Impact of distressed and aggressive behavior.

Two studies examined the hypothesis that distressed behavior induces negative emotions in others but also prompts solicitousness and deters aggression. In Study 1, 48 marital dyads rated various behaviors in terms of their feelings and reactions toward a spouse engaging in each behavior. Distressed behavior prompted both negative and solicitous emotions, but deterred hostile reactions. Aggressive behavior prompted negative feelings and hostile and argumentative reactions. In Study 2, 41 couples rated videotaped examples of a woman engaging in distressed, aggressive, or neutral behavior, with variations in verbal content and nonverbal affect. Examples of distressed behavior prompted more negative feelings and more solicitous feelings than neutral behavior. Aggressive examples prompted more negative feelings and hostile reactions. The studies indicate the importance of distinguishing between distressed and aggressive behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conflict resolution in distressed and nondistressed married couples.

Compared the communication interactions of 12 maritally distressed and 12 nondistressed (as determined by the Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Test) couples while they engaged in conflict resolution tasks. Analyses of ratings from 2 behavioral observation systems (Interpersonal Behavior Rating System and the Coding Scheme for Interpersonal Conflict) indicated that distressed couples made significantly more negative and fewer positive cognitive and problem-solving acts. Sequential analyses showed that distressed couples evidenced more reciprocity of negative communications as compared with nondistressed couples. The influence of individual spouse, couple type, and other experimental factors on communication patterns were quantified using multivariate analyses. The relationships of these findings to the etiology and treatment of marital distress are discussed. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological profiles of violent and nonviolent maritally distressed couples.

Compared 42 couples seeking counseling who had equal levels of marital distress but different levels of violence. 32 couples had experienced at least 1 episode of physical assault in the last year. Measures included the Profile of Mood States, the Index of Self-Esteem, assessments of violence in family and peer milieus, and assessment of alcohol use. More violent males reported alcohol problems than distressed males. Women in violent couples were significantly more anxious, confused, fatigued, and marginally more depressed than maritally distressed women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive and behavioral interventions: A comparative evaluation with clinically distressed couples.

Compared the effects of communication skills training (CST) and cognitive therapy (CGT) in 32 severely distressed couples. Ss receiving CST showed significant improvement on main targets, the Communication Questionnaire, and a relationship beliefs inventory. CGT resulted also in significant improvements on these measures. On the direct behavioral observation measure, CST was superior to CGT. A direct comparison between both conditions indicated that CGT was more effective on the main targets, whereas CST was more effective on direct behavioral observation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role expectation and role performance in distressed and normal couples.

To determine the relative importance of role expectations vs role performances in differentiating distressed from nondistressed couples, the Kelly-Tharp Marital Role Questionnaire was administered to 26 couples seeking psychiatric services and to 26 matched control couples. Distressed and nondistressed Ss were found to reflect very similar responses on expectation items and highly dissimilar responses on corresponding enactment items—findings that were particularly striking for items within the Sexuality and Solidarity scales. Methodological and theoretical considerations relevant to these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attribution processes in distressed and nondistressed couples: II. Responsibility for marital problems.

Examined attributions for marital difficulties in 18 couples seeking therapy and in 19 couples not seeking therapy; husbands' and wives' average ages were 31.7 and 30.6 yrs, respectively, in the therapy-seeking group and 37.1 and 34.8 yrs, respectively, in the control group. Ss were asked to rate their 2 most important marital difficulties on several dimensions and indicate the extent to which they blamed their spouse for the difficulties. Findings show that distressed spouses were more likely than controls to see their partner and the relationship as the source of their difficulties, perceive the causes of their difficulties as more global, and consider the causes as more reflective of their spouses' negative attitude toward them. Results support the contention that variations in attributional patterns within marriage are related to differences in marital satisfaction. Implications for marital therapy are outlined. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Marital communication: Differences among maritally distressed, depressed, and nondistressed-nondepressed couples.

Explored differences in communication and perception of communication among 3 types of married couples: maritally distressed, in which the wife was depressed; maritally distressed only couples; and nondistressed-nondepressed couples. Findings revealed differences both in the patterns of communication and in the meanings these patterns have for the relationship. The results suggested that depression within the context of a distressed marriage is related to (1) more negative communication both toward and from the depressed person and (2) spouses' lower comprehension of each other's messages. Among the nondistressed couples, the more negative their communication, the more maritally satisfied they were. The suggestion is made that "negative communication" might be used in a constructive way by nondistressed couples, whereas negative communication might be detrimental to distressed couples. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attribution processes in distressed and nondistressed couples: IV. Self–partner attribution differences.

The importance of the self–other distinction for understanding the relation between attributions and marital satisfaction is examined in two studies. In Study 1, causal attributions for naturally occurring behavior by the self and spouse were investigated. Study 2 examined both causal and responsibility attributions for hypothetical behaviors. In both studies, the attributions of spouses seeking therapy were investigated in relation to those of happily married persons in the community. The results showed that self–other attribution differences varied as a function of marital distress. Nondistressed spouses showed a positive attribution bias by making more benign attributions for partner behavior as opposed to self-behavior, whereas distressed spouses showed a negative attribution bias by making less benign attributions for partner behavior than for self-behavior. These findings suggest that self-attributions may, in part, determine the impact of attributions for spouse behavior on marital satisfaction. The clinical relevance of the results and their implications for research on actor–observer attribution differences are outlined. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reactivity to positive and negative behavior in distressed and nondistressed married couples.

Tested the reactivity hypothesis that distressed married couples react more to recent, high-valence events (positive or negative) than their nondistressed counterparts. 21 happily married couples and 20 couples seeking marital therapy collected nightly data in the home for 2 wks, recording both the frequency of positive, negative, and neutral events and global daily satisfaction ratings. Ss also completed the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. As in past studies, and consistent with a behavioral model of marital distress, distressed couples reported lower rates of positive behavior and higher rates of negative behavior than did nondistressed. Consistent with the hypothesis, distressed spouses were more reactive to recent events than were nondistressed. Their subjective satisfaction with the relationship depended to a greater degree on the frequency of recent positive or negative events than was the case for happily married couples. Evidence is provided that these reactivity differences were not simply a function of differences in behavioral frequencies and that the process reactivity is separable—both experimentally and statistically—from the frequency of positive and negative exchanges. The relationship between reactivity and other variables of interest is examined. (23 ref) (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)     

Desensitization to media violence: Links with habitual media violence exposure, aggressive cognitions, and aggressive behavior.

This study examined the links between desensitization to violent media stimuli and habitual media violence exposure as a predictor and aggressive cognitions and behavior as outcome variables. Two weeks after completing measures of habitual media violence exposure, trait aggression, trait arousability, and normative beliefs about aggression, undergraduates (N = 303) saw a violent film clip and a sad or a funny comparison clip. Skin conductance level (SCL) was measured continuously, and ratings of anxious and pleasant arousal were obtained after each clip. Following the clips, participants completed a lexical decision task to measure accessibility of aggressive cognitions and a competitive reaction time task to measure aggressive behavior. Habitual media violence exposure correlated negatively with SCL during violent clips and positively with pleasant arousal, response times for aggressive words, and trait aggression, but it was unrelated to anxious arousal and aggressive responding during the reaction time task. In path analyses controlling for trait aggression, normative beliefs, and trait arousability, habitual media violence exposure predicted faster accessibility of aggressive cognitions, partly mediated by higher pleasant arousal. Unprovoked aggression during the reaction time task was predicted by lower anxious arousal. Neither habitual media violence usage nor anxious or pleasant arousal predicted provoked aggression during the laboratory task, and SCL was unrelated to aggressive cognitions and behavior. No relations were found between habitual media violence viewing and arousal in response to the sad and funny film clips, and arousal in response to the sad and funny clips did not predict aggressive cognitions or aggressive behavior on the laboratory task. This suggests that the observed desensitization effects are specific to violent content. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Communication patterns and response to treatment among depressed and nondepressed maritally distressed couples.

Compared 35 maritally distressed couples assigned to 1 of 3 cognitive behavioral marital therapy (BMT) groups. Groups represented (1) couples in which 1 spouse was depressed at pretest, (2) couples in which 1 spouse showed psychopathology other than depression, and (3) couples who showed no symptoms of individual psychopathology. Ss were administered, pre- and posttreatment, the Dyadic Adjustment Scale and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). Pretreatment couples in Group 1 were the oldest and the least maritally satisfied, and expressed the most negative communication. 12 wks of BMT was an effective treatment modality for all groups when compared with a group of 12 couples on a wait list. BMT significantly increased marital adjustment for all 3 treatment groups and decreased the rates of negative communication. BMT significantly decreased the level of depression in Group 1 and the level of psychopathology in Group 2. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assumptions versus standards: The validity of two relationship cognitions in heterosexual and homosexual couples.

Assessed the validity of distinguishing between 2 types of dysfunctional relationship cognitions in nonclinical samples of 264 married couples and 92 homosexual couples. Assumptions are unrealistic cognitions about how people and relationships are, whereas standards are unrealistic cognitions about how people and relationships should be. Although, as expected, both assumptions and standards were related to relationship dissatisfaction, assumptions were held more strongly than were standards. Furthermore, the relation between relationship satisfaction and standards was mediated by the effects of assumptions. It is concluded that assumptions and standards are related but different dysfunctional cognitions about relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Marital interactions of drug-abusing patients and their partners: Comparisons with distressed couples and relationship to drug-using behavior.

Couples with a drug-abusing husband (n?=?17) and non-substance-abusing, distressed couples (n?=?17) completed several self-report measures of relationship adjustment and participated in videotaped marital conflict-resolution discussions that were coded with the Clinician Rating of Adult Communication (CRAC). Although no differences were found between the couple types on the self-report inventories, drug-abusing couples had higher scores (indicating more frequent use of dysfunctional communication behaviors) on 3 of the 5 CRAC subscales (i.e., Abusiveness, Problem-Solving Skills, and Attribution of Blame) and a higher CRAC total score (a global measure of communication skill) than distressed couples. In addition, the CRAC total score for drug-abusing couples was negatively related to husbands' percentage of days abstinent during the year before entering substance abuse treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavioral comparisons of children from abusive and distressed families.

Investigated the problem behaviors of 35 physically abused 6–16 yr olds in comparison with 36 nonabused children from a child welfare agency and 35 nonabused children in the community. Parental report of behavioral strengths and weaknesses was examined by administering the Child Behavior Profile. Results concur with those of previous reports that abused children display a significantly greater number of behavior problems and fewer social competencies than normals. The behavior patterns of abused Ss closely resembled the range of behavior problems shown by Ss from distressed families in which abuse was not present. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship of instrumental and affectional behaviors and self-esteem to marital satisfaction in distressed and nondistressed couples.

Examined the relationship of instrumental and affectional behavioral events to short- and long-term marital satisfaction. 11 distressed and 11 nondistressed couples made daily observations of their spouses' pleasurable and displeasurable behavior over a 14-day period. These behavioral ratings (on measures such as the Spouse Observation Checklist and the Enjoyment of Outside Experiences rating scale) were also related to several personality variables pertaining to sex role orientation and to reported activity during the 4 wks prior to the study. Results show a significant negative relationship between the frequency of displeasurable instrumental events and both overall and daily ratings of marital satisfaction. Affectional events were not significantly related to long-term satisfaction, contrary to expectation. Rates of displeasurable affectional events correlated negatively with daily ratings of satisfaction at a significant level. The most important finding was the degree to which wives' self-esteem correlated with couple-rated marital satisfaction. The need for further research that examines marriage as a source of mutual support and benefit for both partners is discussed. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting mild and severe husband-to-wife physical aggression.

Nonordered multinomial logistic models were used to estimate the odds of mild and severe husband-to-wife physical aggression in 11,870 White men. Being younger, having a lower income, and having an alcohol problem significantly increased the odds of either mild or severe physical aggression. A drug problem uniquely increased the risk of severe physical aggression. Marital discord and depressive symptomatology, but not work stress, further increased the odds of both mild and severe physical aggression, with marital discord being the most influential psychological variable. Compared with mildly physically aggressive men, those who were severely physically aggressive earned lower income, were more likely to report an alcohol or a drug problem, and had more marital discord and depressive symptomatology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of From conflict to resolution: Strategies for diagnosis and treatment of distressed individuals, couples, and families.

Reviews the book, From conflict to resolution: Strategies for diagnosis and treatment of distressed individuals, couples, and families by Susan Heitler (see record 1990-97228-000). The title of Heitler's book, although cumbersome, reflects well the heroic scope of her effort. She will not partake of the contemporary obsession for minimodels, so reassuringly precise, so frustratingly narrow. No, she will settle for nothing less than a comprehensive model of clinical work, a single framework capable of embodying all types of therapy with all types of clients. From one perspective, the grandiosity of this ambition seems laughably anachronistic, more befitting the early rather than the late twentieth century. From a slightly different viewpoint, however, the dramatic scope emerges as startlingly modern. After all, for some time now the myriad voices of eclecticism have cried for a serviceable infrastructure, a defensible and robust strategy for the integration of endlessly proliferating techniques. Heitler has given us such a framework. It arrives in the deceptively simple, pleasingly familiar concept of conflict. She defines conflict as "a situation in which seemingly incompatible elements exert force in opposing or divergent directions," and flatly states her assumption that "the health of any given system, be it an individual, couple, or group, can be seen as a function of its ability to negotiate conflicts." The focus of her work is not so much upon the content of various conflicts, but rather the underlying process through which they are handled. This is a book designed for immediate practical utility: It is replete with tables listing interventions for various problems, and it is fleshed out at every possible point with voluminous case material. Still, the value of this work resides not in its encyclopedic compendium of techniques, but rather in its integrative vision. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Young school-age sexually aggressive children.

As the full spectrum of sexual abuse sequelae is becoming known, a subset of child victims has been noted to exhibit sexually aggressive behavior. Their sexual behavior far exceeds the mutual exploratory behavior normally seen in young children and resembles more closely the behavior of older sex offenders. We present data from the psychological evaluation of twenty-two 4- to 11-year-old children referred for sexually aggressive behavior, including intellectual, behavioral, projective, and parent–child relational quality. Behavior problem data from these children are contrasted with data from twenty-two 5- to 13-year-old boys who completed a sexual abuse treatment program. Some differences appear related to the development of sexual aggression (e.g., aggression level, nature of the abuse, and family functioning) and are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)