A study compared commuter and Merchant Marine families with traditional households in order to separate effects related to living apart from those related to the career status (single vs. dual) of families. During the study researchers conducted in-depth interviews with 50 wives and 30 husbands representing 58 Merchant Marine families of whom 22 were couples. Next, they compared these data with data obtained from an earlier study of 26 wives and 17 husbands representing 28 marriages in which the husband commutes to work. Although significant demographic differences in educational attainment, employment status of wives, and the presence of children and important differences in duration and pattern of separation distinguish the two groups, researchers found three common consequences of the couples' separations. These involved changes in the couples' relationships, wives' relative personal freedom and social confinement, and the feeling that they were leading deviant lifestyles. Based on these data, researchers concluded that separation cannot be interpreted independent of career status, because the latter implies different structural relations among couples as well as different resources available to wives that affect how separation is viewed. (MN)