Develops a detailed profile of dysfunction and disablement in the open family system: its intrinsic defects, response to crisis, and likely process of breakdown when overstressed. Suggests that somatic symptoms of stress in children may grow out of accelerated independence combined with parental overinvolvement. (JAC)

Four major domains of research are underscored: family response to nonnormative events (e.g., wars, disasters, illness); response to normative transitions over the life span (e.g., parenthood, retirement); the importance of psychological resources and perceptions; and the importance of social support and coping with stress. (Author)

Notes the inconsistent findings that characterize research on marital instability and proposes several potential methodological sources of these inconsistencies. Presents an illustrative application to data from two recent national representative probability samples. (JAC)

Notes that family researchers can examine extent of self-selection bias in samples by using range of "plausibly correlated characteristics" such as marriage and divorce public records. Provides extensive case example of analyses and discusses compensation techniques of weighting and hazard rate models. (Author/NB)

Reviews several related literatures on family and personal correlates of adolescent problem behaviors with intention of providing integrative framework to guide future research. Presents model that postulates existence of two negative family types, psychological overcontrol and behavioral undercontrol, that place adolescents at risk for…

Examines the relationships between individual, work, and family demands and resources and work-related family problems among working parents (N=468). Presents a conceptual framework for the analysis of work-related family problems and documents the importance of several specific time demands and time management resources. (JAC)

Tested conceptual model of context, processes, and outcomes of joint marital decision making of married couples (N=188) which specified spouses' process variables as individual-level measures and partners' consensus as a couple construct. Found context factor of spouses' emotional interdependence influenced both partners' coerciveness and degree…

This paper attempts to identify appropriate theoretical frameworks for the study of Black family life. The author concludes by calling upon Black family researchers to become more sensitive to inherent "objective/subjective" biases in contemporary theorizing about Black families. (Author)

Examined the potential effects of correlated measurement errors among responses of wives and their husbands (N=349) on the utility of and expectations for another child. There was no change in the previous finding that wife's and husband's child utility had equal effects on expectations for another child. (JAC)

Tested exploratory model of stress process for dual-career women and men using a path analysis and data from 163 women and 149 men. Results indicated men and women were psychologically vested in both professional and family roles. Women reported no significant associations between having younger children and role strain, parental stress, or…

This review of the procedures involved in using path analysis provides guidelines for more effective future utilization of recursive path analysis in the field of family studies. (Author)

A typology of crises is developed to be used with critical aspects of the social system to predict both crisis and postcrisis period role changes. The crisis framework is then applied to macro-changes in family structure in response to an archetypal crisis, World War II. Census data generally support the hypotheses. (Author)

A theory relates amount of conflict in the sibling relationship to norms of distributive justice, or equity, within the family. The theory is limited to the parental referee role, and the consistency and congruity with which this role is enacted is hypothesized to directly influence the degree of sibling conflict. (Author)

A review of previous research has failed to demonstrate that a family life-cycle model is a viable theoretical framework for investigating and understanding patterns of change in marital satisfaction or discord in the American family. (Author)

An inventory with five subscales was developed to identify major kinds of coping used in dealing with recurring marital problems, based on 368 subjects. The final scale of 64 items was studied to determine the scale-score attributes of subjects sorted for age, sex, education, and years married, and for aspects of validity. (Author/TE)