No description available.

This research investigated the relationship between locus of control (LOC) and marital adjustment in a random sample of 145 married graduate students and their spouses (72% of subjects contacted). Each spouse was given Levenson's I, P, and C scales (Levenson, 1972) and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (Spanier, 1975) to complete and return by mail. The null hypotheses for this research were as follows: 1) There is no relationship between husbands', wives', or the interaction of husband-wife LOC scores on the couples' marital adjustment. 2) There is no relationship between couples' LOC differences and their marital adjustment. Groups for the testing of hypotheses were formed on the basis of hierarchical cluster analyses (Baker, 1972) of individual LOC scores (hypothesis one) and couple LOC scores for hypothesis two. Multivariate analysis of variance procedures were used to compare groups on the basis of husbands' and wives' scores on the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. Null hypotheses related to individual LOC effects were retained while null hypotheses related to couple LOC interaction and couple LOC differences were rejected. The results indicated that 1) it was spouses' LOC orientation rela- tive to one another versus the absolute value of their individual LOG scores which was associated with reported levels of marital adjustment, and 2) the marital LOG configurations in which the husband was relatively more internal than his wife was associated with higher levels of marital adjustment than the mirror image configuration. This second finding was opposite to that of Doherty (1981) and Mlott and Lira (1977). Tentative explanations for this discrepancy involving conventional versus unconventional role performance, marital hierarchy, and possible intervening variables such as interpersonal trust were discussed. Recommendations for future research included the use of a tripartite conceptualization of the LOC construct specific to the marital relationship and the simultaneous consideration of other variables thought to be related to marital adjustment. / Ph. D.

Analysing the financial fate of the surviving spouse in French and Ontario law reveals him or her to be both a partner and an heir. The patrimonial union between the spouses is indeed a partnership which is terminated by the death of one spouse. Moreover, marriage introduces each spouse into his or her partner's family for the purposes of succession. The dual character of status of the surviving spouse is the basis of the argument, advanced in this thesis, that this duality represents an important commonality between the French and Ontario legal systems, notwithstanding the disparities between the two. One of these disparities is the surviving spouse's obligation, in Ontario, to choose between his or her matrimonial and inheritance rights, except when the deceased has expressly provided that he or she would not have to make this choice. Thus, while French law permits the surviving spouse to deduct the amount of his or her inheritance portion from the deceased's assets, even once the financial benefits of the marital partnership have been apportioned, Ontario law seems to be unable to distinguish between the partition of the marital partnership and the deceased's succession. After examining, in particular, the surviving spouse's rights pursuant to mandatory and suppletive rules of law, from the twin perspectives of spouse and heir, the thesis explores some examples of the tools used by spouses for estate planning. In particular, marriage contracts and life-insurance can dramatically affect, for better or worse, the fate of the surviving spouse.

Thesis (M.S.W.)--University of Hong Kong, 1991.

No description available.

Within the last few decades, many of the efforts aimed at preventing domestic violence and helping victims have focused on violence against women. In fact, in social and legal venues, domestic violence is often exclusively considered a women's issue. However, domestic violence, particularly intimate partner violence, does not discriminate on any basis, including gender. This research focuses on male victims of domestic violence in order to show that domestic violence is a human issue, not a gender issue. Only when all victims of violent crime are acknowledged and treated fairly can society begin to solve the problem of domestic violence victimization. The intent of this thesis is to explore the incidence of victimization, the legal and societal representations, and legal treatment of male victims of intimate partner violence. Through the analysis of case law and statutes, quantitative statistics, domestic violence resources, popular culture, and anecdotal evidence, this thesis evaluates the treatment of male victims of intimate partner violence in the legal system. Evidence shows that gender bias exists and can affect battered men in numerous ways. Male petitioners seeking protective injunctions, prosecution of their violent partners, and resources, such as treatment, counseling, or shelter, often face discrimination against men. By raising awareness to domestic violence committed against men, this thesis aims to contribute not only to the legal discipline but also to solving the domestic violence epidemic in society-against all people.

The present study examined the role that relational expectations play in determining marital satisfaction and in discriminating between married couple types. The discrepancy between one's expectations for his or her spouse's relational behavior and one's perceptions of his or her spouse's actual behavior significantly predicted marital satisfaction. In addition, this expectation/perception discrepancy was revealed to be a stronger predictor of marital satisfaction than agreement between spouses on relational expectations. There were few differences in relational expectations when compared across couple type, however when compared across individual marital type significant or near significant differences were displayed for the relational dimensions of intimacy, receptivity, mutual respect and frustration. A global measure of marital satisfaction was developed and the usefulness of this instrument is discussed.

The purpose of this study was to examine agreement of husbands and of wives as groups and to explore differences in responses within individual couples in the house purchasing decision participation relative to items comprising investment value of housing. The sample consisted of 144 married couples between the ages of 30 and 60 who had purchased their house jointly and resided in the Tucson SMSA. Non-parametric tests were used to analyze the data. The Kendall's Coefficient of Concordance measured agreement of husbands and wives as groups. The McNemar Test was used to examine significant differences in responses within individual couples. Results of this study found that for items tested in this study that husbands and wives do agree when making house purchasing decisions. Wives tended to respond with a higher perceived participation score both for self and spousal responses than did their respective husband. Twelve significant differences were found.

Changes in the affect of ten remarried couples during participation in a communication and problem solving skills training program was investigated. Subjects completed a questionnaire assessing 25 positive and 25 negative feelings toward the spouse every night for 56 days. No changes in specific feeling states or in overall negative affect was found. A significant linear trend indicating a progressive increase in overall positive affect was found for husbands, but not for wives. The findings provide weak support for the affective impact of the intervention program or the conflict processes model underlying it.

In a progressive income tax system with an individual tax unit, high-rate taxpayers have an incentive to split income with lower-rate family members to minimise the family’s total tax burden. This raises equity and neutrality concerns. Adopting a spousal tax unit limits the gains from income splitting, but the individual is the better choice on privacy, autonomy, equality, definitional, marriage neutrality and work incentive grounds. Once the individual is chosen as the income tax unit, the control model provides a strong policy basis for attributing both earned and unearned income to individuals. Income splitting, however, undermines this model as well as the individual tax unit. This thesis focuses on the UK’s approach to income-splitting in family businesses. The relevant UK income tax rules, particularly the settlements provisions, are inadequate for the task. Various possible reforms are examined. Incorporating a transfer pricing or ‘reasonableness’ test into the settlements provisions would strengthen these rules, but would make taxpayer compliance with an uncertain regime even more difficult. Another option is to expand the scope of employment tax by moving the borderline between employees and the self-employed or companies. Deeper structural reforms could be made to enhance the neutrality of taxation on different legal forms of economic activity. This would reduce the incentives to incorporate for tax savings, including from income splitting. Integration of income tax and NICs is one such option; a dual income tax is another. A TAAR or GAAR also could be pursued. Ultimately, some combination of these various reform options could provide a partial solution to this challenging issue.