Investigated Caring Days procedure for marital therapy to determine its potential for positive change with nondistressed married couples. Randomly assigned 32 married couples to either experimental group employing Caring Days technique or to attention control group. Experimental group showed significant positive changes compared to control group…

Recruiting programs aimed at the spouses of potential faculty members are becoming more common at universities and colleges. Among the reasons most frequently cited for this phenomenon are: there are more dual-career couples; more women are attending graduate school, raising the likelihood of academic marriages; and competition for faculty. (MLW)

Focuses on coparenting, spouses as partners or adversaries in parenting role, in families raising toddler sons. Reviews preliminary longitudinal research findings concerning nature of coparenting and contextual determinants of different types of coparenting alliances. Proposes coparenting processes to interact with marital and parent-child…

Male abusers (n=36) who attended a 6-month outpatient domestic abuse treatment program and their female partners completed measures of powerlessness and tolerance for being controlled, both before and after the men completed treatment. Contrary to the study's hypothesis, treatment failed to decrease abusers' powerlessness or to increase their…

Examined intentions of parents (n=187) of adolescents to seek help from nine sources for eight hypothetical parenting problems. Intention to seek help was function of problem type and help source. Parents declared intention to seek help from many sources; being most likely to seek help from spouses regardless of issue and from professional sources…

Spouse and adult child caregivers of older adults with major depressive disorder (n=150) reported most difficult and most regarding aspects of caregiving. Content analysis of reports revealed seven areas of difficulty and three areas of reward. Difficulties and rewards were selectively associated with caregiver's identity, patient clinical…

In-depth interviews with 19 adult female college students showed that reentry women and their families are fashioning rites of passage that facilitate the transition and mark their progress through college. Spontaneous development of ceremonies and rituals suggests there are some needs of women who are students, wives, and mothers that are not met…

Discusses impact on the spouse when his or her partner is being treated for cancer. Defines the disease, outlines treatment effects, and describes issues affecting psychological and marital adjustment of spouses. Offers implications for counselors who work with spouses of cancer patients. (Author/NB)

Describes an intermittent, focused social work intervention to help overcome personal and intrapsychic barriers to using available help for wives of Alzheimer's patients. Discusses therapeutic goals, common themes, and implications for practice with caregiving wives with specific attention to supporting the wife in her wish to "responsibly…

Reviewed research on effects of breast cancer on 20 married pairs and extends results to practical aspects of doing such research and attempting treatment of breast cancer patients. Measures of individual psychological adjustment and dyadic adjustment found that both spouses appeared well adjusted and reported excellent quality of life. Interviews…

Investigated relationship dimensions of 70 Australian couples from stepfamilies. Findings indicated major strengths for stepfamilies were areas of sexual relationship and equalitarian roles, whereas major stressors were children and parenting, former attachments, and adjustments. Simple stepfamily couples (children from one parent) were in more…

Examined role of social isolation in greater incidence of aggression in cohabiting couples than married persons using national survey data from 13,017 respondents. Claims these factors are related to cohabitors' aggression: they are likely to be youthful and black; lack social control associated with participation in organizations; and tend to…

Responses to a bereavement questionnaire completed by married couples (n=74) who had lost a child through death were analyzed. When parents' perceptions of the cause of their child's death were examined, it was found that, for females, but not males, the attribution of the death to genetic factors in the spouse was negatively correlated with…

Conducted three studies of in-session changes in emotionally focused couples therapy. Found that couples' conflict interaction at end of treatment was more affiliative and interdependent than at beginning of treatment and that peak session conflict interaction was deeper in level of experience and more affiliative than interaction in poor session…

Examined demographic and situational factors related to killing of women by male intimate partners. Data from 23 men incarcerated for such homicides revealed portrait of offender as while male, aged 20-24, employed full-time prior to imprisonment, coming from stable childhood. Findings suggest that persons who are separated are most frequent…