George Levinger's analysis of marital cohesion is used to define and evaluate attitudes and feelings toward marriage, and marriage arguments as symptoms of readiness for divorce. Data from London, England; Los Angeles, California; and Sydney and Perth, Australia indicate that status variables are very poor predictors of symptoms and account for very little variance in symptoms. Social interactional and social psychological variables that measure the immediate family environment are strongly related to symptoms in all urban areas. Joint marriage companionship is the single best predictor of symptoms. The importance of immediate family variables for marriage cohesion is discussed.
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