Perceptions of marital interactions were gathered from a representative sample of urban newlywed couples (199 Black and 174 White). A factor analysis of the reports found 6 factors common to husbands and wives: Disclosing Communication, Affective Affirmation, Negative Sexual Interaction, Traditional Role Regulation, Destructive Conflict, and Constructive Conflict. Avoiding Conflict was specific to men and Positive Coorientation was specific to women. Wives reported fewer constructive and more destructive conflict behaviors. Compared with Whites, Blacks reported more disclosure, more positive sexual interactions, and fewer topics of disagreement. They also more often reported leaving the scene of conflict and talking with others more easily than with the spouse. As hypothesized, perceptions that marital interactions affirm one's sense of identity strongly predicted marital well-being. Although regression analyses predicting marital happiness yielded few interactions with race or gender, those that are significant, coupled with race and gender differences in perceiving interaction, suggest taking a contextual orientation to the meaning of marital interaction.

We present an evaluation of the extent to which an empirically based couples' intervention program was successfully disseminated in the community. Clergy and lay leaders from 27 religious organizations who were trained to deliver the Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP) were contacted approximately yearly for 5 years following training to determine whether they still used PREP and which aspects were used. Results indicated that 82% continued to use at least parts of the program, especially parts dealing with communication and conflict management. Results also showed that clergy and lay leaders extended the use of the curriculum from premarital couples to married couples. We discuss implications for future efforts toward disseminating empirically based programs into community settings.

This study addresses the meaning of marriage in the first year through themes in joint narratives told by 343 African American and White urban newlyweds in first marriages. Controlling for spouses’ education, household income, years lived together prior to marriage, premarital parental status, and length of narrative in logistic regression analysis, the authors found no significant differences between African American and White newlyweds on children, education, family, finances and time themes. They found significant differences between the couples on achievement, couple relations, religion, and work themes. White newlyweds were more likely to report achievement and work themes; African-American newlyweds were more likely to report themes of couple relations and religion. The authors discuss these results in terms of the different and similar meanings of African American and White marriages as well as implications for family practice.

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Fifty-three fourth- and fifth grade children were tested on postdivorce adjustment immediately before and six months after participation in an eight-week preventive intervention program. At follow-up, most showed positive change, with those at special risk for adjustment problems showing substantial gains. Results did not vary with sociodemographic or divorce circumstances.

Two main questions guided this research: (a) How do newlyweds' affective statements and interactive styles found in narratives told about their relation-ship help us understand the meaning they make of their marriages? (b) How does analysis of the affective statements and interactive styles of Black couples (n = 136) in comparison to White couples (n = 135) help us understand the differential meaning in these groups? The representative sample was inter-viewed from 5 to 8 months after marriage. The narrative procedure asked the couples to tell the story of their relationship. By and large, Black couples and White couples showed similar patterns of affective reactions: They were gener-ally positive, emphasizing individual rather than communal affects, many of which dealt with the external world rather than their own interpersonal lives. In comparison to White husbands, Black husbands are more often perceived as the focus of affective life in the relationship. White couples refer to the external world in their affective statements more frequently than Black couples. With regard to interactive styles in the storytelling, there were more Black-White differences. Although most couples' interactions were mainly collaborative, Blacks showed less cooperative styles of interaction and greater conflict than did Whites. Using the developmental, cultural variant, and cultural equiva-lent perspectives, the article presents interpretations of the similimilarities and differences found for Black and White couples' narratives.(Psychology; an-thropology)

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This study examined the processing of supportive interactions by dysphoric and nondysphoric preteens and early adolescents. Seventy-two youngsters between the ages of 10 and 13 evaluated the supportiveness and helpfulness of standardized, videotaped interactions between a distressed preadolescent and a maternal figure. The tape presentations varied in terms of the level of depicted maternal support and instructional condition (degree of self-reference). The results indicated that dysphoric youngsters evaluated both the supportiveness and helpfulness of interactions less positively than nondysphoric agemates. Group differences in support evaluations were most pronounced in the self-referenced condition. The level of depicted support did not affect processing differences. Dysphoric subjects reported lower levels of emotional support in prior relationships and a greater tendency to view supportive behavior as ingenuine than nondysphoric peers. Variation in prior support experiences accounted for group differences in the evaluation of the supportiveness of new interactions.