Remarried Clients Seeking Marital Therapy as Compared to Those Seeking Family Therapy

Abstract

This study compared marital and psychological distress in remarried persons entering a university-related clinic for marital (MT) or family therapy (FT). Complete data from the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS), FACES-III, and number of children in the home were available for 82 remarried women (41 FT) and 62 remarried men (21 FT). A MANOVA indicated that MT clients had higher levels of marital and psychological distress than those seeking FT. Gender differences were limited to a single BSI scale. MANOVA results were unchanged when only those MT and FT clients with children were compared. Within MT clients, there was no effect of the presence of children in the home.

Key Words:

• Remarriage
• marital distress
• psychological distress
• family therapy
• marital therapy