Marital distress has been shown to negatively affect child outcomes. John Gottman has claimed that he has developed a concept that can buffer children from the negative effects of marital distress. The concept is emotion coachin g (EC), which teaches children about emotions. emotion regulation. and effective problem-solving. Children who are emotion coached have better out comes regardless of level of marital di stress. Gottman also claims that emotion coaching parents report higher marital satisfaction and tend to score higher in positive conflict resolution styles and lower in negative conflict resolution styles. This study set out to test Gottman's concepts of EC and emotion dismissing (ED) and their relationships with marital satisfaction and marital conflict. In addition, this study explored the relationships between marital conflict and marital satisfaction. Lastly, this study set out to use a se lf- report instrument to measure EC and ED, the Maternal Emotional Style Questionnaire (MESQ: Legace-Seguin, 200 I). Unfortunately, the MESQ in this study d id not have adequate reliability to answer the questions of how EC and ED were related to marital satisfaction and marital conflict. However, results were reported for relationships between marital conflict, marital satisfaction. and demographic variables. Results suggest that when one uses one negative way o f resolving conflict, one is likely to use other negative strategies. Also, when one uses the positive way of resolving conflict, negative strategies are less likely to be used. Resu lts showed that frequency/severity of conflicts were related to the perceived seriousness of arguments and reports of conflicts being resolved. Also. number of times conflicts were resolved was related to decreased perceived seriousness of argument topics. Marital satisfaction was related to higher scores on· positive conflict strategies and conflict efficacy and lower scores of frequency/severity of conflicts and negative conflict strategies. Discussion includes implications for further research and family therapy.

This study examined the relationship between rituals and marital adjustment among a sample of newlyweds. Rituals and marital adjustment were defined and their importance in family life outlined. Five research questions guided the study: (1) Is ritual activity associated with marital adjustment and length of courtship for newlyweds?; (2) Is ritual activity associated with marital satisfaction and length of courtship for newlyweds?; (3) Is ritual activity associated with cohesion and length of courtship for newlyweds?; (4) Is ritual activity associated with consensus and length of courtship for newlyweds?; and (5) Is there a difference between husbands and wives on the number and types of rituals (family celebrations, family traditions, and family interactions) that couples report are most related to their overall marital quality? Ritual activity was measured by a new instrument created for the present study: the Ritual Inventory (RI). Marital adjustment and its components (satisfaction, cohesion, and consensus) were measured using the Revised Dyadi c Adjustment Scale (RDAS). Length of courtship was used as a control variable. The analysis revealed no relationship between rituals and marital adjustment for newlyweds. Length of courtship was a significant factor with marital adjustment and marital satisfaction . Implications and suggestions for future research are presented.

Parental divorce is a stressful process that has been associated with long-term developmental implications for the children involved. There have been mixed results from research regarding specific effects of parents' marital status on levels of psychological distress and academic achievement in late adolescence and early adulthood. Research using a clinical sample from a college counseling center was lacking altogether. The primary goal of this study was to establish if there are relationships between parents' marital status, students'degree of psychological distress and academic achievement within a clinical sample of college undergraduates. The secondary goal was to determine if student gender interacts with parents' marital status on measures of psychological distress and academic achievement. Participants included 324 undergraduate college students aged 17-24 years who received clinical services at a student counseling center of a private university in a large metropolitan area in the Southeastern United States. Primary analyses found no statistically significant differences for self-reported GPA and therapists' perception of psychological distress by parents' marital status (married, divorced or divorced/remarried). In addition, it was found that gender did not have a statistically significant interaction with parents' marital status on psychological distress or academic achievement. Student's residential status was found to significantly covary with psychological distress, suggesting that students who lived off campus were perceived as being significantly more distressed than students who lived on campus, independent of parents' marital status. Results of this study have implications for college counseling center personnel to obtain a thorough family history at intake and monitor changes in residential status throughout the course of treatment. Results of this study also have implications for university administrators and student affairs personnel to include researching, planning and implementing interventions and programming for commuter students, and possibly expanding on-campus housing.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-75).

The relationship of self-monitoring processes and causal attributions to choice of conflict resolution strategy among married clinic couples was examined. Thirty-five couples and nine individual spouses who were currently receiving marriage counseling completed four questionnaires: the Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Scale; Snyder's Self-Monitoring Scale; a Marital Conflict Questionnaire, a measure of attributions; and a Conflict Strategy Scale measuring the frequency with which spouses used Integrative (cooperative), Distributive (uncooperative), and Denial-Avoidant conflict resolution strategies. The following hypotheses were tested: 1) self-monitoring differences between spouses would be positively associated with attributional conflicts and uncooperative modes of conflict resolution; 2) responsibility attributed to the partner would be associated with increased dispositional attributions for the partner's behavior, increased use of Distributive strategies, and lower overall marital satisfaction. Analyses included bivariate correlations and multiple regression analyses predicting conflict strategy and marital satisfaction from self-monitoring and attributions.Contrary to expectations, self-monitoring differences were not related to attributional conflict or conflict strategy endorsed. However, high self-monitoring spouses made more situational attributions for their partners' behavior and endorsed more frequent use of Dental-Avoidant strategies. Responsibility attributed to the partner had a positive relationship to dispositional attributions for the partner's behavior but no relationship to use of conflict strategy. Regression analyses indicated that self-monitoring, Intent to have an impact, and resolvability of conflicts accounted for significant amounts of variance in use of Distributive (uncooperative) strategies. Importance of conflicts, own control, and use of Denial-Avoidant strategies predicted more than three-fourths the variance in marital satisfaction.Results contradict previous research Indicating that partner responsibility Is associated with Increased uncooperative behavior. Present results suggest that self-presentational concerns are prevalent In marital conflicts and may enhance the likelihood of uncooperative/avoidant behavior. Possible modifications in the attributional model of marital conflict to account for the Impact of self-monitoring on conflict resolution in distressed relationships are proposed. Implications for therapy with distressed couples and future research on attributional processes in close relationships is discussed.

According to Bradbury and Fincham’s contextual model of relationship conflict, communication behaviour is likely influenced by relationship factors at both the distal and proximal level. The overall goal of the present study was thus to build on previous research on marital conflict by examining the relations between relevant distal (i.e. marital satisfaction and depressive symptomatology), and proximal relationship variables (i.e. event-dependent expectancies and appraisals), and communication behaviour. Our specific aims were threefold: a) to explore the impact of marital satisfaction and depression on couples’ expectancies for marital problem-solving discussions; b) to examine the effect of such expectancies on actual communication behaviour, after controlling for marital satisfaction and depressive symptoms; and c) to determine whether expectancies and actual communication behaviour influence couples’ post-discussion appraisals, even after controlling for levels of depression and marital satisfaction. A total of 76 married and cohabitating couples across varying levels of marital satisfaction and depression participated in this study. All couples engaged in two marital problem-solving discussions, one in which the husband wanted change and the second in which the wife wanted change. Before engaging in these problem-solving discussions, spouses’ expectancies for resolving the topic of conflict were assessed using both affective and cognitive items. After each discussion ended, participants also rated their cognitive and affective appraisals of the interaction. Results showed that higher levels of marital satisfaction predicted more positive expectancies (both affective and cognitive) for successful communication in the upcoming interactions. Depressive symptoms, however, were only found to impact couples’ feelings in anticipation of the discussions, and not their cognitive expectancies. With regards to actual communication behaviour, after controlling for the effects of marital satisfaction and depressive symptoms, more positive expectations for an upcoming conflict discussion were associated with less negative communication behaviours during the discussion. Spouses’ cognitive post-discussion appraisals of the conflict interactions were positively associated with individuals’ own expectancies going in to these discussions, as well as their partners’ expectancies over and above the effects of depression and marital satisfaction. Finally, actual communication behaviour also influenced appraisals, such that those who spent more time during the conflict discussions engaging in positive behaviours and less time engaging in negative communication behaviours reported greater satisfaction with the discussions. Implications of these results for couples’ therapy are briefly discussed.

This study assessed marital quality, coparenting, and parenting stress over time for parents of children with intellectual disability by creating developmental trajectories from longitudinal data. Both mothers and fathers (N = 152 couples), with children ages 6-18 at the first wave, evaluated their relationship and parenting stress on up to 4 occasions over a 14-year period. The study provided separate models of change over time for mothers and fathers which showed that marital quality, coparenting, and parenting stress are dynamic relationship constructs that changed during the child’s development. Overall, marital quality was found to follow a curvilinear pattern, with declines when children were adolescents and increases as children entered young adulthood. Positive coparenting increased linearly over time for mothers and fathers, and negative coparenting declined linearly for mothers. With an emphasis on transition periods in the family life cycle, trajectories included indicators of the child’s development to allow for periods of discrete change in the trajectories based on the child’s entrance into adolescence and young adulthood. The child’s entrances into these developmental periods were associated with changes in levels of marital quality and coparenting for mothers only. Patterns for stress over time depended on the parent reporting, with mothers reporting decreases in parent and family problems over time and a quadratic trend for pessimism, with initial growth in reported pessimism followed by declines as the children exited adolescence. Fathers, however, did not report significant changes for parent and family problems and perceived increases in pessimism with time. The study also assessed how support in the marital and coparenting roles with time is associated with levels of parenting stress. Marital quality consistently predicted lower levels of parent and family problems for both parents, but findings for associations between marital quality and pessimism, and coparenting with both types of stress, varied depending on the parent reporting.

According to Bradbury and Fincham’s contextual model of relationship conflict, communication behaviour is likely influenced by relationship factors at both the distal and proximal level. The overall goal of the present study was thus to build on previous research on marital conflict by examining the relations between relevant distal (i.e. marital satisfaction and depressive symptomatology), and proximal relationship variables (i.e. event-dependent expectancies and appraisals), and communication behaviour. Our specific aims were threefold: a) to explore the impact of marital satisfaction and depression on couples’ expectancies for marital problem-solving discussions; b) to examine the effect of such expectancies on actual communication behaviour, after controlling for marital satisfaction and depressive symptoms; and c) to determine whether expectancies and actual communication behaviour influence couples’ post-discussion appraisals, even after controlling for levels of depression and marital satisfaction. A total of 76 married and cohabitating couples across varying levels of marital satisfaction and depression participated in this study. All couples engaged in two marital problem-solving discussions, one in which the husband wanted change and the second in which the wife wanted change. Before engaging in these problem-solving discussions, spouses’ expectancies for resolving the topic of conflict were assessed using both affective and cognitive items. After each discussion ended, participants also rated their cognitive and affective appraisals of the interaction. Results showed that higher levels of marital satisfaction predicted more positive expectancies (both affective and cognitive) for successful communication in the upcoming interactions. Depressive symptoms, however, were only found to impact couples’ feelings in anticipation of the discussions, and not their cognitive expectancies. With regards to actual communication behaviour, after controlling for the effects of marital satisfaction and depressive symptoms, more positive expectations for an upcoming conflict discussion were associated with less negative communication behaviours during the discussion. Spouses’ cognitive post-discussion appraisals of the conflict interactions were positively associated with individuals’ own expectancies going in to these discussions, as well as their partners’ expectancies over and above the effects of depression and marital satisfaction. Finally, actual communication behaviour also influenced appraisals, such that those who spent more time during the conflict discussions engaging in positive behaviours and less time engaging in negative communication behaviours reported greater satisfaction with the discussions. Implications of these results for couples’ therapy are briefly discussed.

When romantic partners interact together, they continually respond to each other in ways that yield distinctive across-time patterns of behaviour. To illuminate specific ways in which dysphoria may influence the dynamics of marital communication, the present study investigated how dysphoria in either spouse may affect such across-time patterns of interpersonal behaviour. Using a computer joystick device, observers rated moment-to-moment levels of dominance and affiliation for each partner in videotaped conflict interactions, one preceded by a sad mood induction for the wife, and the other with no mood induction, of 60 romantic couples. As a measure of dysphoria, all participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II; Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996). The data for each couple were then submitted to time series analyses, including regression and cross-spectral analysis. Results revealed that husbands’ and wives’ dysphoria had strongly differentiated effects on the marital interaction dynamics. Specifically, wives’ dysphoria affected how dominance was handled between partners. Higher wife’s dysphoria was significantly related to wife’s change in dominance and inversely related to husband’s change in dominance. That is, the higher the wife’s dysphoria, the more dominant she became and the more submissive her husband became over the course of the interaction. In contrast, husbands’ dysphoria affected affiliation patterns during conflict interactions. Higher husband’s dysphoria was inversely related to both wife’s change in affiliation and the couple’s level of entrainment on affiliation. That is, the higher the husband’s dysphoria, the less affiliative the wife became over time and the less entrained the partners were on affiliation. The wife’s mood induction mostly had no effect on the interaction dynamics examined. In summary, wives’ dysphoria tended to affect the dynamics of dominance during conflict interactions, whereas husbands’ dysphoria tended to affect the dynamics of affiliation. The results shed new light on the role each spouse may play in managing marital disagreements and how dysphoria disrupts patterns of interpersonal behaviour in such interactions.

Univ., Diss.--Aix-Marseille.