'Love Doctor' comes to MU
Terri Orbuch has studied marriage for 15 years.
Published Oct. 20, 2006
When Terri Orbuch, known by broadcast outlets in the Detroit area as the "Love Doctor," gives advice to married couples on how to improve their relationships, she is backed up by more than just her own experiences and common sense. She has 20 years worth of first-hand research.
Orbuch was the keynote speaker Thursday in Jesse Wrench Auditorium for the Department of Human Development and Family Studies' second installment of their diversity lecture series. Orbuch's lecture, "Race, Gender, and Marital Stability in America," highlighted findings from her Early Years of Marriage project, now in its 20th year.
The project has followed 373 heterosexual married couples — 174 were Caucasian, 199 were African American — from the Wayne County, Mich., area since 1986 in an attempt to better understand the differences in both white and black marriages, where both partners are of the same race. Orbuch has been director of the project since 1992.
MU Deputy Chancellor Michael Middleton said Orbuch's lecture was pertinent in the university's quest for diversity education.
"As we look around the world, our country and our community — even our Mizzou community — we recognize that we are becoming more and more diverse, and that each of us is challenged to reconcile ... cultural differences that we encounter as we interact in society," Middleton said in an introduction to Orbuch's lecture. "That's sometimes a difficult task; sometimes threatening to individuals and sometimes confusing to individuals."
In her lecture, Orbuch said the Early Years of Marriage project strives not only to facilitate a better understanding of the racial differences in marital relationships, but also to discover the formulas for a successful marriage in a broader social context.
"Everyone has an answer to the most frequently asked question: What makes a happy and successful marriage?" Orbuch said.
Orbuch said that with the amount of self-help literature available today for advice on making better marriages, it is hard to determine which publications are reliable for a wide range of couples.
Orbuch said the majority of self-help books base their top 10 divorce prevention techniques on one-time interviews with a small number, usually 10 to 50, middle-class white wives who are in therapy or in counseling.
Orbuch said her project is unique in that it considers a wider demographic in the formation of its conclusions, namely the married lives of African Americans.
"The Early Years of Marriage program is the first of its kind because of its focus on how being black in American society affects the way marriage is developed, especially in contrast to these members of the dominant white society," Orbuch said.
Orbuch discussed key differences in the married life of the two races, including divorce rates, the division of household responsibilities and methods of communicating with one another.
Sophomore Katelin Shiels said she found the lecture informative but that she left wanting to know more than what Orbuch presented.
"I think (the lecture) was unique in the sense that she presented differences and similarities in the white American couples and the black American couples," Shiels said. "But also, I was wondering what were some of the studies on other races."
HDFS Administrative Assistant Marilyn Coleman said Orbuch's lecture was representative of her department's overall vision.
"One of the unique niches in our department is that we study family diversity and multiculturalism," Coleman said. "This lecture series is sort of to enhance what we do in the department."
Coleman said the lecture series will continue with another installment next year, and the department is seeking a Latino scholar to help balance the material that has been presented in the lectures given thus far.
Orbuch is known as the "Love Doctor" on her weekly programs aired on Detroit radio station WMGC/105.1 FM and television station Fox 2, as well as other networks throughout the United States and Canada. She is also a research professor at the University of Michigan and a professor of sociology at Oakland University.