Comparing the social support behaviors of violent and nonviolent husbands during discussions of wife personal problems

To compare the social support behaviors of violent and nonviolent husbands, we recruited four groups of couples-violent and distressed (VD); violent/nondistressed (VND); nonviolent/distressed (NVD);and nonviolent/nondistressed (NVND). Two systems were used to code couples’discussions of wives’personal problems. Using the Social Support Interaction Coding System (Bradbury & Pasch, 1994), no violent-nonviolent group differences emerged; however, as listeners, NVND husbands were the most positive and tended to be the least negative. Using a coding system designed for this study (i.e., Social Support Behavior/Affect Rating System), we confirmed the hypothesis that violent husbands would offer less social support than would nonviolent husbands. Relative to nonviolent men, violent husbands were less positive, more belligerent/domineering, more contemptuous/disgusted, and more upset by the wife's problem. Relative to NVND husbands, violent husbands displayed more anger and tension, VND husbands were more critical of their wives’problem, and VD men were more critical of the possible solutions wives offered. We discuss differences in the two coding systems relevant to the detection of violent-nonviolent group differences. Across both systems, few group differences in wife behavior emerged, suggesting that husband behavior better differentiates violent from nonviolent couples when wives are discussing personal problems.     

Family Functioning and Mental Illness: A Comparison of Psychiatric and Nonclinical Families

The primary objective of the present investigation was to examine adaptive functioning in the families of patients with a wide range of psychiatric disorders. Seven dimensions of family functioning, as measured by the Family Assessment Device (FAD), were compared across families of patients with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder (n = 61 ), bipolar disorder (n = 60 ), major depression (n = 111 ), anxiety disorder (n = 15 ), eating disorder (n = 26 ), substance abuse disorder (n = 48 ), and adjustment disorder (n = 46 ). Families in each psychiatric group were also compared to a control group of nonclinical families (N = 353 ). Results indicated that regardless of specific diagnosis, having a family member in an acute phase of a psychiatric illness was a risk factor for poor family functioning compared to the functioning of control families. However, with few exceptions, the type of the patient's psychiatric illness did not predict significant differences in family functioning. Thus, having a family member with a psychiatric illness is a general stressor for families, and family interventions should be considered for most patients who require a psychiatric hospitalization for either the onset of, or an acute exacerbation of, any psychiatric disorder.     

Gender differences and similarities in sex and love

One's attitudes toward love and sexuality are influenced by many factors, including gender. To explore the role of gender (and other variables) in participants' attitudinal orientations toward love and sexuality, data were collected in the United States at three time points (1988, 1992, 1993), resulting in a total sample of 1,090 participants. Data analyses showed gender differences in both sexual attitudes and love. Men were more sexually permissive than women (consistent with previous research), although women and men similarly endorsed other aspects of sexuality, including sex as an emotional experience. Men and women differed on several relationship variables (e.g., women were more oriented to friendship-based love, and men to game-playing love). However, correlational analyses showed many similar patterns for women and men. These findings underline the need to consider both gender differences and similarities in sex and love within intimate relationships.