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Given the low incidence of marriage breakdown in Malta, this study investigates the level of marital satisfaction among Maltese couples and how they manage conflict between them. One particular interest in conducting this study has been that of exploring how cultural beliefs shape marital relationships and to what extent Maltese clinicians can rely on the Anglo-American literature in their clinical work with married couples. Three hundred and fifty-four randomly selected couples answered a self-administered questionnaire simultaneously and separately. A number of findings, namely the influence of a child-oriented family in the level of marital satisfaction and the predominance of a constructive style of conflict resolution, differed from those we normally find in the Anglo-American literature. The study addresses the importance of taking into account the cultural context when working with couples. The implications for practice of the various beliefs embedded in the culture are highlighted.

This paper presents the authors' ideas about parenting adult children, describes some of the results of a larger qualitative research study and explores possible implications for practice. The study is based on in-depth analyses of narratives from interviews of a non-clinical population of parents of adult children. It represents part of an ongoing study to develop an understanding of an under-researched area of family life.\ud \ud \ud --------------------------------------------------------------------------------\u

This paper sets out to examine the family therapist's relationship to young children from a psychological perspective. Earlier contributions to the literature regarding the involvement of children in family sessions are reviewed briefly. Aspects of attachment theory and Piaget's theory of cognitive development are considered in terms of their implications for family therapy. It is argued that family therapists should be mindful of parents' responsibilities for meeting their children's needs, particularly their need to experience predictability and to have a coherent story about their lives. The importance of exploring the effects of adult choices on the children is also emphasized.The aim of this paper is to examine family therapists' relationship to the young from a psychological perspective.In a previous paper, my late colleague Harvey Jones and I tried to address the issues for the family therapist in deciding when and whether to involve younger family members in sessions (Dowling and Jones, 1978). We examined briefly the main aims of family therapy and the attitudes of different clinicians to the involvement of children in the treatment process. We then presented some ideas about how to make use of what we saw as the very relevant contribution of children. We suggested that even very young children can not only send out valuable messages but also benefit from the sessions. We pointed out how children can act as reminders of pain, success andlor union within the family. They often contribute by bringing to the surface issues avoided by the grown-ups. For example, a 3-year-old shooting in the air while the parents were discussing in a very intellectualized manner the wife's extra-marital relationship, could be expressing aggression that the adults were avoiding. However, many family