Months Of Marriage Research Articles

Psychological aggression predicts physical aggression in early marriage.

Psychological aggression by self and partner, physical aggression by the partner, and marital dissatisfaction were examined as longitudinal predictors of first instances of physical aggression during marriage. Subjects who were not physically aggressive at a premarital assessment were selected from a sample of 393 engaged couples. Couples participated in three subsequent assessments over the first 30 months of marriage. As hypothesized, individuals' own psychological aggression predicted their initial incidents of physical aggression in marriage. Psychological aggression by their partners also predicted initial incidents of physical aggression. Prior physical aggression by their partners was inconsistently associated with first instances of physical aggression. Contrary to our hypothesis, previous levels of marital dissatisfaction did not predict initial incidents of physical aggression. These findings were consistent across sexes. The results underscore the progression from psychological to physical abuse and have clear implications for understanding the development and prevention of interspousal aggression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Dynamics of food habits of newly married couples: food‐related activities and attitudes towards food

Sixty young couples were interviewed on three occasions—before marriage, after 5 months of marriage and after 21/2 years of marriage. The roles taken by each spouse in food provision and preparation are reported. Expressed attitudes towards food‐ and health‐related factors were also discussed.Wives took the major responsibility for food purchasing and preparation, although husbands played a significant role. The impact of children on these roles remains to be seen.After 2 1/2 years of marriage, there was a reduction in the number of shared meals, with the exception of the evening meal which remained the focal meal at which to influence a spouse's eating habits. The opportunity for more individualized meals during the day may lessen potential conflict over who gets their preferred foods in the evening.There were small but noticeable differences between wives and husbands stated likes and dislikes, and stated concerns about food. These may affect how much and in which way people are prepared to change their eating habits, and should be taken into account when planning nutrition education programmes.

Assortative marriage for physical characteristics in newlyweds.

The objective of this study was to estimate the degree of spouse resemblance in the first 6 months of marriage and to compare these estimates with those of previous studies on long-standing marriages. The participants, 215 couples, were selected from the marriage licenses issued in two counties within the San Francisco Bay Area. They attended one of several group sessions in which questionnaires were filled out and forearm length measurements were taken. Only the results for the couples of European ancestry (N = 164) are presented here since the other subsamples were too small to analyze separately. The husband-wife correlations for body size were found to be essentially equal to those in long-standing marriages. Thus, it appears that physical resemblance in couples is the result of initial assortment rather than convergence arising from long cohabitation. A significant residual husband-wife correlation for weight was found after statistically partialing out height. It may be that assortative marriage for food habits and attractiveness produces spouse resemblance in weight, independently of height. Alternatively, convergence in eating habits may occur during courtship and the early months of marriage which may increase the resemblance in weight. There was very little homogamy for eye color independently of race, and no evidence of assortative marriage for handedness.

Ex-nuptially Conceived Births: a Note on Measurement

This report explores possible measures of exnuptial fertility that will control for changes in population size and composition but introduce no new extraneous variables. A measure is selected which expresses exnuptial fertility as a rate/1000 unmarried women by age. However data on numbers of unmarried women by age are only available for census years and it is assumed that all unmarried women are sexually active and at risk of pregnancy. Australian census data is presented on numbers of unmarried (never married widowed and divorced) women aged 15-44 on exnuptial confinements and bridal confinements (confinements within the first 7 months of marriage) by age of mother and on exnuptial and bridal births as a rate/1000 unmarried women by age. From the raw data it is evident that: 1) the numbers of girls aged 15-19 are far more numerous than older age categories and 2) exnuptial and bridal fertility of teenagers is higher than for other age categories but there has been a continuing decline throughout the 1970s in exnuptially conceived births to teenage mothers. Conversion of the raw data into the rate/1000 unmarried women shows that actually teenagers have very low exnuptial birth rates lower than all other age groups except the 40-44 group. Furthermore although the exnuptial and bridal birth rates rose during the 1960s all rates for all age groups fell sharply during the early 70s. The data reveals differences in the distribution of exnuptial and bridal births by age. Unmarried women over 25 years of age tend to have exnuptial births while younger women tend to legitimize exnuptial pregnancies by marriage. Explanations suggested for the differential decline in the exnuptial and bridal fertility rates include increasing social acceptance of single motherhood stability of relationships the structure of availability of birth control and variations in family planning resources with social class.

The honeymoon effect on marital coitus

Abstract To investigate the rate of the decline of marital coital rates with duration of marriage longitudinal recorded data abstracted from diaries and calendars kept by 21 couples were examined. A substantial decline in coital rates during the first year of marriage, at least in couples who had no premarital intercourse, was found. Coital rates were only about half as high after a year of marriage as they were in the first month of marriage. Thereafter, there was a slower rate of decline with increased marriage duration. It seems likely that the rate of decline in the first year is partially dependent on whether premarital intercourse had occurred. It is suggested that the “honeymoon effect” occurs in each marriage contracted by a person. The arrival of a baby seems to depress (perhaps permanently) the coital rate of its parents. A tentative mathematical description of the decline is offered.

The effect of incongruent marital role expectations upon couples' degree of goal-value consensus in the first year of marriage

A longitudinal study was carried out in which the relationship between different patterns of marital role expectations and changes in levels of goal-value consensus was investigated among 43 newly married couples. It was found that couples whose expectations were incongruent, involving a clash between traditionalist husbands and equalitarian wives, experienced significantly reduced levels of goal-value consensus after several months of marriage. The goal-values which largely contributed to this effect included “healthy and happy children”, “a well-maintained house and garden”, “personality growth made possible” and “interesting day-to-day activities”. Congruent couples, and couples in which equalitarian husbands were married to traditionalist wives, showed stable levels of goal-value consensus.

Non-Marital Pregnancies in Australia since 1947

SummaryIn this paper, non-marital pregnancies are defined as the sum of ex-nuptial confinements and the first nuptial confinements delivered within the first 8 months of marriage. Analysis is based on the annual statistics of live births, marriages and female non-married population as enumerated in the 1947–71 censuses. The incidence of non-marital pregnancies increased significantly in Australia between 1947 and 1971. This was found to be mainly due to rising ex-nuptial fertility rates, and, to a much lesser extent, to increased frequency of pre-marital pregnancies. A lesser proportion of pregnant non-married women were married before delivery in 1971 than in 1947. Some of the social implications are discussed.

Fluctuations in marriage and divorce frequencies in relation to the month of marriage

(1974). Fluctuations in marriage and divorce frequencies in relation to the month of marriage. Journal of Interdisciplinary Cycle Research: Vol. 5, No. 3-4, pp. 327-330.

Some Techniques for the Initial Interview in Couples Therapy

Because concise and effective techniques for the first interview of conjoint therapy are rarely discussed in the literature, the authors have outlined a method of procedure they have found useful. The techniques include discussing the early months of marriage and courtship, rating the couple's commitment to the marriage by means of a simple scale, and introducing the concept of trading behaviors as "homework" for the marriage partners. The authors believe that the techniques will be helpful to the novice and the experienced marriage counselor and will offer a structure that will elicit maximum verbal and nonverbal information from the couple.

The Premarital Medical Examination and the Carolina Population Center

This study, based on a sample of 3,592 young people in North Carolina, has produced data concerning (1) widespread ignorance of the purpose of the premarital medical examination; (2) hopes held by patients that the physician will give the extended type of premarital examination and especially that he offer, unasked, contraceptive and sexual counsel during conferences with the pair who are to be married; (3) the need to extend sex education to younger age groups; and (4) the distinction made by youth about the respective roles of the physician and the clergyman. The premarital medical examination provides an initial opportunity to give sexual and contraceptive counseling to individuals as well as couples. Physicians could probably be of great service to patients if at this time they would suggest that the couple return to a physician after one to three months of marriage, to talk over problems or questions that have arisen during the initial stage of their relationship.

Premarital pregnancies and out-of-wedlock births in denmark, 1950–65

Although comprehensive investigation of child spacing patterns requires consideration of those births that were conceived before marriage, detailed data on such births often are not available, especially in the United States. Danish statistics on first births by duration of marriage and on out-of-wedlock births permit evaluation of trends in premarital pregnancies. For the period 1950-65, they point to (1) a rise in the percentage of all brides who are pregnant at marriage; (2) an increase in the proportion of first births occurring within both six and nine months of marriage; and (3) a rise in out-of-wedlock births.The trend for the country as a whole also characterizes Copenhagen, but at a higher level, and this reflects the capital's more urban character, greater permissiveness, and attraction to young migrants. Age differentials indicate that as high as 90 percent of all first births among married women aged under 20 years and over 50 percent of those to women aged 20-24 years are premaritally conceived. The rise in the number of first births among young women largely accounts for the overall rise in the level of premarital conceptions. Compared to its suburbs, Copenhagen in 1965 had higher levels of premarital conceptions. The overall residential differential stems both from higher proportions of such births in all age groups in Copenhagen (but especially those aged 20 years and over) and from the fact that Copenhagen has proportionally more first births occurrinq to women aged under 20 years, the age group in which the rates of premarital conceptions are especially high.

Bridal pregnancy in rural England in earlier centuries

Abstract A sample of 3,786 marriages, recorded in the parish registers of 77 rural and semi-rural parishes in 24 English counties during the period 1540-1835, is investigated. 49% of the marriages can be followed through to a maternity recorded in a baptism-entry in the baptism register of the same parish, i.e. the parish of marriage. Of these brides traced to a maternity, roughly one-third had their maternity recorded within eight and a half months of marriage and were therefore probably pregnant at marriage. When allowance is made for delayed baptisms, and for brides whose pre-maritally conceived pregnancy terminated in an abortion or stillbirth and hence went unrecorded, the proportion of 'traced' brides pregnant may approach one-half. Turning to the 51% of marriages untraced to maternities in this investigation, for a large number (perhaps two-thirds) the most likely explanation is the removal ofthe married couple from the parish of marriage before maternity occurred, for reasons unconnected with the bridal condition. It is concluded that there is direct and detailed evidence in the parish registers that more than one-sixth of all brides were pregnant at marriage, and that it can be reasonably deduced from the direct evidence that in fact about one-third were pregnant. The proportion of brides pregnant in the earlier centuries (before 1700) appears to have been only about one-half of that in the later centuries. Regionally, the highest rate in both periods appears to have been in the northern four counties. The social interpretation of these bridal pregnancy rates poses many problems for the social historian.

The effect of parental age, parity and duration of marriage on the twinning rate.

Summary1. Italian figures on twin maternities are analysed and it is shown that the dizygotic, but not the monozygotic, twinning rate increases with parity.2. It is suggested that the increase in twinning rate with age of father for fixed age of mother demonstrable in the U.S.A. and Egypt may be due to the effect of parity.3. It is shown that the twinning rate is higher among first legitimate maternities conceived in the first 3 months of marriage than among similar maternities conceived either before marriage or later.

The Novels of Elena Quiroga

Among the many young novelists writing in Spain today, Elena Quiroga is unquestionably one of the most able and interesting.' This talented author, who in private life is Elena Quiroga de la Vailgoma, the wife of a historian and specialist in heraldry, was born in Santander. A great part of her life, however, has been spent in the region of Galicia, her father's home and the scene of several of her novels. In a letter to the writer she recalls in a delightful manner certain experiences from her childhood spent in a village located on the banks of the River Sil. She now resides in Madrid but continues to pass her summers on the Galician coast at a place not far from Vigo. Her first novel, La soledad sonora, appeared in 1949, sponsored by the Diputaci6n Provincial of La Corufia. Like all her work, it is a penetrating character study. Set for the most part in a rural area of the Montafia country, the story is concerned with an introspective young woman, whose efforts to understand herself are heightened by an acute sense of loneliness in the midst of life. Finding herself a widow at twentytwo after but a few months of marriage to a man she did not love, Elisa Pertierra remarries and discovers happiness she had never known before and a spiritual fulfillment she had not believed possible. It is happiness short lived, however, when news comes that her first husband, who had been reported killed while fighting with the Spanish Blue Division in Russia, is still alive. The novelist's resolution of this crisis -Elisa's renouncement of both men to return to her childhood home and a solitary existence-will strike most readers as hardly acceptable. However, up to this point the work has considerable merit as a first novel and foreshadows many of the attributes of more mature writing to follow. Viento del norte (1951), for which Elena Quiroga was awarded the Nadal prize, may well be her finest work so far although the author herself is inclined to think more highly of subsequent writing. It is the first of her novels about rural Galicia in which one finds that attention to landscape and the elemental nature of life there so characteristic of the literature of the region. The theme is the love of an upper-class landlord for a rude peasant girl, whom he receives into his household as a foundling and whom years later he marries, attracted by beauty and charms of a natural, uncultivated sort. As one would expect, the vast differences in age, background, and social status separate Don Alvaro, the scholarly master of the pazo, and the rustic servant girl, Marcela. But an even greater obstacle than these is the fact that affection is onesided. Alvaro's love, which is tragically real and sufficiently great to overlook his wife's social and intellectual deficiencies, is not reciprocated. After marriage, Marcela continues to be inhibited and inarticulate in the presence of a man for whom she can feel little more than the respect of a former servant toward one who has been her benefactor. In time, this regard degenerates into bitter resentment for having been led into an impossible situation for one of her station. Alvaro endures this painful relationship with dignity and restraint although inwardly suffering immeasurable anguish. Shortly before her husband's death following an accident that leaves him paralyzed, Marcela comes to realize somewhat the extent of his devotion and experiences for the first time a measure of sincere love for him. But acknowledgment comes too late.

A fertility survey in the Maltese Islands

Abstract In order to determine whether fertility is declining in Malta, a sample was taken by the Maltese Central Statistical Office in mid-1955, along the line of the Family Census of 1946 in Great Britain. The size of the sample was 10,000, and the response very good. The sample shows no noticeable decline in fertility since the marriage cohorts of the beginning of the century. Some decline is noticeable int he fertility of the later durations of marriage, but completed family size remained more than 6 for the cohorts of the 1920's. This contrasts with the declining fertility shown by the enquiry in Great Britain, and the figure of 6 is in fact much greater than the completed families born to cohorts in Great Britain at the end of Queen Victoria's reign. Fertility seems in fact to be still rising in Malta for the first 18 months of marriage; and the first decade of marriage continues to show an average of 4 births. It seems therefore that the recent decline in the birth rate is to be attributed to chang...

Conditioning Patterns in the Family Circle

AN APPROACH to our appraisal of family success may well be made through the scrutiny of certain basic patterns family situations. These situation-patterns, appearing the course of the joint life of man, woman, and children, should be thought of as moving phase by phase from the early adjustments of marriage, through the coming and rearing of children, to the readjustments involved as children reach their independence. Passing one into another by gradual changes, these phases should each mean an advance from one level of interrelationships within the family group to a new level of enriching personal potentialities. Successful family life is recognizable where we can see a cycle of growth the interests that are fostered a family circle. Let us look at two or three such situation-patterns. First there is the period of adjustment between a man and a woman during the early months of marriage when they are in This phase is characterized by an intimate sharing of emotional experience that makes for an enlargement of personal outreach-makes for it, we say, since the enlargement does not inevitably follow. In-loveness, ordinarily regarded as a simple enmeshinent sex attraction, involves itself also a mixture of gratified ego. To be the supreme centre of interest to another person is one of the most flattering experiences life offers. Where two people seek, however, to keep up their mutual expression on a candy-and-flowers level, their devotion tends point of beauty and poetry, to grow stale. If their love is to last, it inust mature; it must grow and expand through a sharing of common interests of a vital sort. This first type of situation must progress into a second type. A second patterning of their situation appears with the coming of children, when another interest competes with the absorption of the young couple each other. With time a still further interest-the man's work,-comes to bulk largely his thought. The problem of maintaining a mutuality of interest becomes more complex. The usual interest on which the two join is the children and the bettering of the home. This may develop into a shared concern with their complementary roles as homebuilders, or it may get stalled as merely two people caring separately for the same thing. In certain divorce suits, for example, where husband and wife each seek custody of the children, one gets an impression that the child has not been a shared interest, but has merely afforded each party an egoistic claim for the same satisfaction. The maturing of relations on this level begins to demand of man and wife a social imagination that encompasses a fuller pattern of values and activities than appeared at the first level. A concrete illustration may make clearer the idea of family situations moving from one level to another. Here is a young man and wife, both personally attractive and both love. She is intelligent and capable, before marriage a successful saleswoman, whereas he, though a steady worker, can command but a small wage. His earning capacity, moreover, is distinctly less than that of his own brothers and sisters, all of whom are prosperous working people. The wage he earns however is sufficient to keep two people, and the couple get along happily on the mating level. As children come the situation