This article reports the results of an examination of the daily conversational behaviors of 10 satisfied couples over a period of 1 week. Examination of the data revealed that couples’ conversations could productively be categorized into 13 categories (in order of frequency): self-report, observation, back-channel, other-report, TV talk, partner’s experiences, miscellaneous/uncodable, household task talk, humor, plans, narratives, positivity, and conflict. Additional analyses indicated that couples were more likely to engage in conflict, humor, household task talk, planning and observations on the weekend, whereas their weekdays were distinguished by a greater occurrence of other-report, self-report, partner’s experiences and narratives. Finally, examination of couples’ daily satisfaction indicates that Wednesdays and Saturdays were the least satisfying days, whereas Mondays were the most satisfying.

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For this study 109 spouse/sibling/sibling-in-law triads reported the degree of envy, communication of envy, and triggers of envy experienced in the triadic system. The relationship between envy and relational satisfaction and closeness was also assessed. Envy was largely experienced differentially in each relationship type. Siblings reported more occurrences of envy than did the siblings-in-law or spouses. Spouses were more likely than siblings or siblings-in-law to use communicative responses to envy. The sibling-in-law relationship shared similarities with both spousal and sibling relationships. Relational closeness and satisfaction for all relationships in the triad were correlated. Envy was not related to relational closeness and was inversely related to relational satisfaction for siblings and spouses only.

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