Married Couples' Conflict Responses and Marital Quality

Ridley, Carl A.; Wilhelm, Mari S.; Surra, Catherine A.

doi:10.1177/0265407501184005

Cited by 45 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Both constructive (problem-solving) and destructive (withdrawal, aggressive) tactics (Ridley, Wilhelm, & Surra, 2001;Straus & Gelles, 1986) were assessed. The specific strategies included 1) just keeping your opinions to yourself (low confrontation, destructive); 2) discussing your disagreements calmly (low confrontation, constructive); 3) arguing heatedly or shouting at each other (high confrontation, destructive); and 4) ending up hitting or throwing things at each other (high confrontation, destructive).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender and Aggression in Marital Relationships: A Life-Span Perspective

2005

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This study examines the relationship between age, gender, and marital aggression by comparing conflict resolution strategies, physical aggression, and injury across 6,185 married young, middle and older aged men and women. We found a consistent age effect such that younger participants used more maladaptive conflict resolution strategies, engaged in more physical arguments, and sustained more injuries than older participants. In terms of gender differences, women compared to men used calm discussions less (the least reported by women who were young) and heated arguments more. Analyses on the relation among age, gender, and injuries showed that more young and middle-aged women than men reported that they had sustained injuries at the hands of their spouse and more young men than women reported inflicting injury on their spouse. The results are discussed in relation to research on gender differences in intimate violence and the association of age and intimate aggression in general.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender and Aggression in Marital Relationships: A Life-Span Perspective

2005

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“…In a similar study of married couples' conflict responses and marital satisfaction, researchers found four types of couples based on conflict style-distancing couples, engaging couples, distancing wives, and distancing husbands. Each couple type was associated with different levels of marital adjustment (Ridley, Wilhelm, & Surra, 2001). In other words, conflict style seems to be a fundamental facet of how well couples can weather the storms of marriage relationships.…”

Section: Communication and Conflict Styles In Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychosocial Predictors of Relationship Conflict Styles as Mediated by Emotional Intelligence

Monteiro

Balogun

2015

Sage Open

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This study investigated the influence of age, gender, and emotional intelligence (EI) on conflict management styles among dating age adults in Botswana. A mixed survey and quasi-experimental design was used to assess the relationship between age and gender and the mediating influence of EI on participants' preferred conflict management strategies (avoidance, competition, compromise, accommodation, and collaboration) in response to violent and nonviolent relationship conflict. One hundred fifty-two participants were surveyed before (with the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale) and after (with the Conflict Style Questionnaire) watching video clips of nonviolent and violent relationship conflict. Correlations, t tests, and regression analyses were conducted. Findings revealed that women were more likely than men to report use of collaboration conflict strategies in response to the nonviolent video, and men were more likely than women to report accommodation strategies in response to the violent video. In the regression analysis, gender was a significant predictor of accommodation conflict style in response to the violent video, and EI had a significant independent and partial mediating relationship with compromise in response to the violent situation and collaboration in response to both violent and nonviolent conflict situations. Findings highlight the important role of EI in the use of higher-level relationship conflict strategies. Implications in the way of communication and conflict management for dating age adults and couples are discussed.

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“…It may be shortsighted to assume that what contributes to one partner's satisfaction contributes to the other's, especially considering the literature on gender differences in the meaning of marriage (Frank & Kupfer, ). Ridley and colleagues () found evidence of asymmetry between a number of husbands and wives in their conflict responses. Husbands and wives with asymmetric conflict responses had lower marital satisfaction than couples in which both spouses utilized positive conflict responses.…”

Section: What Do We Know About Marital Happiness?mentioning

confidence: 99%

More than One Way to be Happy: A Typology of Marital Happiness

Rauer

Volling

2013

Family Process

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This study utilized observational and self-report data from 57 happily married couples to explore assumptions regarding marital happiness. Suggesting that happily married couples are not a homogeneous group, cluster analyses revealed the existence of three types of couples based on their observed behaviors in a problem-solving task: (1) mutually engaged couples (characterized by both spouses' higher negative and positive problem-solving); (2) mutually supportive couples (characterized by both spouses' higher positivity and support); and (3) wife compensation couples (characterized by high wife positivity). Although couples in all three clusters were equally happy with and committed to their marriages, these clusters were differentially associated with spouses' evaluations of their marriage. Spouses in the mutually supportive cluster reported greater intimacy and maintenance and less conflict and ambivalence, although this was more consistently the case in comparison to the wife compensation cluster, as opposed to the mutually engaged cluster. The implications of these typologies are discussed as they pertain to efforts on the part of both practitioners to promote marital happiness and repair marital relations when couples are faced with difficulties.

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Married Couples' Conflict Responses and Marital Quality

Cited by 45 publications

References 30 publications

Gender and Aggression in Marital Relationships: A Life-Span Perspective

Gender and Aggression in Marital Relationships: A Life-Span Perspective

Psychosocial Predictors of Relationship Conflict Styles as Mediated by Emotional Intelligence

More than One Way to be Happy: A Typology of Marital Happiness

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