…

Evaluated the effectiveness of spouse training for long-term weight loss. Overweight women (N=68) were assigned to one of five groups. The cooperative spouse group lost significantly more weight. That group and the nonparticipating spouse conditions maintained their weight losses at the final follow-up. The wives-alone group regained some weight.…

Examined the reliability of spouses as observers of the behaviors that occur in their own marital relationships. Distressed and nondistressed couples collected data in the home. Across the entire checklist, nondistressed couples exhibited significantly greater consensus than did distressed couples, based on both percentage agreement and kappa.…

Hierarchical incongruities in a marriage can occur when a spouse develops a symptom in an attempt to balance the division of power in the couple. The therapist must organize the couple so that the division of power is balanced, and the couple is organized in a congruous hierarchy. (Author)

Distressed couples were more critical of each other and less responsive to each other's influence efforts. Distressed and nondistressed couples were similar in their frequencies of inquiries and solution proposals. Criticism and responsiveness were important predictors of both satisfaction with outcomes and attainment of resolutions. (Author)

No evidence was found for any effect of wives' employment or degree of interest in their work activity on marital adjustment and companionship. The extensive controversy over wives' increasing labor-force participation has resulted from unwarranted assumptions about the impact of wives' working on marital adjustment. (Author)

Data support the importance of economic necessity and occupational potential but not the effects of status compatibility or status enhancement. Beyond effects of age, children, and the need for income, occupational prestige potential explains almost half again as much variance as the other variables. (Author)