PSCY 320

Tim and Maria have been married for 12 years; they have 2 children, Nicole (7) and Natalie (4). Tim works as a fireman, while Maria is a stay at home mom. Since Tim works two days a week in 48 hour increments, he felt that he had the time to start a landscaping business to bring in extra money so Maria could stay home. He works at his landscaping business around his schedule at the firehouse. Maria, on the other hand, does the bookkeeping for the landscaping company.
Before having children, Maria worked fulltime and made good money, she was confident in her life choices, and seemed to be happy with all of her accomplishments. Once the decision was made to start a family, Tim and Maria thought the best option was for Maria to quit her job and stay at home with the children. Not long after the second child was born, Maria fell into a depressed state. She felt that she was not pulling her weight around the house financially, she had gained weight, and she thought she was losing the attention of her husband.
Tim is never home to help with the girls and when he is home, he is busy arranging his next days schedule. He works at least six days a week and sometimes seven. He does not mind the amount of work that he puts in because he knows that his family is well taken care of financially and physically. Their daughters know that Daddy works very hard to buy the things they have, and Mommy will make sure that their needs are met. Tim is at a point in his life where he feels unappreciated by Maria because when he does come home from work, all she does is talk negatively to him about everything. She never has anything positive to say anymore. He wants to come home to the smiling wife that used to greet him at the door seven years ago.
The three theories that I am going to use in order to try to solve their marital problems are Horney, Maslow, and Rogers. When