Risky sexual behavior among married alcoholic men.

The current study explored whether the wives of men entering alcoholism treatment are at risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) exposure as a result of their husbands' sexual risk behaviors. The extramarital relationships of married alcoholic men entering outpatient treatment (n = 125) were compared with those of a demographically matched community sample of nonalcoholic married men (n = 125). The proportion of alcoholic men who reported 1 or more extramarital affairs in the previous year (14%) was significantly higher than that of the community sample (4%). Additionally, only 2 alcoholic husbands and 1 nonalcoholic husband reported that his wife was aware of the extramarital relationship. For both groups, none of the men who engaged in extramarital relationships reported consistent use of condoms when having sexual intercourse with their wives or with their extramarital partners. These results suggest that wives of alcoholic men are unknowingly placed at risk for indirect exposure to STIs as a result of their husbands' sexual risk behaviors. Thus, infidelity in treatment-seeking alcohol-abusing men represents a significant public health issue. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The marriage moments program for couples transitioning to parenthood: Divergent conclusions from formative and outcome evaluation data.

This article presents the results of a pilot study of the Marriage Moments program, designed to prevent relationship deterioration during the 1st year of parenthood. The self-guided, low-intensity program emphasizes strengthening marital virtues and partnership during this time of significant personal and family transition. One hundred fifty-five married couples participated in a randomized clinical trial with 2 psychoeducational treatment groups (a self-guided group and an instructor-encouraged group) and a comparable control group. Despite positive formative evaluation results from program participants, hierarchical linear modeling analyses failed to find significant Group × Time differences on spouses' reports of marital virtues and a set of relational outcome measures. This failure reinforces the need for psychoeducators to invest in outcome evaluation research before claiming program success. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

试论15至18世纪英国乡绅家庭婚姻形态的变化

15世纪至18世纪英国乡绅家庭观念的近代化,使乡绅的婚姻形态发生变化。这主要表现在以下几个方面：一是择偶权。从父母包办婚姻过渡到子女自主婚姻。二是婚姻目的。婚姻从满足外在于自己的目的转变为满足自身的情感需要。三是择偶标准。从强调门当户对和功利主义到日益强调感情因素。到过渡后期,英国乡绅的家庭婚姻形态已同传统社会判然有别。     

Investigating the effects of marriage and relationship education on couples' communication skills: A meta-analytic study.

This meta-analysis probes into previous research substantiating the positive effects of marriage and relationship education (MRE) on couples' communication skills. We reviewed 97 MRE research reports that yielded 143 distinct evaluation studies. We found modest evidence that MRE functions both as a universal prevention and as a selective or indicated prevention. That is, MRE demonstrates program effects at longer term follow-ups for well-functioning couples and at postassessment and shorter term follow-ups for more distressed couples. In addition, we found that observational assessments produced larger effects than self-report assessments, although interpreting the meaning of this difference is difficult. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Moderators of the link between marital hostility and change in spouses’ depressive symptoms.

This study examined the moderating roles of marital warmth and recent life events in the association between observed marital hostility and changes in spouses’ depressive symptoms over 3 years. Using the actor-partner interdependence model (APIM), structural equation models (N = 416 couples) suggested that husbands’ marital hostility was significantly related to increases in wives’ depressive symptoms. Moderator analyses showed that husbands’ warmth and wives’ warmth moderate the association between marital hostility and change in wives’ depressive symptoms. The association between husbands’ hostility and increases in wives’ depressive symptoms was stronger under conditions of lower levels of husbands’ warmth than under conditions of higher levels of husbands’ warmth. This same pattern was found for wives’ warmth. Regarding life events, the association between wives’ hostility and increases in husbands’ depressive symptoms was stronger for couples with more recent life events than for couples with fewer recent life events. Practical and empirical implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

La cohabitation et le mariage, deux mondes à part? Un examen des caractéristiques démographiques, individuelles et relationnelles.

Cohabitation is well implemented in conjugal lifestyles. Usually, studies comparing marriage and cohabitation draw a mostly negative picture of cohabitants. However, most studies so far examined cohabitant couples at an early stage of their relationship. That is, the results are not necessarily representative of cohabitation as a long-term choice. The present study aims at comparing cohabitant couples and married couples invested in a long-term relationship. A sample composed of 105 couples (72 married couples and 33 cohabitant couples) participated to a longitudinal study conducted on a four-years period. Individually, each partner completed the Dyadic Adjustment Scale, the NEO Five-Factor Inventory, and a demographic questionnaire. Variance analysis showed that both types of couples differ as for demographic and personality variables, while they are similar on the relational sphere. The present study contributes to drawing a more nuanced and positive picture of free union. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

肇源站人婚丧习俗浅论

肇源站人婚丧习俗是这个特殊的人群在长期与当地人群融合从而形成的站人所特有的风俗,在中国风俗领域中独树一帜,极具特色。     

Prognostic significance of spouse we talk in couples coping with heart failure.

Recent research suggests that marital quality predicts the survival of patients with heart failure (HF), and it is hypothesized that a communal orientation to coping marked by first-person plural pronoun use (we talk) may be a factor in this. During a home interview, 57 HF patients (46 men and 16 women) and their spouses discussed how they coped with the patients' health problems. Analysis of pronoun counts from both partners revealed that we talk by the spouse, but not the patient, independently predicted positive change in the patient's HF symptoms and general health over the next 6 months and did so better than direct self-report measures of marital quality and the communal coping construct. We talk by the patient and spouse did not correlate, however, and gender had no apparent moderating effects on how pronoun use predicted health change. The results highlight the utility of automatic text analysis in couple-interaction research and provide further evidence that looking beyond the patient can improve prediction of health outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Low-level relationship aggression and couple therapy outcomes.

Increasing evidence supports the efficacy of conjoint therapies that focus on intimate partner violence for couples who engage in mild to moderate physical aggression but want to preserve the relationship and end the aggression. However, there has been no examination of how this population responds to couple therapy that does not have a specific focus on aggression. This lacuna in the research literature is of concern because couples with a history of low-level aggression often seek couple therapy, but couple therapy without a focus on violence is thought to potentially exacerbate aggression. In the current study, the authors examined the efficacy of non-aggression-focused behavioral couple therapy for couples with and without a history of mild physical aggression. One hundred thirty-four couples, 45% of whom had experienced low-level aggression in the year prior to therapy, completed up to 26 sessions of couple therapy and 2 years of follow-up assessments. Results demonstrated no significant differences in relationship and individual outcomes by history of aggression. In addition, couples maintained very low levels of physical aggression during and after treatment and showed reductions in psychological aggression when relationship and individual functioning improved. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The coregulation of daily affect in marital relationships.

This study examined whether changes in individuals' affective states are associated with their partners' affect when spouses come together in daily life after having spent time apart while pursuing individual activities, as well as whether such associations are moderated by individual differences in interpersonal insecurity and perspective taking. For 7 consecutive days, spouses from 166 married couples reported their affect 6 times per day on 2 dimensions, hard affect (angry-calm) and soft affect (sad/depressed-upbeat/content). Within-couple analyses indicated that spouses' changes in hard affect covaried, particularly when they scored high on interpersonal insecurity. Moreover, husbands' changes in soft affect covaried with their wives' soft affect when the husbands scored high on perspective taking. The results emphasize the interconnectedness of spouses' feelings when they reunite, and they identify key individual difference variables that strengthen interpersonal transmission of emotion in close relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)