Rebound from marital conflict and divorce prediction.

Marital interaction has primarily been examined in the context of conflict resolution. This study investigated the predictive ability of couples to rebound from marital conflict in a subsequent positive conversation. Results showed that there was a great deal of consistency in affect across both conversations. Also examined was the ability of affective interaction to predict divorce over a 4-year period, separately in each of the two conversations. It was possible to predict divorce using affective variables from each conversation, with 82.6% accuracy from the conflict conversation and with 92.7% accuracy from the positive rebound conversation.     

Assaultive behavior personality and personal space

Eysenck's Psychoticism, Extraversion and Neuroticism (PEN) Inventory was used to explore the role of personality variables in augmented personal space required by assaultive offenders. For both violent (n = 20) and nonviolent (n = 20) subjects personal space was greatest from a rear approach. Neither personality scores nor nature of offense alone predicted personal space needs; however personal space was significantly elevated in all directions for assaultive offenders with high scores on the psychoticism scale of the PEN Inventory.     

Incremental validity of spouse ratings versus self-reports of personality as predictors of marital quality and behavior during marital conflict

The personality traits of neuroticism and agreeableness are consistently related to marital quality, influencing the individual's own (i.e., actor effect) and the spouse's marital quality (i.e., partner effect). However, this research has almost exclusively relied on self-reports of personality, despite the fact that spouse ratings have been found to have incremental validity over self-reports for a variety of other important outcomes. In a study of 300 middle-aged and older married couples, we examined the incremental validity of spouse ratings of neuroticism and agreeableness in predicting concurrent levels of self-reported marital quality, observations of behavior during a marital disagreement task, and depressive symptoms. Neuroticism and agreeableness had expected actor and partner effects on each of these outcomes. Spouse ratings of these traits demonstrated incremental validity in estimates of actor and partner effects on marital quality, marital behavior, and depressive symptoms. Results suggest that spouse ratings of personality may be important additions to the typical reliance on self-reports for research and clinical assessment in marriage.     

Social influence techniques during marital conflict

The use of social influence techniques was examined in two studies of marital conflict. In each study, couples discussed two issues in counterbalanced order: one in which the husband wanted change and one in which the wife wanted change. Interactions were coded for the use of influence techniques. Evidence from both studies supported a social role explanation, such that roles based on who wanted change predicted the use of influence, whereas gender did not. Secondary hypotheses based on attribution theory and schema theory were also supported. When discussing areas in which they wanted change in partners, spouses made more partner attributions, were more likely to suggest change, and were more likely to explain their partners’behavior than when discussing areas in which their partners wanted change. However, they were more likely to ask questions to clarify the problem when discussing a change their partners wanted in them than when discussing a change they wanted. The importance of considering social structural variables such as social roles in examining conflict interactions is discussed.     

Understanding marital conflict 7 years later from prenatal representations of marriage

We examine how representations of marriage, assessed prenatally, predict different types of marital conflict (cooperation, avoidance/capitulation, stonewalling, and child involvement in parental conflict) at 7 years postpartum (N=132 individuals). We assessed representations of marriage prenatally by interviewing spouses about their own parents' marriage, and then rated the content and insightfulness of their memories. Results show that marital representations characterized by higher insight predict higher cooperation and lower child involvement in parental conflict, whereas content of marital representations was not a significant predictor of marital conflict. Further, individuals who remember negative memories from their parents' marriage with high insight were lowest on child involvement in parental conflict, whereas those who remember negative memories with low insight were highest on child involvement in parental conflict. Finally, women who remember negative content with high insight report the highest cooperation, whereas women who remember negative content with low insight report the lowest cooperation. For men, however, marital representations were less effective in predicting later cooperation. We conclude that marital representations, even when assessed prenatally, influence certain types of marital conflict 7 years later. Using such findings, therapists could help spouses gain insight into how the memories of their parents' marriage relate to the use of specific conflict strategies in their marriage.     

Daily marital interactions and positive affect during marital conflict among newlywed couples

The mundane and often fleeting moments that a couple experiences in their everyday lives may contribute to the health or deterioration of a relationship by serving as a foundation to major couple events such as conflict discussions and caring days. This study examines the role of playfulness and enthusiasm in everyday life to the use of humor and affection during conflict. Using observational methods, we studied 49 newlywed couples in a 10-minute dinnertime interaction and in a 15-minute conflict discussion. The conflict discussion was coded using the Specific Affect Coding System (SPAFF; Gottman, Coan, & McCoy, 1996), and a new observational system was developed to capture dinnertime interactions in a seminatural setting. We analyzed the data using path analysis and found a stronger path model when the direction of correlation moved from daily moments to the conflict discussion. These findings provide preliminary support for the importance of daily moments in couple relationships, but this research was strictly observational and therefore correlational, so further research is necessary to determine direction of causation.     

Dysfunctional beliefs, self-monitoring, and marital conflict

Relationships among relationship beliefs, self-monitoring and conflict behavior were examined in 74 married couples. It was predicted that dysfunctional relationship beliefs would be negatively correlated with marital satisfaction and that high self-monitoring spouses would endorse more dysfunctional relationship beliefs and display more disagreeing and leadership conflict behavior. Dysfunctional beliefs were negatively correlated with satisfaction but low and high self-monitors did not differ in their conflict behavior. Discriminant analyses indicated that marital distress was a function of endorsement of dysfunctional relationship beliefs; decreased satisfaction with decisions; increased conflict relevance; and increased impression management reflected in high self-monitoring orientations among husbands and wives’ beliefs that their husbands were not behaving “normally.” The contribution of gender and impression management to marital distress is discussed. This study was funded by a University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty research grant awarded to the author.     

Longitudinal transmission of conflict resolution styles from marital relationships to adolescent-parent relationships.

This study longitudinally investigated transmission: Can the way adolescents resolve conflicts with their parents be explained by the way parents resolve conflicts with each other? Questionnaires about conflict resolution styles were completed by 282 young adolescents (mean age = 13.2) and their parents. Path analyses with cross-lagged effects indicated that transmission of conflict resolution styles from marital relationships to adolescent-parent relationships occurs: Conflict engagement and positive problem solving in marital relationships were significantly related to, respectively, conflict engagement and positive problem solving in adolescent-parent relationships 2 years later. No significant longitudinal effects emerged with regard to withdrawal. Thus, the study shows that the way marital conflicts are handled affects how adolescents deal with conflicts.     

Treating Assaultive Men from an Attachment Perspective

Summary

This chapter explores the relationship between attachment theory and treatment of perpetrators of domestic violence. First, the authors present a brief overview ofattachment theory. This is followed by a discussion of how domestic violence research findings suggests that attachment theory is a good paradigm to understanding the phenomenonof intimate violence. Lastly, the authors describe the elements of attachment-oriented psychotherapy as they might apply to working with perpetrators of domestic violence.     

Preschool children and marital conflict: A constructive view

Effects of marital conflict on children are well documented, but few studies have examined the impact of constructive conflict. This paper examines scenarios of largely constructive marital conflict, and their relations with their preschool children behaviours, in naturalistic situations in the home. Participants were married couples and their preschool child, studied over three years (n = 33 at T1), with children aged about 2 years at the outset. Microanalytic observational coding of marital interactions and children's responses were conducted and contingency analyses were performed. Links were found between parents' relational control strategies and non-verbal affect and children's responses to parents' constructive conflicts. For example, parents' positive affect and children's interfering in conflict scenarios were associated. Children's interference in conflicts was associated with triadic relational sequences, regardless of parents' particular relational control strategies. Findings are discussed in terms of perspectives on understanding children's reactions to constructive conflicts in terms of broader marital and child systems.     

Communication patterns during marital conflict: A cross-cultural replication

This study examines the reliability and validity of the Communication Patterns Questionnaire (CPQ) from Christensen and Sullaway (1984). The CPQ is a relatively new questionnaire aimed at assessing marital communication at the dyadic level. It addresses communication patterns involving the behavior of both members of the dyad rather than just one partner. The CPQ permits the evaluation of communication in close relationships on three scales: (a) mutual constructive communication; (b) mutual avoidance of communication; (c) demand/withdrawal. Previous research among American samples has yielded empirical evidence concerning the reliability and validity of this instrument. The current study focuses upon whether the CPQ may also be applied to European subjects. To address this question, a German and a Swiss sample were used. Our results demonstrate that the questionnaire's reliability and validity also prove satisfactory among European samples. In both studies, communication avoidance and withdrawal were negatively correlated with relationship satisfaction.     

Pathways from infant exposure to marital conflict to parent–toddler role reversal

We know that exposure to marital conflict places infants at risk, but we know less about processes. One process may be role reversal, when a distressed parent looks to the child to meet unmet needs for comfort, intimacy, or companionship. A parent in marital conflict may be particularly prone to role reversal, which in turn adversely affects child development. The current study examined pathways from infants' exposure to marital conflict at 12 months to role reversal at 24 months. We sampled low–middle socioeconomic status (SES) families with their first child (N = 128). Independent observers assessed marital conflict (in a problem‐solving task) and role reversal (in a story‐telling task). We found that each parent's conflict behavior predicted the other parent's role reversal. In a direct pathway, mother's conflict behavior towards father led directly to father's role reversal with the child. In an indirect pathway, father's conflict behavior towards mother led to his withdrawal from her, which in turn led to mother's role reversal with the child. Clinical implications are discussed within a developmental psychopathology framework in terms of preventive interventions to offset the deleterious effect of marital conflict and role reversal on child development.     

Spousal conflict resolution strategies and marital relations in late adulthood

In this study, we examined differences in the spousal conflict resolution strategies of husbands and wives in late adulthood among a sample of 76 married Israeli couples (N = 152). Using dyadic analysis (the actor–partner interdependence model), we examined the impacts of the strategies adopted by each spouse as well as their partner on evaluations of marital life as reflected in their assessments of positive and negative dimensions of marital life. The findings revealed that integration was the most prevalent strategy used by both spouses, whereas dominance and avoidance were the least prevalent strategies. Moreover, integration contributed most significantly to explaining assessments of marital life.     

Children's behavioural reactions to marital conflict as a function of parents' conflict behaviours and alcohol problems

This paper examines how children's previous exposure to destructive marital conflict and parental problem drinking relate to children's immediate and specific behavioural reactions to marital conflict. Data are from 215 second-graders and their families participating in a larger study. Children watched analogues of marital conflict and indicated their behavioural response. Parents completed questionnaire measures of marital conflict and drinking problems. Children's exposure to marital stonewalling was associated with increased child intervention in conflict and decreased avoidance of conflict. Exposure to maternal drinking was related to child caretaking responses to escalated conflict. Exposure to paternal drinking was related to child mediation and avoidance of child-related conflict, but inactive response to escalated conflict. Boys were more likely to mediate and less likely to avoid escalated conflict.