Virtue and Marital Conflict: A Theoretical Formulation and Research Agenda

Abstract

This article presents a theoretical perspective and a research agenda for the study of the relationship between love and effective conflict management in marriage. Love is conceptualized as virtue. Five virtues, regarded as components of benevolent love, are considered: prudence, temperance, fortitude, justice, and charity. The contribution of each virtue to conflict management is considered in relation to static and process models of marital interaction and in relation to Sorokin's five dimensions of the variation of love. Ideas from symbolic interactionist, exchange, and conflict theories are employed as perspectives in the analysis. Propositions are formulated relating each of the virtues to effective conflict management.

Communicator Virtue and its Relation to Marriage Quality

“…A study was conducted based on the theoretical work of Stamp (1999) and Jeffries (2000) that assumes communicator characteristics predict communicator behavior and subsequent relationship quality. A review of the marital communication literature yielded 5 personal-relational virtues that tend toward the development of stable, healthy marriages.…”

“…Jeffries's (2000) review of the marital conflict literature suggested that the Aquinian virtues of prudence, temperance, fortitude, justice, and charity appear to influence perceived partner equity, problem-solving ability, anger control, the demand-withdraw pattern, and risk of divorce (among other variables) toward nondistressed, high-quality marriages. Jeffries's (2000) review of the marital conflict literature suggested that the Aquinian virtues of prudence, temperance, fortitude, justice, and charity appear to influence perceived partner equity, problem-solving ability, anger control, the demand-withdraw pattern, and risk of divorce (among other variables) toward nondistressed, high-quality marriages.…”

“…Instead, theorists have cast interaction in terms such as systems (Watzlawick, Beavin, & Jackson, 1967), dialectical tensions (Baxter & Montgomery, 1996), uncertainty reduction (Berger & Bradac, 1982), marital type (Fitzpatrick, 1988), and social exchange and social penetration (Altman & Taylor, 1973;Thibaut & Kelley, 1959). However, the advent of Stamp's (1999) model plus the work of Jeffries (1987Jeffries ( , 2000 and Baumeister and Exline (1999) opened the door to examine the role of dispositional virtue and its influence on marital quality and communication. (See Strom, 2002, for an expanded critique of these theoretical approaches.)…”

“…Jeffries (2000) cited an array of studies that indicate the role of objective wisdom in marital interaction and satisfaction. Wisdom is the contemporary term for Plato and Aquinas's prudence.…”

The heart of the matter : the gendered relationship of altruism and marital happiness.

“…Such love can be explained using a typology for benevolent love, including the elements of "prudence, temperance, fortitude, justice, and charity" (Jeffries, 2000: 234). This is manifest in loving relationship behavior, such as a willingness to settle disagreements with calm discussion, the ability to give, and the desire to put the needs of the other and the relationship ahead of incompatible personal desires (Jeffries, 2000: Bjomberg, 2004.…”