As married women have become increasingly likely to work in recent decades, their contributions to family earnings have grown as well. In 20% to 25% of dual-earner couples, wives earn more than their husbands. These trends may have affected family decision making, giving some women more input into family financial and career decisions. (Author)

Examines whether the role of caregiving appraisal explains why stressors in the caregiving situation affect caregivers' psychological distress. Results show that for spouse caregivers, perceived pressure explains the association between their caregiving tasks and psychological distress. Results also show clear mediator effects of perceived…

The experience of grieving the loss of a spouse varies with many factors. Models of the mourning process are reviewed. The roles of thought and memory in the survivor's attempts to move into a new life and identity are discussed. Argues for the inappropriateness of establishing expectations for the nature and duration of grief. (EMK)

Examination of the records of 37 school-age children whose mothers sought help from a battered women's shelter found that, although the symptoms of those who had witnessed their mothers' battering differed somewhat from those of the children who had been abused, the significant similarities warrant a redefinition of spousal abuse as a form of…

Explains benefits and drawbacks of having more than one family member in superintendent positions. Married couples sharing the same profession can identify with each others' problems, but should avoid unnecessary competition or advice giving. Showing support is appreciated. Second-generation superintendents may be a growing phenomenon. (MLH)

Estimated parameters of the trajectory of change in marital quality over first 10 years of marriage. Found that both spouses started trajectories of change at fairly high levels of marital quality, with quality declining rapidly in the early years, stabilizing, and then declining again. Individual-differences variables predicted initial status of…

In this study, the model of two independent dimensions of family connectedness, closeness-caregiving, and intrusiveness, was tested by assessing spouses from 264 couples, using the California Inventory for Family Assessment (CIFA). As predicted, factor analyses distinguished dimensions of intrusiveness (blurring of boundaries) from…

Specific skills and affective expressions coded from the problem-solving interactions of 172 newlywed couples were examined in relation to 8-wave, 4-year trajectories of marital satisfaction. Effects varied as a function of whether husbands' versus wives' topics were under discussion and whether husbands' versus wives' satisfaction was predicted,…

Weak and counterintuitive findings linking couples' interactional processes to marital outcomes have prompted new lines of research on how marriages change. Recent findings reviewed here highlight the value of (a) expanding conceptions of marital interaction by considering how social support and positive affect moderate the effects of…

Until recently, Soviet data restrictions led to limited knowledge about wife abuse in Russia. This study adds to emerging research on Russian domestic violence by testing hypotheses derived from resource theory on the effects on wife abuse of husband's absolute resources versus spouses relative resources. Analysis of data from the 1996 National…

Our work contributes to research on variation in role-taking by investigating changes in perceptions of role-taking ability over time as a result of exposure to situations and activities typically associated with others; that is, we investigate how "walking in others' shoes" contributes to individuals' perceptions of role-taking ability. Using a…

Drawing from developmental theories of interpersonal competence, this article presents a multidimensional model of marital competence and reports on a study that provides a preliminary evaluation of the model and its central tenets. Structural equation modeling analyses were run with a nationally representative sample of 750 couples to test the…

Using Current Population Survey data for 1970, 1980, 1990, and 2001 (N=73,001), we document change in the prevalence of couples where (a) the wife contributes less than 40% of the family income, (b) income contributions are relatively equal, and (c) the wife's income contribution surpasses her husband's contribution. In 1970, close to 90% of…

In this article, the authors present a case study based on the daily activities, challenges, coping strategies, and relationship dynamics of a heterosexual, HIV-serodiscordant (mixed HIV status) couple in which the male partner has AIDS and the female partner is his primary caregiver. Rather than looking for specific determinants of behavior, the…

This article addresses cultural adaptation of Western-Palestinian intermarried couples. Using in-depth interviews, information was gathered from 16 participants, 7 Western women and 9 Palestinian men, living in Palestinian cities in the West Bank. Adaptation strategies are typified by the extent to which each spouse embraces the partner's culture.…