Rituals are often present at times of tension, change, and uncertainty and they perform important and diverse functions at such times. They are, however, virtually absent at one important and increasingly common event, divorce. Families do draw upon rituals to deal with in-law relationships following divorce. This report stemmed from a research…

Based on Beisecker's earlier finding that patients over age 60 brought companions to their medical appointments more often than did patients aged 25-59, a study was conducted to examine the role of the companion. Eleven of 21 patients aged 60-85 brought companions. Companions were either spouses or adult children of the patients. Within this…

Although it has been suggested that contact with children is important for the satisfaction of the economic, emotional, and service needs of older parents, social gerontology research provides little direct evidence that childless elders or elders with few living children are less satisfied than others. To examine the effects of family size,…

Cognitive factors have been shown to play an important role in marital distress. To examine the importance of the self-other distinction for understanding the impact of attributions on marital satisfaction, two studies were conducted. In the first study, causal attributions for naturally occurring behavior by the self and spouse were investigated…

This study of 100 commuting spouses identified the career and economic reasons for a commuting life-style. The dilemmas of balancing professional expectations and relationship needs of dual-career commuters are investigated and coping strategies commuters used to resolve such dilemmas and make commuting a viable life-style option were examined.…

Asserts that courtship and marital violence represents forms of the same phenomenon and should be examined as relationship violence. Presents a model of relationship violence based on three premises concerning courtship and marital violence. Discusses advantages and implications of a model of relationship violence for family professionals.…

Explored whether and to what degree differences between actor and observer were likely to occur in the mutual attributions of 40 married couples regarding the causes of each other's behavior. Results revealed that married couples exhibited mutual idealizing tendencies in both their perceptions and causal attributions. (Author/ABB)

Reviews a 1983-84 study of the marital and parental behavior of lesbian wives and mothers and gay husbands and fathers. Discovered differences between the men and women in: overall demographics, marital history, marital problems and their impact, parenting issues, and dealing with homosexuality. (Author/ABB)

Examined questionnaires completed by acutely bereaved widows and widowers to identify dimensions of psychological stress associated with bereavement. Found four factors that were meaningfully understood within the framework of attachment theory. Findings support view that grief is a complex, evolving process with multiple dimensions. (Author/NB)

Presents data on the incidence of violence in 103 couples based on wife's or husband's report only, or both spouses' reports. More reports were by one spouse rather than by both spouses. More wives reported severe husband-to-wife aggression, more husbands reported other forms of aggression. Discusses the limitations of frequency data alone in…

Examined antecedents of spousal support of husbands' work commitment from perspective of wives. Found spousal support influenced directly only by satisfaction with quality of life made possible by local work organization and length of involvement with organization. Marital and social adjustment, and perceptions of husband's work environment…

Describes househusbands, men who stay home performing housekeeping and childcare tasks while their wives are in the paid labor force. Discusses reasons for the increase of househusbands and the implications for the home economics profession. (JOW)

Investigated whether 30 maritally distressed military couples differed from 30 distressed civilian couples using marital satisfaction questionnaires. Found same-sex differences across groups, and cross-sex differences within groups. Found military wives were more likely to be physically abused than were civilian wives, and more often requested…

This study assessed the extent to which infants use fathers as referencing targets and the familial context that might mediate referencing to both parents. Infants used fathers and mothers as referencing targets to an equal extent. Marital satisfaction was found to be a significant modifier of referencing. (PCB)

Interviewed 16 couples involved in marriages between never-married men and divorced women with at least one preadolescent child. Findings showed adjustment to remarriage involved the issue of dependence, independence, and interdependence. Findings are presented in 15 propositions which can be utilized as basic hypotheses for future research on…