Marital disclosure and marital satisfaction: Direct‐effect versus interaction‐effect models

This investigation assessed two competing hypotheses regarding the relationship between self‐disclosure in marriage and the marital satisfaction of husbands and wives: an interaction‐effect hypothesis, which suggests the relationship between self‐disclosure and marital satisfaction for either spouse is contingent on the level of self‐disclosure of the other, and a direct‐effect hypothesis, which suggests that the marital satisfaction of each spouse varies directly as a function of the level of self‐disclosure of both self and other in marriage. The simpler, lower‐order, direct‐effect hypothesis is concluded to account adequately for the data.

Notes

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the Office of the Chief of Chaplains, United States Air Force, in this research effort. The data were collected by Dr. Gary L. Bowen and Dr. Dennis K. Orthner under USAF contract F33600–79–0423 and F33600–81–0029. All conclusions are those of the authors and should not be construed as an official Department of the Air Force or Office of Chief of Chaplains position, policy, or decision, unless so designated in other documentation.