This study investigated the relationship between stages of the family life cycle during the early years of marriage and marital dissatisfaction. From this basic goal the following three hypotheses were derived and tested:I. Marital dissatisfaction for both husband and wife is less in the first stage than in the third stage of the family life cycle.II. For both husband and wife the ideal spouse concept is the same in stage one as in stage three of the family life cycle.III. For both husband and wife socially undesirable perceived spouse concepts are greater while socially desirable perceived spouse concepts are less in the third stage than in the first stage of the family life cycle.A questionnaire consisting of background information, the Locke-Wallace Short Marital Adjustment Scale, and the Interpersonal Check List was given to thirty couples in the first stage (newly married) of the family life cycle and thirty couples in the third stage (oldest child of preschool age) of the family life cycle. Stree statistical methods were used to interpret the data collected: (1) chi-square, (2) t-test, and (3) Pearsonian correlation coefficient.

The purpose of this study is to use family stress theory to examine the relationship between age at first marriage and marital quality and divorce. Age at marriage continues to increase and the demographics keep changing. Past research suggests that early age at marriage has been a contributing factor to divorce risk. Marital quality outcomes can also give us an idea of how well couples are faring in their marriages. This study employs a sample from a longitudinal, nationally representative investigation (CREATE), which has followed newlywed couples since 2016. The sub-sample for this study comes from wave one and includes 1,811 women and 1,649 men. Using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression, I analyzed sixteen marital stability and quality outcomes and age at first marriage models for men and women separately. Overall, there were only a few, weak, significant relationships between age at marriage and marital stability and quality outcomes, suggesting that age at first may not be a particularly robust indicator of marital success, perhaps because strong norms for the right age to marry have diminished and couples who marry early do so because they want to rather than feeling they have to. Therefore, practitioners can help couples focus on more significant factors than age for marital success.

A career with Extension can be very rewarding, but also very demanding, as employees have to balance job stress and time demands with family goals and demands. The very nature of Extension work brings some tension between the job and family, and employees need to be equipped to make decisions about personal and work time. If the Extension System is to be a leader of positive change for individuals, families and communities, its employees must be able to find that balance. Previous research with 4-H agents has identified 23 job responsibilities that were stressors, with some studies showing a direct relationship between Extension work and family problems. To build on these studies and establish the current situation among Extension agents with 4-H responsibilities in the Southern Region, this correlational study examined the relationships and differences between job characteristics and marital satisfaction, how agent characteristics directed those relationships, and what coping mechanisms agents used to ameliorate negative workamily interactions. The study instrument utilized the Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Test (LWMAT) to arrive at a global score that represented the distress level of the relationship for each agent. Demographic information and work-related information was also gathered from the agent responses to the instrument, and then used to develop relationships among variables. The findings of the study were that agents experience the stressors in similar ways and amounts, but their perceptions of those stressors and how they affect marital satisfaction differ. The group experiencing the stressors to the most detrimental level was the members of the “Sandwich Generation,” which include employees aged 35-54, and who find their careers sandwiched between raising children and caring for aging parents. They, along with other agents, need to employ numerous strategies to cope with the stresses they experience, including prioritizing, planning, and building a strong social support system as the top strategies.

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Meta-analytic reviews of decades of comparative efficacy psychotherapy research consistently reveal that all tested models of marriage and family therapy (MFT) work, and they generally work equally well. Researchers have hypothesized that this may be due to factors common across models responsible for change. Despite a sizable body of common factors literature in psychology, such research in MFT is still in its infancy. The purpose of this study is to contribute to the development of a theory of common factors responsible for change in MFT. Semi-structured, open-ended qualitative interviews were conducted with three different MFT model developers (i.e., Dr. Susan M. Johnson, Emotionally Focused Therapy; Dr. Frank M. Dattilio, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; and Dr. Richard C. Schwartz, Internal Family Systems Therapy), Dr. Johnson and Dr. Schwartz's former students, and each of their former clients who had terminated therapy successfully. Transcripts were coded using the grounded theory techniques of open coding, axial coding, and relational statements. Coding was done utilizing a constant comparative method in which data were simultaneously analyzed and coded. Common factors fell into two main categories of model-dependent factors and model-independent factors. Factors within the model-dependent category include those aspects of therapy directly informed by the therapist's model. Model-dependent categories include common conceptualizations, common interventions, and common outcomes. Factors within the model-independent category include general aspects of therapy that are not directly related to the therapist's model. Model-independent categories include client variables, therapist variables, the therapeutic alliance, therapeutic process, and expectancy and motivational factors. Each model-dependent and model-independent category has several subcategories. Results are discussed in both model-specific and common factors conceptualizations. A sequential model outlining how model-dependent factors appear to combine to produce therapeutic change while being mediated by model-independent variables is proposed. The findings are integrated with the current common factors literature in psychology and MFT. Clinical, training, and research implications are discussed. / Ph. D.

Remarriages are more structurally diverse, last less time, are more vulnerable, and at greater risk for divorce than first marriages. The newlywed stage of marriage is a critical time when relationship patterns are established or reinforced that can impact a relationship for years to come, yet very few studies have examined remarried relationships in the newlywed stage. This study examined the association between marital interaction, positive communication, and marital instability in 348 newlywed remarried couple participants from a nationally representative sample. Using structural equation modeling (SEM) and actor-partner interdependence model with mediation (APIMeM), the findings indicated that positive communication was indirectly related to increased marital interaction and decreased marital instability. Wife and husband increased marital interaction was related to their own (individual) increased positive communication. Wife and husband increased positive communication was related to their own decreased marital instability and to their partner's decreased marital instability. These findings suggest that marital interaction and positive communication are important factors in promoting marital stability in newlywed remarriages. Implications for relationship educators and therapists are proposed.

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Extra-marital affairs are the main reason for divorce in western society. Pastoral therapists usually operate within a modernistic theology and use their 'expert' knowledge of theological ethics to confront the unfaithful spouse - a pastoral therapeutic approach that neither delivers the desired results, nor honours the client's expertise and freedom. This study endeavoured to socially construct pastoral therapy using the principles of postmodernistic social construction discourse with couples/spouses where one spouse is or was engaged in an extramarital affair. The relation between a modernistic epistemology and a postmodernistic epistemology, and how this relation affects theology, practical theology and pastoral therapy were explored. The propium of pastoral therapy in a postmodemistic paradigm and the implications of a narrative approach in pastoral therapy for theological ethics were reflected upon. A narrative description of extra-marital affairs was constructed and some of the cultural discourses which co-constitute extra-marital affairs were discussed. The pastoral therapist and clients were simultaneously in conversation with ethical discourses and relational, personal and emotional discourses, thus co-constructing new alternatives and possibilities. During these multiple reflexive conversations, some of the cultural discourses (eros; self-fulfilment; extra-marital sex and hedonism) which co-constitute extra-marital affairs were deconstructed. In the light of the usual limitations of the life-span of an extra-marital affair, the pastoral therapist and faithful spouses socially constructed alternatives and possibilities for their lives to enable them to outstay the extra-marital affair of the unfaithful spouse. Multiple reflexive conversations with (un)faithful spouses co-constructed, with relational and ethical discourses, a narrative approach in pastoral therapy. The use of externalisation and ritualisation in a narrative approach in pastoral therapy concerning extra-marital affairs was explored. A sense of guilt and secrets were also themes in multiple reflexive conversations with unfaithful spouses. This prompted reflection on the use of Scripture in a narrative approach in pastoral therapy. The relation between the biological-psychological aspects of extra-marital affairs and narrative therapy are also briefly explored. / Philosophy, Practical & Systematic Theology / D. Th. (Practical Theology)