Conversational themes can be viewed as a form of metacommunication about relationships. We suggest that the prominent themes in the conversations of spouses identify factors assumed to h a w an important effect on the relationship. Further, different ways of looking a t marriage are reflected in the use ofparticular content themes. A typology of content themes was deriwd from transcripts of conversations and the typology was used to code the discussions of married couples. The content themes of different marital types (i.e., traditional, separate, and independent) and more and less satisfied spouses were compared. As expected, traditional couples emphasized communal themes, such as togetherness, and separate couples emphasized individualistic themes, such as personality and separateness. Although the effects of marital satisfaction were not consistent, satisfaction tended to be positively associated with communal and impersonal themes and negatively associated with indiuidual themes. Generally, the results confirmed predicted relationships between content themes and selfreports about the marriage. casual look at the research on interpersonal communication would reveal that this literature has been more concerned A with how people communicate than with what they say. The emphasis of stylistic and structural aspects of conversation over message content reflects a widely held theoretical belief that pragmatic Alan L. Sillars (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, 1980) is assistant professor of interpersonal communication at the University of Montana, Missoula. Judith Weisberg (M.A., Bradley University, 1%7), Cynthia S. BurWaf (M.A., Ohio State University, 1985) and Elizabeth A. Wilson (M.A., Colorado State University, 1972) are doctoral

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This research considered how intersubjective understanding in marriage is affected by the ambiguity and coding difficulties associated with particular perceptions. Thirty-seven married couples completed questionnaires and a discussion task concerning companionate and instrumental issues in their marriage. Recall of the partner's comments was also assessed following the discussion task. Understanding of the spouse was greater with respect to instrumental versus companionate attitudes. Further, recall accuracy was related to understanding of instrumental attitudes but not to understanding of companionate attitudes. The results suggest that understanding is lower and recall of the partner's disclosures has less effect on understanding when the referent is more abstract and relational (i.e., on companionate vs. instrumental issues). The research also provided evidence that marital satisfaction affects recall of communication. Recall of negative and confrontive messages was marginally related to marital dissatisfaction, suggesting that dissatisfied spouses were more attentive to the negative comments of their partner.

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