Topics of conflict and patterns of aggression in romantic relationships

Rational actors: Channel selection and rational choices in romantic conflict episodes

“…For example, consistent with three of Burggraf and Sillars' (1987) categories (i.e., leisure time, partner criticism, and lack of shared activities), the largest proportion of current participants reported experiencing conflict over how partners spend their time. Participants also described conflict over money, again, consistent with previous work (Burggraf & Sillars, 1987;Olsen & Golish, 2002). Consistent with Hsueh et al (2009) in the present sample, mostly in dating relationships, conflicts were similar to those reported by married couples in other studies.…”

“…People experience conflict in personal relationships for many reasons. Dating couples experienced conflict over their partners' problematic behaviors, life changes, third party involvement, extended family issues, finances, and communication issues (Olsen & Golish, 2002). Burggraf and Sillars (1987) reported similar areas of conflict between marital and dating partners (e.g., negative partner behaviors and finances).…”

Conflict and Control: Examining the Association Between Exposure to Television Portraying Interpersonal Conflict and the Use of Controlling Behaviors in Romantic Relationships

“…We defined conflict as occurring when a person's actions or goals interfere with another's (Peterson, 1983). Conflict causes pain resulting in feelings of guilt, rage, anxiety, resentment, loneliness, and disregard (Olson & Golish, 2002), as well as defensive mechanisms, including avoidance, isolation, and aggression (Bokar, Sell, Giordano, & Tollerud, 2011). One common finding in the literature on relational communication is the positive relationship between the amount of conflict in romantic relationships and the presence of relational control (Stets, 1993(Stets, , 1995.…”

“If you hit me again, I'll hit you back:” Conflict management strategies of individuals experiencing aggression during conflicts

“…In addition to providing demographic information, the participants were asked to discuss in detail the conflicts they had had with their romantic partners that stood out to them, involved the use of aggression, and spanned the most recent five years or the history of their relationship (whichever was less). Because this project was part of a larger data set, further detail regarding the recruitment, data collection, and interview procedures can be found elsewhere (Olson, 2002a(Olson, , 2002b(Olson, , 2002c.…”