Conflict, social support and relationship quality: An observational study of heterosexual, gay male and lesbian couples' communication.

Abstract

Data from 42 heterosexual, 46 gay male, and 33 lesbian couples were used to assess the contribution of conflict and support discussions to relationship quality. Couples completed questionnaires, and videotaped discussions were coded for levels of negative and positive behaviors. Correlations showed that behaviors were associated with relationship quality in the expected directions. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses assessed the unique contributions of individual and dyadic behaviors to the variability of relationship quality. The findings indicated that, beyond the contribution of individual negative behaviors in the conflict task, the variables of dyadic positive behaviors in the conflict task, individual positive behaviors in the support task, and perceived help accounted for unexplained variance in relationship quality. There were no differences between types of couples on levels of behaviors or on their contributions to relationship quality.

The Influence of Personal Characteristics and Relationship Properties on Marital Support

“…This type of finding is consistent with the results of the few previous studies that have examined the interplay between conflict and support in marriage (Julien, Chartrand, Simard, Bouthillier, & Bégin, 2003;Pasch & Bradbury, 1998;Verhofstadt et al, 2005).…”

Guidance for Reviewers: Observations After a Year as Editor

“…Sexual satisfaction and positive communication styles were significantly related to partner satisfaction (Litzinger & Gordon, 2005). Julien, Chartrand, Simard, Bouthillier, and Bégin (2003) found that communication styles in conflict and support situations were correlated with relationship quality, with negative styles of com munication having lower levels of satisfaction and positive styles of communication reporting higher levels of satisfaction. They concluded that aside from the negative and positive behaviors in conflict and support tasks, variance in relationship satisfac tion is responsive to the influence of both partners' involvement in a task (Julien et al, 2003).…”

“…Some of those other factors may include commu nication or equity. Other studies have shown that communication influences relationship satisfaction (Julien et al, 2003;Litzinger & Gordon, 2005). Positive communication styles, especially in situa tions involving conflict, are related to higher levels of relationship satisfaction.…”

“…Julien, Chartrand, Simard, Bouthillier, and Bégin (2003) found that communication styles in conflict and support situations were correlated with relationship quality, with negative styles of com munication having lower levels of satisfaction and positive styles of communication reporting higher levels of satisfaction. They concluded that aside from the negative and positive behaviors in conflict and support tasks, variance in relationship satisfac tion is responsive to the influence of both partners' involvement in a task (Julien et al, 2003). Although they did not find differences among lesbian, gay male, and heterosexual communication patterns, this could be a result of using measures designed for heterosexual couples.…”

Intimate Partner Violence Within Gay Male Couples: Dimensionalizing Partner Violence Among Cuban Gay Men

“…Fortunately, we have never even argued about this.'' Research indicates that, across various outcomes such as communication style, and gender and labor roles, gay and lesbian relationships tend to be performed in ways that are more equitable than is recorded in many heterosexual relationships (Julien et al 2003;Patterson 2000) and that, in terms of relationship satisfaction, it is often difficult to find meaningful differences between same-sex and other-sex relationships (Peplau et al 1996). Although couples in the current sample expressed concern over some dimension of their relationship, most also reported they extracted positive meaning from their experience with their partner and equated their relationship to the importance of well-established, familial and religiously-sanctioned relationships.…”