Journal of Marriage and Family (JMF) encourages submissions of manuscripts describing original research, theory, empirical findings, and analysis, concerning all aspects of marriage, other forms of close relationships, and families.
By Maria Schmeekle, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology at Illinois State Unversity
Posted by Nancy Gonzalez | April 04, 2012
Maria Schmeekle, Professor of Sociology at Illinois State, teaches family studies through a global lens. She began experimenting with a global/transnational/comparative approach in her Marriage and Family class. This kind of approach felt vital to her in a world that is increasingly interconnected, a world that we are sending students out to navigate. In this article, she offers some valuable tips.
The National Center for Family and Marriage Research at Bowling Green State University just released a new family profile titled, Marital Duration at Divorce, 2010.
In the past decade, policymakers and researchers have become increasingly interested in social programs that promote and support healthy marriages. A growing body of research evidence suggests that marriage has benefits for families and children, including improved economic well-being and mental health, and that children raised in two-parent families perform better in school and have more positive developmental outcomes than children from single-parent families (Amato and Booth 1997; McLanahan and Sandefur 1994; Waite and Gallagher2000; Wood et al. 2007). Inspired in part by these potential benefits of marriage, a wide range of programs have been developed to encourage and support healthy marriages (Dion 2005).
Generally, spending more time on the job is associated with an increase in work-spouse conflict which, in turn, is associated with less marital satisfaction. This is especially so when people are working more hours than they desire. People report increased conflict when they are working more hours than their spouses would prefer. Still, research findings on the effects of increased work hours are mixed. While some research indicates that wives' increased work hours were associated strongly with a greater likelihood of divorce, other research suggests that husbands' increased work hours were associated with a lower risk of divorce, even when husbands were working overtime. So it may be important to consider whether it is husbands' or wives' work hours that is at issue to understand the relationship between increased work hours and marriage. Also, differences in findings may reflect differences in approaches taken in studies. Some studies look at dual-earner couples, while others may look at couples in which only one spouse is working. (Author abstract, modified).
Closing Plenary Session - Official Conference Closing
Presider: Norma Bond Burgess
Divorce rates are higher in low-income neighborhoods than in upper-income neighborhoods, but most research about adult intimacy comes from studies on relatively well-educated, affluent couples. Dr. Benjamin Karney will describe the latest results from a program of research focusing on intimacy in lower-income couples. This session is followed by a related workshop on military families.
Video of Scott Stanley, Ph.D., presenting a talk on Sliding Versus Deciding. How New "Romantic" Paradigms Undermine Success at the University of Denver. 53 minutes, 45 seconds
The Marriage and Family Counseling Collaborative (MFCC) is a partnership group designed to inform, educate, and support providers who work with military Service members and their families.
The following resource guides were developed by the MFCC. The Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP) makes no claims, promises, or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the contents of these resource guides.
NCFR
