Although most efficacious marital enrichment programs are multisession, few studies have explored whether outcomes differ according to session attendance, particularly among minority groups with lower than average participation in prevention programs. This study therefore investigates attendance levels and long-term improvements in couple functioning among 164 couples participating in the Promo...

Can churches teach the significance of marriage? Can churches teach the faithful about marriage and how to live lives of fulfillment that honor Christ in marriage? We believe the answer to this question is yes, but only if churches choose to take up this important ministry. Certainly churches have a powerful basis in the work of building marriages (Stanley, Markman, St. Peters, & Leber, 1995). ...

We develop a two-sided matching model with positive sorting. Match quality for each couple is revealed ex post and those with poor draws divorce. We show that full commitment and Nash bargaining mechanisms both yield the same non-contingent intra-household allocations. We then apply our framework to an analysis of changes in divorce settlement laws. Changes in laws governing property division i...

We argue that the fragility of contemporary marriages-and the corresponding high rates of divorce-can be explained (in large part) by a three-part mismatch: between our relationship values, our evolved psychobiological natures, and our modern social, physical, and technological environment. "Love drugs" could help address this mismatch by boosting our psychobiologies while keeping our values an...

This study compared romantic relationships in which there was a substantial difference (> 1 SD) in the commitment levels of the two partners to those with more equal levels. These asymmetrically committed relationships (ACRs) were studied in a national, longitudinal sample of unmarried, opposite-sex romantic relationships (N = 315 couples); 64.8% (n = 204) of relationships were categorized as n...

Partner-focused petitionary prayer (PFPP) has received little attention in the prayer literature. In two studies, we examine PFPP to see whether it is uniquely important in conveying relationship benefits, whether its benefits are transmitted through an effect on relationship satisfaction, and whether one's own or the partner's PFPP is central to beneficial effects. In Study 1, we examined PFPP...

Female Breadwinner Families: Their Existence, Persistence and Sources We develop a typology for understanding couple households where the female is the major earner – what we term female breadwinner households – and test it using data from the first two waves of the HILDA Survey. We distinguish temporary from persistent female breadwinner households and hypothesise, and confirm, that these two ...