Based on a social learning formulation of marital interaction, this study investigated the positive and negative social reinforcement behaviors exchanged within distressed marital, nondistressed marital, and stranger dyads. Behavioral data gathered from home and laboratory interactions were used to study distressed and nondistressed marital interaction. In the laboratory, a repeated measurements design facilitated comparisons of marital and stranger interactions. Results from the natural environment indicated that distressed couples, relative to nondistressed, emitted fewer pleases and more displeases, engaged in more conflicts and fewer recreational activities together. Laboratory data from a behavioral coding system also indicated that distressed couples engaged in fewer positives and more negatives during casual conversation and problem solving than did nondistressed couples. Both distressed and nondistressed married dyads were more negative and less positive than stranger dyads. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.In spite of the ubiquity of marital relationships there have been relatively few empirical studies of marital interaction (cf. Olson, 1970). Those behavioral approaches to marital interaction which have recently been reported focus primarily on intervention strategies (e.g.

This study examined hypotheses about the determinants o£ global ratings of marital satisfaction, the role of reciprocity in marital interaction, and the influence of external experiences on the marital relationship. Subjects in seven nondistressed married couples made daily observations of their spouse's pleasurable and displeasurable behavior for 14 consecutive days and also made daily ratings of the enjoyability of their outside experiences and of their satisfaction with the relationship. Multiple regression analysis, with satisfaction ratings as the criterion variable, showed that both types of displeasurable behavior contributed to rated satisfaction, accounting together for 65% of the explainable variance. For pleasurable behaviors, a sex difference was noted, with males emphasizing pleasurable instrumental behaviors from their spouses and females emphasizing pleasurable affectional behavior. Correlational results suggested that the immediate tendency to reciprocate displeasurable behaviors was stronger than that for pleasurable behaviors. The influence of external experiences was negligible. The results are discussed with reference to previous marital research and with regard to their implications for marital therapy.

On 27 February 2010, a magnitude M w = 8.8 earthquake occurred off the coast of Chile's Maule region causing substantial damage and loss of life. Ancestral tsunami knowledge from the 1960 event combined with education and evacuation exercises prompted most coastal residents to spontaneously evacuate after the earthquake. Many of the tsunami victims were tourists in coastal campgrounds. The international tsunami survey team (ITST) was deployed within days of the event and surveyed 800 km of coastline from Quintero to Mehuín and the Pacific Islands of Santa María, Mocha, Juan Fernández Archipelago, and Rapa Nui (Easter). The collected survey data include more than 400 tsunami flow depth, runup and coastal uplift measurements. The tsunami peaked with a localized runup of 29 m on a coastal bluff at Constitución. The observed runup distributions exhibit significant variations on local and regional scales. Observations from the 2010 and 1960 Chile tsunamis are compared.

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Rupture complexity, typically in the form of heterogeneous slip distribution pattern, significantly affects the local tsunami wave field. However, the effect of rupture complexity is not commonly considered in any form of tsunami hazard assessment. Taking rupture complexity into account significantly increases the computational load, particularly in regional‐scaled probabilistic tsunami hazard assessments (PTHAs) that usually require a large number of simulations based on synthetic scenarios. In this study, we investigate how the heterogeneous slip distribution affects the regional‐scaled PTHA by taking the South China Sea (SCS) as an example. By doing this, we update PTHA for the SCS by incorporating the best available information of seismic tsunamigenic sources along the Manila megathrust. We integrate a stochastic source model into a Monte Carlo‐type simulation, in which a broad range of slip distribution patterns is generated for large numbers of synthetic earthquake events. Green's function technique is employed to efficiently calculate the nearshore tsunami wave amplitude along the SCS coastlines. Our result suggests that for a relatively small and confined region like the SCS, the commonly used approach based on the uniform slip model significantly underestimates tsunami hazard not only in the near‐source region like west Luzon, as expected, but also in the relative far field, such as south China and central Vietnam. Additionally, our sensitivity test of the patch size effects suggests that large patch size is unable to adequately resolve the details of heterogeneous seafloor deformation, and such approaches considerably underestimate the potential tsunami hazard for the SCS coasts.

Specific patterns of interaction emerging in the first months of life are related to processes regulating mutual affects in the mother-child dyad. Particularly important for the dyad are the matching and interactive repair processes. The interaction between postpartum depressed mothers and their children is characterized by a lack of responsiveness, by passivity or intrusiveness, withdrawal and avoidance, as well as a low level of positive expression of affect. Thus, an impaired capability to regulate the child’s affect has been demonstrated in depressed mothers. Maternal aggression, neglect toward infants, infanticidal thoughts, as well as infanticidal behavior are mainly linked to severe postpartum depression, especially with psychotic symptoms. The findings on mother-child interaction reported in this paper are based on mothers with mild to moderate depressive disorders without psychotic symptoms. Considering the stability of interaction patterns in the course of depressive illness as well as the long-term consequences of these interactions, it seems surprising that there are still few systematic studies of depressed mothers interacting with their infants.In connection with an overview on these issues, treatment models forparent-infant psychotherapy are discussed.

The present study reports on the potential effectiveness of motivational interviewing (MI) in changing the way batterers think about their violent behavior. Thirty-three domestic violence offenders who were court-mandated to treatment were randomly assigned to MI or a control condition before attending their first mandated treatment group. Consistent with predictions, the MI group demonstrated generally more improvement on stages of change subscales than the control group. Further, the MI group demonstrated a significantly greater decrease in the extent to which they blamed their violence on external factors. Current data indicate that MI has the potential to increase batterers' motivation to change, although validation trials with larger sample sizes and more refined measures are required.

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