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Ackno"WledgeIllents During my work on this study on marriage in Hong Kong I have been impressed by the interest shown in this subject by the many social workers from various agencies. The extensive help that they have readily given me in the arduous work of data collection and the open way in which they have shared their experiences in counselling has made it clear that the condition of marriages in Hong Kong, and the need to understand what makes marriages strong and what can make them go wrong, are matters about which they feel deeply. This concern has led them to offer their help freely on many aspects of the work and to volunteer their expertise and their time. I acknowledge with gratitude the help that I have received from the many front-line social workers from the Hong Kong Family Welfare Society, the Catholic Marriage Advisory Council, the Caritas Family Service, the Hong Kong Christian Service and the Boys and Girls Club Association, who did the hard work of data collection. I am also grateful to the directors and supervisors of the agencies who supported and encouraged their participation. In particular, I should mention Tom Mulvey, Lolita Wong, Justina Leung and Cheung Sui Kau, who offered helpful advice and critical commentary throughout the course of the research. During a visit to the University of Minnesota, David Olson encouraged me to look more closely at the usefulness of assessment measures in understanding marriage, and he introduced me to a wide range of rigorously tested instruments. From this, the exciting prospect of adapting assessment scales across cultures evolved. From a distance I have admired the work of Ronald Sabatelli of the University of Connecticut who has designed and tested assessment measures that seem to reflect the concerns of Chinese spouses seeking counselling. His very prompt response in sending his package of scales xii Acknowledgements developed in association with Erin Cecil-Pigo demonstrated the generosity of fellow academics who unstintingly share their work. The Dyadic Adjustment Scale was used at one of the largest family services in Hong Kong since it was introduced in training in 1989, and this agency now applies the scale systematically to all marriage counselling cases at the beginning and end of providing service. Gerald Spanier's readiness to allow the scale to be used for educational purposes greatly encourages cross cultural application and is much appreciated. At a more personal level, my appreciation goes to my colleagues, Nancy Rhind, who meticulously read a raw manuscript and helped to make it more presentable with her many constructive comments, to Patricia Gray for her useful suggestions, and to Law Chi Kong for vetting the statistics. Similarly, I have valued the many personal exchanges with Phyllida Parsloe of the University of Bristol, who has stimulated and pushed my thinking and helped to crystallize my ideas. I appreciate her critical reading of the manuscript. My reliance on Tarn Kwok Kwan, my research worker, has been fully validated. He has organised a large volume of material and produced exciting research analyses that have enabled me to find the links between theory, empirical data and clinical experience. The fact that our normal means of communication was conducted by electronic mail did not appear to deter him and he made light of the distance between Toronto and Hong Kong. I greatly appreciate his persistence and enduring patience . Finally, I should point out that the study would not have been possible without the cooperation of the one hundred and two couples who shared their experiences so freely and frankly. They offered their stories and the insights gleaned from the triumphs and the struggles of daily living, and their experiences have shaped my views. I am deeply grateful to them. Katherine Young 3January 1995 ...

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