Compared conflictual marital interactions of 17 physically aggressive, 15 verbally aggressive, 18 withdrawing, and 15 low-conflict couples to describe behavior patterns characteristic of couples who report different marital conflict styles. Physically aggressive couples were characterized by reciprocity of hostile affect and by rigid, contingent…

Tested the hypothesis that distressed spouses are more reactive to immediate events than nondistressed couples. Couples recorded positive, negative and neutral events and satisfaction levels. Distressed couples reported lower rates of positive behavior and that marital satisfaction depended more on frequency of recent positive or negative events.…

Tested the hypothesis that low consensus of volunteer couples completing the Spouse Observation Checklist underestimates that achieved by clinic couples. That hypothesis was not supported. Couples (N=10) beginning marital therapy achieved agreement rates on joint SOC behaviors of 38.6 percent. Findings confirm the low reliability of spouse…

Examined susceptibility of marital observations to purposeful faking. Behavioral observations of couples' problem-solving behavior during a conflict-eliciting task were obtained under neutral instructions and under instruction to fake. Evidence for differential responsiveness of marital types to faking instructions was limited and evident only in…

Applied a behavioral model of marriage to premarital couples to assess predictive validity of an exchange measure. Results provide evidence that unrewarding communication patterns precede development of relationship distress. Implications for the behavioral model of marriage and development of programs designed to prevent marital distress are…

The reinforcers that are most potent in affecting the day-to-day satisfaction levels of married couples differ according to the level of distress. Marital distress is characterized by a tendency to react strongly to the delivery of punishers and to respond in kind. (Author)

Examined the relationship of instrumental and affectional behavioral events to short- and long-term marital satisfaction. Results showed a significant negative relationship between frequency of displeasurable instrumental events and ratings of marital satisfaction. The most important finding was the degree to which wives' self-esteem correlated…

Responses to a questionnaire pertaining to discrepancies between an individual's ideal and actual marital role behaviors and level of sexual satisfaction indicated lower levels of role strain in nonpatient couples. A higher level of role strain correlated with increased sexual dissatisfaction. (Author)

Compared communications patterns and conflicts over psychological distance in 25 nondistressed couples, 15 clinic couples, and 22 divorcing couples. Compared with nondistressed couples, both distressed groups had less mutual constructive communication, more avoidance of communication, more demand/withdraw communication, and more conflict over…

Negative affect and negative affect reciprocity appear to be robust properties of marital interaction, and they also have been found to discriminate satisfied from dissatisfied marriages. There is more evidence of consistency across tasks using sequential rather than nonsequential variables. (Author)

Examined the reliability of spouses as observers of the behaviors that occur in their own marital relationships. Distressed and nondistressed couples collected data in the home. Across the entire checklist, nondistressed couples exhibited significantly greater consensus than did distressed couples, based on both percentage agreement and kappa.…

Distressed couples were more critical of each other and less responsive to each other's influence efforts. Distressed and nondistressed couples were similar in their frequencies of inquiries and solution proposals. Criticism and responsiveness were important predictors of both satisfaction with outcomes and attainment of resolutions. (Author)

Compared the interactional patterns of distressed (N=22) and nondistressed (N=17) couples through base rate and sequential analyses of communication samples that were coded with the Marital Interactional Coding System. Nondistressed couples emitted higher rates of problem-solving, verbal and nonverbal positive, and neutral behaviors. (Author)

Examined how spousal behaviors related to global and daily marital satisfaction. Eighty-two couples completed daily checklists of spousal behaviors for seven days using an individualized or a standardized assessment method. Daily behavioral event measures were significantly related to global and daily measures of marital satisfaction,…

Examined whether spouses' attributions for partner behavior are related to their behavior by assessing their attributions and observing the problem-solving discussions of cohabitating couples (n=52) in which neither spouse was depressed or distressed, the wife was depressed and both spouses were distressed, and the wife was not depressed and both…