Relational aggression in marriage

Abstract

Drawing from developmental theories of relational aggression, this article reports on a study designed to identify if spouses use relationally aggressive tactics when dealing with conflict in their marriage and the association of these behaviors with marital outcomes. Using a sample of 336 married couples (672 spouses), results revealed that the majority of couples reported that relationally aggressive behaviors, such as social sabotage and love withdrawal, were a part of their marital dynamics, at least to some degree. Gender comparisons of partner reports of their spouse's behavior revealed that wives were significantly more likely to be relationally aggressive than husbands. Structural equation modeling demonstrated that relational aggression is associated with lower levels of marital quality and greater marital instability for both husbands and wives. Implications are drawn for the use of relational aggression theory in the future study of couple conflict and marital aggression.

Media depictions of physical and relational aggression: connections with aggression in young adults' romantic relationships

“…Linder et al [2002] found that men and women in emerging adulthood reported equal levels of engagement in romantic relational aggression. With a sample of families with at least one adolescent, Carroll et al [2010] assessed facets of relational aggression in marital conflict (i.e. social sabotage and love withdrawal) and found it to be associated with lower levels of marital quality and greater marital instability for both husbands and wives.…”

Relational Aggression among Female African American Undergraduates: An Intersectional Perspective

“…The experiences that they reported: gossip, exclusion, the silent treatment, negative non-verbal gestures and withdrawal of friendship were similar to experiences found both within children and adolescent samples (Crick & Grotpeter, 1995;Ostrov et al, 2008;Simmons, 2011), as well as findings of prior studies examining the relational aggressive experiences of college students (Gomes et al, 2009;Loudin et al, 2003;Werner & Crick, 1999). The relationships in which these experiences occurred supported prior research indicating college students experience relational aggression with friends (Goldstein, 2011;Werner & Crick, 1999), romantic partners (Carroll et al, 2010;Goldstein, Young, & Boyd, 2007), and in academic settings (Chapell et al, 2004;Dellasega, 2005;Kolanko et al, 2005). These similarities were not unexpected, as prior work had indicated that adult women might continue using relationally aggressive behaviors in adulthood, due both to their effectiveness and a prior history of using relationally aggressive behaviors without consequence (Banny et al, 2011;Beauboeuf-Lafontant, 2009;Dellasega, 2005).…”

“…Studies have found relationally aggressive behaviors in the workplace (Dellasega, 2005), intimate relationships (Carroll et al, 2010;Goldstein, 2011), higher education (Chapell et al, 2004;Dellasega, 2005;Kolanko et al, 2005), and assisted living communities (Trompetter, Scholte, & Westerhof, 2011). One theory is that while the frequency of behaviors may decrease, the behaviors themselves become more complex, secretive, successful, and more difficult to measure quantitatively (Dellasega, 2005).…”

“…College students also have the potential to experience relational aggression within their romantic relationships (Carroll et al, 2010;Goldstein, 2011;Linder, Crick, & Collins, 2002), and within their on-campus employment settings (Bjorkqvist et al, 1994). The majority of work on relational aggression in the college student population has focused on friendships as opposed to romantic relationships, however, findings of the growing body of work suggest that relational aggression is a problem within college students' romantic relationships (Goldstein, 2011;Linder et al, 2002).…”

“…Relational aggression is a complex phenomenon (Crick & Grotpeter, 1995;Lagerspetz et al, 1988;Underwood, 2003); over time we've learned that these behaviors are not limited to children and adolescents, but continue to occur throughout the lifespan in multiple contexts (Carroll et al, 2010;Chapell et al, 2004;Dellasega, 2005;Goldstein, 2011;Kolanko et al, 2005;Trompetter et al, 2011). In order to more fully understand the complexity of this topic we need to begin to include multiple perspectives (Cole, 2009;Shields, 2008;Warner, 2008) and explore cultural factors that may be affecting relationally aggressive experiences (BeauboeufLafontant, 2009;Hunter, 1998Hunter, , 2002Parks, 2010;Robinson, 2011;Russell et al, 1992;Settles et al, 2008).…”