Impact of message valence, focus, expressive style, and gender on communication patterns among maritally distressed couples.

Abstract

This study explored the sequential communication patterns of maritally distressed couples. The findings confirmed the presence of negative and nonnegative (positive and neutral combined) reciprocity. The results indicated that partners tend to respond negatively if their spouses have just spoken about the partners or the relationship and that wives are more likely to respond negatively than husbands, regardless of how positive or negative the communication was. Analyses demonstrated that the speaker's gender, the positive/negative nature of the message, the focus, and the delivery skill of the message did not affect the empathic nature of the partner's subsequent response. Correlational findings reveal that partners are happier when negative statements are expressed subjectively but positive statements are expressed more declaratively and emphatically.Marital communication has been found to be the most frequent complaint in distressed marriages (Birchler, 1979;Geiss & O'Leary, 1981) and is considered by marital therapists to be the most damaging relationship problem that couples experience (Geiss & O'Leary, 1981). Furthermore, among couples planning marriage, measures of their communication prior to marriage predict their marital satisfaction 3 and 5 years after marriage (Markman, 1979(Markman, , 1981. As a result, considerable research has been conducted on the precise nature of communication in marriage, and communications skills training is incorporated as an element of almost any marital treatment program (Jacobson & Margolin, 1979).Behavioral researchers typically have evaluated communication from two perspectives.

The gender debate about intimate partner violence: Solutions and dead ends.

“…There are hundreds of reports from the fields of marital studies and couples therapy research on the interactions of husbands and wives, particularly distressed husbands and distressed wives (e.g., Gayle, Preiss, & Allen, 2002; Walsh, Baucom, Tyler, & Sayers, 1993). Many of these studies use observational techniques to videotape and code couples talking about areas of disagreement, and so they present not only a different theoretical perspective but also a different methodology from the self-report and law enforcement data of most violence research.…”

Handbook of family communication

“…Marital communication is one of the most contentious and frequently complained about issues in distressed marriages (Walsh, Baucom, Tyler, & Sayers, 1993). The division of household labor ranks third among topics most argued about in marital relationships (Davidson & Moore, 1992).…”

“…The communication literature suggests that the partner most intent on creating change may be the one with the least power in an interchange; however, the topic of conversation may also bring with it unique issues and styles of communication. Research by Walsh et al (1993) offers some insight into the importance of the topic of discussion and its "valence," whether positive, negative, or neutral, in shaping communications. These researchers found that depending on the focus of the conversation (what we refer to as topic) couples were more or less likely to engage in negative interchanges.…”

Use of the oral history interview to assess communication and marital satisfaction in later-life couples

“…Other results included that a husband's empathie responding to negative statements about the relationship correlated with both partners' marital satisfaction. However, wives' empathie responding to nonnegative husband statements was significantly correlated with husbands' and wives' satisfaction (Walsh, Baucom, Tyler, & Sayers, 1993). Clearly, the type of communication and responses that occurred between partners was predictive of their relationship satisfaction.…”

“…communication than looking only at problem solving Bradbury et al (2000). also addressed the trend to focus on conflict discussions in their recent review Walsh et al (1993). used a non-problem focused communication task to assess sequential patterns in 56 distressed couples in their 30s, where the mean length of the relationship was 8.1 years.…”