Marital quality, coping with conflict, marital complaints, and affection in couples with a depressed wife.

This study compared 3 groups of women--outpatient depressed, inpatient depressed, and community control--and their husbands on a range of variables including marital functioning and styles of coping with conflict. Outpatient depressed couples reported greater marital distress and more destructive and less constructive tactics for resolving conflict than did community control couples. They also were more likely to have been previously married and to express regrets about having married their current husbands. There were smaller and less consistent differences for couples with inpatient depressed spouses, although inpatient couples with younger wives were similar to outpatient depressed couples. Both groups of depressed women and their husbands reported fewer expressions of affection and more complaints about the marriage than did control couples. Results are discussed in terms of interpersonal perspectives on depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessing conflict communication in couples: Comparing the validity of self-report, partner-report, and observer ratings.

This study of married couples investigated the short-term predictive validity of the partner-report and self-report scales of the Conflict Communication Inventory and compared the validity of these scales with the validity of observer ratings. A sample of 83 married couples completed two problem-solving conversations. Self-report, partner-report, and observer ratings from Conversation 1 were used to predict behavior in Conversation 2, as rated by a separate panel of observers. The short-term predictive validity of partner-report ratings was extremely high and indistinguishable from the validity of observer ratings. Self-report ratings also demonstrated good validity, albeit slightly lower than other methods. Both partner-report and self-report scores explained a substantial amount of variance in concurrent observer ratings of communication after controlling for relationship satisfaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Positive and negative characteristics of marital interaction and their association with marital satisfaction in middle-aged and older couples.

The study examined age differences in positive (e.g., warm) and negative (e.g., hostile) characteristics of marital interactions between middle-aged and older couples and whether these characteristics were differentially associated with marital satisfaction by age. Spouses' perception of partners' positive and negative behavior during marital interaction was assessed in general and following disagreement and collaborative tasks. Trained observers coded spouses' positive and negative behavior during interactions. Older individuals reported higher marital satisfaction and perceived their spouse's behavior as less negative in general and more positive across all contexts than middle-aged individuals. Spouses' perceptions of their partners' positive and negative behavior independently predicted marital satisfaction for both age groups across contexts. Perceptions of partners' negative behavior in general and of both positive and negative behavior in the disagreement task were more closely associated with marital satisfaction for older spouses than for middle-aged spouses. Results point to the importance of positive and negative characteristics in marital functioning across age cohorts and indicate that such characteristics may be context dependent. Findings suggest that, in some contexts, both positive and negative characteristics are more salient for older adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aggressive marital conflict, maternal harsh punishment, and child aggressive-disruptive behavior: Evidence for direct and mediated relations.

Direct associations between aggressive marital conflict and child aggressive-disruptive behavior at home and school were explored in this cross-sectional study of 360 kindergarten children. In addition, mediated pathways linking aggressive marital conflict to maternal harsh punishment to child aggressive-disruptive behavior were examined. Moderation analyses explored how the overall frequency of marital disagreement might buffer or exacerbate the impact of aggressive marital conflict on maternal harsh punishment and child aggressive-disruptive behavior. Hierarchical regressions revealed direct pathways linking aggressive marital conflict to child aggressive-disruptive behavior at home and school and a partially mediated pathway linking aggressive marital conflict to child aggressive-disruptive behavior at home. Further analyses revealed that rates of marital disagreement moderated the association between aggressive marital conflict and child aggressive-disruptive behavior at home, with an attenuated association at high rates of marital disagreement as compared with low rates of marital disagreement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

A cross-cultural examination of the relation of marital communication behavior to marital satisfaction.

Numerous studies have examined the communication behaviors of Western, primarily North American, couples and have demonstrated a robust and reliable association between marital satisfaction and couple communication. However, there has been relatively less attention given to the generalizability of these findings to non-Western couples. To address this issue, the authors conducted an observational study of marital communication among couples from 3 different cultural groups: 50 White American couples, 52 Pakistani couples in Pakistan, and 48 immigrant Pakistani couples in America. The results show that positive and negative communication behaviors were associated with marital satisfaction within each of the 3 cultural groups. However, the American group's marital satisfaction was more strongly related to marital communication behaviors than was that of the Pakistani group and, to a lesser extent, the immigrant group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Investigating spousal influence using moment-to-moment affect data from marital conflict.

Gottman and colleagues proposed using a dynamical systems model to study dyadic interaction in marriage. In this model, each spouse's affect in each 6-s window is described as a function of an uninfluenced linear steady state and a nonlinear influence function of the partner's affect in the previous window. Recently, an alternative parameter estimation procedure for the equations of marriage was introduced, which is based on threshold autoregressive models. We apply this estimation procedure to data from a study of couples (N = 124) and newlyweds (N = 130) to compare different forms of spousal influence using the Bayesian information criterion. Although results show some statistically significant evidence for influence, this is only slightly greater than what would be expected by random association. One model of influence does not fit all couples. This suggests that for many people initial state and emotional inertia dictate the outcome of the conflict discussion far more than the moment-to-moment affect of the spouse. This latter finding is in conflict with most models of couples' interaction, which suggest that the outcome of conflict discussions are determined by the nature of the couples' mutual influence processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Trajectories of change in physical aggression and marital satisfaction.

Physical aggression and marital satisfaction were assessed in 172 newlywed couples annually over the first 4 years of marriage to examine (a) stability of aggression over time and (b) the degree to which fluctuations in aggression precede versus follow fluctuations in marital satisfaction. The stability of aggression varied as a function of initial levels of severity; spouses who were most aggressive early in marriage had greater fluctuations in aggression. Rates of change in aggression predicted changes in satisfaction more than dissatisfaction predicted aggression. Husbands' physical aggression predicted marital discord, whereas wives' aggression predicted marital dissolution. By indicating that aggression (a) is a precursor to adverse marital outcomes and (b) varies across spouses in initial levels and in patterns of temporal change, the present findings highlight the need to understand the contextual factors that govern within-person and within-couple fluctuations in intimate violence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A cross-cultural analysis of the demand-withdraw marital interaction: Observing couples from a developing country.

The authors used cross-cultural methodology to examine the demand-withdraw pattern of marital communication. In Western countries, women usually make more demands, whereas men are more likely to withdraw. But the recently advanced marital structure hypothesis suggests that this pattern can be altered by gender roles and beliefs, particularly in traditional marriages. To test such hypotheses, the authors conducted an observational study of marital communication across very different cultures, with varying levels of patriarchy (i.e., 50 White American couples, 52 Pakistani couples in Pakistan, and 48 immigrant Pakistani couples in America). Across cultures, demand-withdraw communication was related to marital distress, extending previous findings to new groups. However, the findings challenge the notion that demanding and withdrawing behaviors are inherently male or female; rather, the results point to the relevance of contextual factors, specifically gender power differences and acculturation, in understanding the demand-withdraw marital interaction pattern. Therapists working with foreign or immigrant couples must consider the cross-cultural generalizability of existing theories of marital communication. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conflict and collaboration in middle-aged and older couples: I. Age differences in agency and communion during marital interaction.

Prior theory and research regarding age differences in marital interaction suggest that older couples display and experience more positivity and less negativity than middle-aged couples. However, studies of overt behavior in older couples are relatively rare and have emphasized disagreement, neglecting other important contexts for older couples such as collaboration during everyday problem solving. Further, the affiliation or communion dimension of social interaction (i.e., warmth vs. hostility) is commonly assessed but not the control or agency dimension (e.g., dominance vs. submissiveness). The present study examined affect, cognitive appraisals, and overt behavior during disagreement (i.e., discussing a current conflict) and collaboration (i.e., planning errands) in 300 middle-aged and older married couples. Older couples reported less negative affect during disagreement and rated spouses as warmer than did middle-aged couples. However, these effects were eliminated when older couples’ greater marital satisfaction was controlled. For observed behavior, older couples displayed little evidence of greater positivity and reduced negativity—especially women. During collaboration, older couples displayed a unique blend of warmth and control, suggesting a greater focus on emotional and social concerns during problem solving. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive word use during marital conflict and increases in proinflammatory cytokines.

Objective: To examine whether greater cognitive engagement during a marital conflict discussion, as evidenced by use of words that suggest thinking and meaning-making, results in attenuated proinflammatory cytokine increases to stress and wounding. Design: Husbands and wives (N = 84 individuals) were observed during two separate 24-hr visits: each visit included a wounding procedure, which was followed by a nonconflictive marital discussion (first visit) and a conflictive marital discussion (second visit). Main Outcome Measures: Serum proinflammatory cytokines interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). Results: Individuals who used more cognitive processing words during the conflict discussion (but not the nonconflictive discussion) showed smaller increases in serum IL-6 and TNF-α over 24 hours; they also had lower levels of both cytokines 24 hours after baseline controlling for demographics, hostility, depressed mood, positive and negative interactions, and marital quality. Effects of word use were not mediated by ruminative thoughts after conflict. Although both men and women benefited from their own cognitive engagement, only husbands' IL-6 patterns were affected by spouses' engagement. Conclusion: In accord with research demonstrating the value of cognitive processing in emotional disclosure, this research suggests that productive communication patterns may help mitigate the adverse effects of relationship conflict on inflammatory dysregulation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conflict and collaboration in middle-aged and older couples: II. Cardiovascular reactivity during marital interaction.

Marital strain confers risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), perhaps though cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) to stressful marital interactions. CVR to marital stressors may differ between middle-age and older adults, and types of marital interactions that evoke CVR may also differ across these age groups, as relationship contexts and stressors differ with age. The authors examined cardiovascular responses to a marital conflict discussion and collaborative problem solving in 300 middle-aged and older married couples. Marital conflict evoked greater increases in blood pressure, cardiac output, and cardiac sympathetic activation than did collaboration. Older couples displayed smaller heart rate responses to conflict than did middle-aged couples but larger blood pressure responses to collaboration—especially in older men. These effects were maintained during a posttask recovery period. Women did not display greater CVR than men on any measure or in either interaction context, though they did display greater parasympathetic withdrawal. CVR to marital conflict could contribute to the association of marital strain with CVD for middle-aged and older men and women, but other age-related marital contexts (e.g., collaboration among older couples) may also contribute to this mechanism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relations between spouses' depressive symptoms and marital conflict: A longitudinal investigation of the role of conflict resolution styles.

This study investigated longitudinal relations between spouses' depressive symptoms and styles of conflict resolution displayed by husbands and wives in marital conflict, including angry, depressive, and constructive patterns of expression. Behavioral observations were made from a community sample of 276 couples during marital conflict resolution tasks once a year for 3 years. Couples were observed engaging in a major and minor conflict resolution task. Constructive, angry, and depressive conflict resolution styles were derived from the behavioral observation coding. Couples self-reported on depressive symptoms and marital dissatisfaction. Path analyses provided support for an extension of the marital discord model of depression (Beach, Sandeen, & O'Leary, 1990). Specifically, angry, depressive, and constructive styles of conflict each mediated the link between marital dissatisfaction and depressive symptoms. Significant cross-spouse effects were found. Implications for the treatment of depressed and/or relationally discordant couples are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Religious commitment, adult attachment, and marital adjustment in newly married couples.

Existing literature on the role of religiosity in marital functioning is often difficult to interpret due to the frequent use of convenience samples, statistical approaches inadequate for interdependent dyadic data, and the lack of a theoretical framework. The current study examined the effects of religious commitment and insecure attachment on marital adjustment. Newly married couples who did not have children (N = 92 couples, 184 individuals) completed measures of religious commitment, adult attachment, and marital functioning. There was a small positive association between religious commitment and marital adjustment. Religious commitment buffered the negative association between attachment avoidance and marital adjustment, but exacerbated the negative association between attachment anxiety and marital adjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anxiety disorders and intimate relationships: A study of daily processes in couples.

Although adults with anxiety disorders often report interpersonal distress, the degree to which anxiety is linked to the quality of close relationships remains unclear. The authors examined the relational impact of anxiety by sampling the daily mood and relationship quality of 33 couples in which the wife was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Use of a daily process design improved on prior methodologies by capturing relational processes closer to their actual occurrence and in the setting of the diagnosed partner’s anxiety. Analyses revealed significant associations between wives’ daily anxiety and both partners’ perceptions of relationship quality. Associations were moderated by anxiety-specific support. Results also indicated significant concordance between wives’ daily anxiety and husbands’ distress. Concordance was stronger for husbands who reported frequent accommodation of wives’ anxiety symptoms. Findings are discussed in the context of existing evidence on the social costs of anxiety disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children and marital conflict resolution: Implications for emotional security and adjustment.

This study addresses multiple gaps in understanding the implications of marital conflict resolution for children. Mothers' diary home reports (N = 102 mothers, N = 578 reports) of marital conflict resolution (i.e., compromise, apology, submission, agreement to disagree, withdrawal) and of children's responses, along with the reactions of children (N = 163) to analogue presentations of the same conflict endings in the laboratory, were examined. The significance of specific marital conflict endings, including the emotionality of endings, was supported and demonstrated for the first time in the home. Parents' and children's appraisals of resolution were generally similar, although for some endings these appraisals differed, supporting the notion that children are sensitive to the broader implications of conflict endings for interparental relations and family functioning. Children's responses to conflict resolution were related to their broader adjustment, further indicating the significance of conflict endings to understanding the impact of marital conflict. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age, marital satisfaction, and optimism as predictors of positive sentiment override in middle-aged and older married couples.

This study examined whether positive sentiment override (greater positive appraisal of spouse's affiliative behavior than is warranted by observed behavior) occurred more frequently in older compared with middle-aged married couples and whether age differences were mediated by older adults' greater marital satisfaction when controlling for optimism. Participants included 270 middle-aged (40-50 years old) and older (60-70 years old) couples who discussed a marital disagreement and completed an errand task. Couples provided appraisals of their spouse's affiliation, and the authors coded affiliative interactions using the structural analysis of social behavior. Hierarchical multivariate linear modeling indicated that older husbands and wives viewed their spouse's behavior as more positive during disagreement interactions than did independent observers; in the errand task, only older wives demonstrated positive sentiment override. Age differences in positive sentiment override were mediated by marital satisfaction, even when controlling for optimism. The results are consistent with theories of emotion regulation, such as socioemotional selectivity theory, that suggest that older adults are biased toward the positive aspects of close relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Demand-withdraw communication in severely distressed, moderately distressed, and nondistressed couples: Rigidity and polarity during relationship and personal problem discussions.

This study investigated demand-withdraw communication among 68 severely distressed couples seeking therapy, 66 moderately distressed couples seeking therapy, and 48 nondistressed couples. Self-report and videotaped discussions replicated previous research, demonstrating that greater demand-withdraw during relationship problem discussions was associated with greater distress and that overall, wife-demand/husband-withdraw was greater than husband-demand/wife-withdraw. Results extended the conflict structure view of demand-withdraw by indicating that this gender polarity in demand-withdraw roles varied in strength and direction depending on who chose the topic for discussion, distress level, and marriage length. Further, in videotaped personal problem discussions, typical gender patterns of demand-withdraw were reversed. Across the relationship and personal problem discussions, a pattern of gender polarity emerged when husbands held the burden of changing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Longitudinal relations between forgiveness and conflict resolution in marriage.

Does forgiveness predict later conflict resolution in married couples? Twelve-month follow-up data on conflict resolution were collected from the couples studied by F. D. Fincham, S. R. Beach, and J. Davila (see record 2004-11293-007), who had provided earlier reports of forgiveness and conflict resolution. For wives, the positive dimension of forgiveness or benevolence predicted husbands' later reports of better conflict resolution controlling for initial levels of conflict resolution. This finding was independent of wives' marital satisfaction and the degree of hurt engendered by husbands' transgressions. For husbands, the only predictor of wives' reports of later conflict resolution was initial level of conflict resolution. The findings are discussed in terms of the direction of effect between forgiveness and conflict resolution and of the mechanisms that might link them. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Appraisals of marital conflict and children's adjustment, health, and physiological reactivity.

Children's appraisals of marital conflict were examined as moderators and mediators of conflict and children's adjustment, physical health, and physiological reactivity. Mothers completed measures of marital conflict and children's adjustment and physical health, and elementary school children provided information on their parents' marital conflict, appraisals of perceived threat and self-blame in relation to parents' conflicts, and their internalizing symptomatology. Children's heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and skin conductance response and level were examined during both a baseline and an interadult argument. Higher levels of both self-blame and perceived threat functioned as robust vulnerability factors for children exposed to higher levels of marital conflict in relation to internalizing behaviors, health problems, and higher levels of cardiovascular reactivity to the argument. Further, a higher level of perceived threat was a vulnerability factor for externalizing problems associated with exposure to marital conflict. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Longitudinal relations between marital conflict and child adjustment: Vagal regulation as a protective factor.

Although associations between marital conflict and children's adjustment problems are established, less is known about child individual differences that can have an impact on these relations. The authors examined longitudinal relations between marital conflict and children's adjustment using a community sample of elementary school-age children and young adolescents and assessed the role of children's vagal regulation in moderating the conflict-child problems link. Elevated marital conflict was predictive of negative child outcomes, and greater vagal suppression to a simulated argument was protective against internalizing problems associated with marital conflict. Findings are supportive of the value of a biopsychosocial perspective and illustrate that child vagal regulation can contribute to the aggregation or amelioration of risk for maladjustment in the context of exposure to marital conflict. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)