Marital Interaction, Affect and Conflict Resolution

Abstract

By observing the problem-solving behaviour and affect of 9 non-distressed and 9 distressed couples the following questions were investigated: (1) Do non-distressed and distressed couples differ in affect? (2) Do they differ in the way they experience their partner's behaviour (=impact)? (3) Do observers and married couples differ in how they decode the behaviours? (4) Do non-distressed and distressed couples differ in problem-solving behaviour? The results indicated that non-distressed couples exhibited more positive affect while distressed couples showed more negative affect. The analysis of Not Tracking (the listener does not look at the speaker for at least 3 seconds) showed very significant satisfaction effects. Non-distressed listeners looked at their spouse much more than distressed listeners did. With respect to impact, it appeared that distressed couples experienced more of the behaviour emitted by their spouse as being negative than the non-distressed couples did. There is a good deal of agreement between observers and non-distressed and observers and distressed couples, though observers judged the behaviour of the non-distressed couples more positively and the behaviour of the distressed couples more negatively than the couples themselves did. Sequential analysis of the data brought more differences between the groups of couples to light than frequency analysis did. Frequency analysis showed only that Negative Solution occurred more often in the distressed group. When sequential analysis was applied, Consenting had the highest z-value for distressed husbands and wives, Interrupt for distressed husbands, and Dissenting for distressed wives.