Amount of communication in marital dyads as a function of dyad and individual marital satisfaction

Research is reported which examines the relationship between marital satisfaction and amount of communication in a marital dyad. Consideration is given to various topics of communication which are commonly addressed by marital dyads and to the impact of biological sex on these relationships. Results indicate that highly satisfied couples engage in significantly m ore communication, particularly on certain topics, than do less satisfied couples. Couples with low satisfaction levels engage in a low level of communication on most of the topics which are commonly addressed by married couples. Speculation concerning causation is addressed.     

Dogmatism of the speaker and selection of evidence

Previous research on the use of relational maintenance strategies in marriage was replicated and extended by examining diary logs of 103 married couples kept over a two‐week period. Gender differences within the marital dyads were examined. Additionally, the effect of relational satisfaction or comparison level was explored, in terms of an interdependence theory explanation of relational maintenance strategy use. The results showed significant differences between husbands and wives for openness, network, and especially tasks strategies. Wives invariably used more of each type of relational maintenance strategy than their husbands. No effects of relational satisfaction emerged, which suggested that an interdependence theory explanation of relational maintenance strategy use may be inappropriate. An ad hoc assessment of the effect of length of marriage on strategy use was significant and indicated a general decline in the use of all types of strategies as years married increased.     

Accuracy and Bias in Newlywed Couples’ Perceptions of Conflict Styles and the Association with Marital Satisfaction

Styles of handling conflict are highly consequential to marital success. The behavioral model predicts that spouses’ accuracy in perceptions of each other will be associated with marital quality, whereas the benevolent perception model predicts that benevolent perceptions, even when objectively inaccurate, will be associated with marital quality. To investigate the role of perceptions of marital conflict styles, 194 couples married for less than five years completed self- and partner-reports of conflict styles and marital satisfaction. Results indicated that spouses were both accurate (i.e., seeing the self the same as one's partner sees the self) and biased (i.e., seeing the partner the same as one sees the self) in their perceptions of each others’ conflict styles. Little support existed for the accuracy model of perception and marital satisfaction, but more consistent support was obtained for the benevolent perception model in which more positively toned perceptions, regardless of their consistency with partners’ self-perceptions, were associated with higher marital satisfaction. Results of actor–partner interdependence analyses revealed numerous actor effects for conflict styles and satisfaction, and partner effects for the styles of conflict engagement and withdrawal and partners’ marital satisfaction.     

Amount of communication as a symptom of distressed marriages based on reports of divorced individuals

Recent research on married couples has indicated that dramatically reduced communication between married partners may be an indication of a marriage under stress and may indicate an increased likelihood of divorce. The present study compared amount of communication in marriage reported by divorced individuals with that reported by married individuals who reported low to moderate levels of marital satisfaction. The results indicate these reports are highly similar. It is recommended that reduced communication be considered as a marker variable for marriages under stress and future research seek to identify the cause(s) of the observed relationships.     

Beliefs About Intergenerational Communication Across the Lifespan: Middle Age and the Roles of Age Stereotyping and Respect Norms

Guided by theoretical models, this research examines (for the first time within the same design) young American adults' reports of age stereotypes, norms of respect, beliefs about intra‐ and intergenerational communication, and communication satisfaction toward young adult, middle‐aged, and older adult targets. Multivariate analyses showed that as age of target increased so did trait attributions of benevolence, norms of politeness and deference, and communicative respect and satisfaction; however, attributions of personal vitality decreased linearly. Path analyses revealed that the more young adults stereotyped older adults as benevolent and personally vital, the less likely they were to report avoiding communication with them. Deference norms also positively related to the degree of communicative respect afforded older adults and the more respondents reported avoiding communication with them, the less satisfied they were with their intergenerational conversations.     

Nonverbal immediacy communication behaviors and liking in marital relationships

This study examined the relationship between nonverbal immediacy behaviors and liking in marriages. Findings revealed that a spouse's perception of their partner's use of nonverbal immediacy behaviors strongly correlated with how much they liked their partner (r = .67), and was reciprocal within marital dyads. Individuals married one year or less and those married more than 24 years scored highest in perceived spouse nonverbal immediacy and liking for their partners. The relationship between nonverbal immediacy and liking was consistent regardless of marriage duration. Findings support and expand on previous research in relational maintenance, nonverbal immediacy, and affinity seeking communication behaviors.     

A Social Relations Model of Everyday Talk and Relational Satisfaction in Stepfamilies

This study examined the intrapersonal and interpersonal mechanisms underlying reported frequencies of everyday talk and relational satisfaction in stepfamilies. Participants included a parent, stepparent, and child from 114 stepfamilies (N =342) from the Midwest and Southwest regions of the United States. Social relations model analyses revealed that everyday talk and relational satisfaction vary across stepfamily relationships as a function primarily of actor and relationship effects. Stepparents’ reports of everyday talk with the parent (i.e., their spouse) varied primarily as a function of actor effects, whereas reports of both children's and parents’ satisfaction with the stepparent varied primarily as a function of relationship effects. Dyadic reciprocity emerged in the stepparent/stepchild relationship for reports of both everyday talk and satisfaction. Finally, stepparents engaging in everyday talk more frequently with stepchildren were more likely to be satisfied with stepchildren, and were more likely to have stepchildren reporting satisfaction with them, than stepparents engaging less frequently in everyday talk.     

A Meta-Analytical Review of the Demand/Withdraw Pattern of Interaction and its Associations with Individual,Relational, and Communicative Outcomes

This meta-analysis reviews the findings of 74 studies (N = 14,255) examining the associations between the demand/withdraw pattern of interaction and individual, relational, and communicative outcomes. When both the individual behaviors of demanding and withdrawing and the pattern of demand/withdraw are considered collectively, the cumulative evidence indicates a moderate, meaningful relationship between demand/withdraw and overall outcomes (r=.360). Similar overall effect sizes were observed for wife demand/husband withdraw (r=.380) and husband demand/wife withdraw (r=.392), although the overall effect size for demand/withdraw patterns in studies that included distressed/clinical participants (r=.413) was greater in magnitude than that obtained for studies that included nondistressed participants (r=.345). On average, higher correlations were observed for relational (r=.423) and communicative outcomes (r=.418) than for demographic (r=.239) and well-being outcomes (r=.249).     

Toward a contingency approach to marital interaction: An empirical integration of three approaches

Dindia and Fitzpatrick (1985) identified three main approaches to the study of marital communication: the satisfaction approach, the pragmatic approach, and the typological approach. This study reports an empirical integration of the key variables of each approach: Fitzpatrick's couple types, relational control, and marital satisfaction. It is hypothesized that (a) control behaviors and patterns have nonlinear associations with marital satisfaction and (b) different behaviors and patterns are satisfying to different types of couples. Marital couples discussed eight potential problem areas and their coded behaviors were submitted to interaction analysis using Morley's (1984) procedure. The results suggest that: (a) → behaviors had a positive association with marital satisfaction, and ↓↑ and →↓ interacts had significant convex quadratic associations with satisfaction, (b) ↓ control behaviors and ↑↓, ↓→, and ↑→ patterns interacted with couple type in predicting marital satisfaction. These results suggest a contingency model of marital satisfaction.     

Women's employment and professional empowerment in South Korean dramas: a 10-year analysis

This study examined how Korean dramas portray the relationship between women's life and work. Men were shown as more affluent, more educationally privileged, older, and yet less likely to be married than women. Far more men than women were employed outside the home and holding a professional occupation or managerial position. Among young adult characters, marriage increased men's employment but decreased women's. Married men were also the most likely to be professionals or managers whereas it was highly unlikely for women, whether married or single. The negative effects of being a parent on employment and on holding a professional or managerial position were consistent for women and men. Examination of women and men's employment and professional empowerment for the past 10 years in television dramas and South Korean social statistics revealed a parallel between television reality and the observed reality, except for a gross overrepresentation of men as professionals or managers in the dramas.     

Communication and marital satisfaction: Social desirability and nonlinearity

In this paper two possible limitations with much of the traditional research on communication and marital satisfaction are explored: The failure to test for social desirability bias and nonlinear effects. Fitzpatrick's RDI, social desirability, and marital satisfaction questionnaires were administered to one hundred seventy‐one couples. The results suggest that social desirability bias may inflate correlations between sharing, traditionalism and marital satisfaction. Further, “traditional” couples were no more satisfied than “independent” couples when social desirability is controlled. Several nonlinear quadratic effects were obtained between sharing, traditionalism and marital satisfaction.     

The Influence of Expectations for Health-Related Talk on Reports of Marital Satisfaction A version of this paper was presented at the 2002 annual meeting of the National Communication Association in New Orleans,LA.

The present study empirically operationalizes the health-related talk of married individuals (N?=?349) and reports on the factor structure of these health-related talk expectations and the reliability and convergent validity of the two-factor solution. Both factors were significantly correlated with participants’ self reports of marital satisfaction. Implications for the relationships between health-related talk and marriage are discussed.     

Enacted Goal Attention in Family Conversations about End-of-life Health Decisions

Most extant research on end-of-life communication in families has been based on the assumption that more communication is better communication. We used a multiple goals theoretical perspective to demonstrate that the quality of communication about end-of-life decisions matters. Members of 121 older parent/adult child dyads (N = 242) engaged in an elicited conversation about end-of-life health choices and reported their assessments of the conversation. Using multilevel linear modeling, we found that outside ratings of a person's communication quality (i.e., attention to task, identity, and relational goals) as well as outside ratings of the partner's communication quality were positively associated with the person's reported conversational satisfaction and hopefulness and negatively associated with the person's hurt feelings and relational distancing.     

Big Macs/Peanut Butter and Jelly: An Exploration of Dialectical Contradictions Experienced by the Sandwich Generation

Grounded in relational dialectics theory, this article reports a study exploring the influence of internal relational dialectic contradictions of women who are in the “Sandwich Generation,” or simultaneously providing some kind of care for generations of family both older and younger than them. Two hundred twenty-five female multi-generational caretakers (MGCs) reported their perceptions of the autonomy–connection, predictability–unpredictability, and openness–closedness of the relationship they have with an older adult for whom they provide care, as well as their current satisfaction level with this relationship. The data indicate communication between MGCs and their care recipient is more satisfying when the caretaker believes she has a high level of autonomy in the relationships and when there is a high level of openness within the relationships. These findings are interpreted using dialectic contradiction, change, and totality. This article also discusses practical implications of these findings for members of the Sandwich Generation.     

Adult Children's Forgiveness of Parents' Betrayals

The purpose of this study was to establish whether adult children's commitment, trust, and relational satisfaction are differentiated by their forgiveness stage (i.e., Stage 1, “Impact;” Stage 2, “Definition;” Stage 3, “Moving On”) in response to a parent's act of betrayal. Participants included 61 adult children who completed an online survey. Adult children's commitment, trust, and relational satisfaction were highest in the third stage of forgiveness. Future research should specifically analyze the messages exchanged between the parent and adult child to better understand the progression through the stages.     

A Multiple Goals Perspective on Topic Avoidance and Relationship Satisfaction in the Context of Breast Cancer

Using a multiple goals perspective on interpersonal communication as a theoretical framework, this study examined the circumstances under which topic avoidance might predict lower relationship satisfaction among women coping with breast cancer. Results gathered from questionnaire responses of women who had recently undergone treatment for breast cancer (N=140) indicated that the association between topic avoidance and relationship satisfaction was moderated by patients' own reasons for avoidance, and by perceptions of partners' reasons for avoidance. The findings of this study contribute to recent scholarship suggesting the importance of considering the motivations for and interpretations of topic avoidance in order to better understand how patterns of topic avoidance predict relational wellbeing.     

Perceptions of Health Care Professionals' Credibility as a Predictor of Patients' Satisfaction with their Medical Care and Physician

The purpose of this study was to examine how patients' perceptions of source credibility related to their satisfaction with the quality of medical care they received and satisfaction with their physician. Patients' perceptions of the competence and caring dimensions of source credibility were analyzed for physicians, nurses, and support staff members. Three hypotheses were proposed and supported. Results indicated that higher perceptions of competence and caring for each member of the medical team were related to more patient satisfaction. This paper discusses the importance of the doctor-patient, nurse-patient, and support staff-patient relationships in light of the findings.     

Autonomy and parent-child relationship satisfaction: the mediating role of communication competence

ABSTRACT

Research shows that autonomous individuals have greater psychological well-being and high-quality relationships. The present study, from a communication perspective, aimed to understand the dynamics between child autonomy, communication competence, and parent-child relationship satisfaction. Participants in this study were 169 parent-young adult child dyads. Results showed that autonomous children reported being more communicatively competent, and both themselves and their parents reported greater satisfaction. Further, mediation analyses showed that child autonomy was positively associated with children’s satisfaction with parents through their disclosure competence, and child autonomy was positively associated with parents’ satisfaction with children through child conflict management competence. Overall, the findings revealed that young adult child being autonomous was beneficial to both themselves and their parents.     

The “Mere Presence” Hypothesis: Investigating the Nonverbal Effects of Cell-Phone Presence on Conversation Satisfaction

Prior research has supported the mere presence hypothesis, which suggests that cell phones act as an environmental nuisance that negatively impact the quality of face-to-face interactions. This study conducted an experiment to determine whether cell-phone presence negatively influences conversation satisfaction. Specifically, network member dyads (N = 46) engaged in unstructured conversations where one partner’s cell phone was either absent or present. The results revealed that, whereas the mere presence of a cell phone did not influence conversation satisfaction, individuals’ recollection of whether or not a cell phone was present did significantly negatively impact their pre- to posttest reports of conversation satisfaction. Implications of these findings for research on the mere presence hypothesis as well as directions for future research are discussed.     

Attachment and Relational Satisfaction: The Mediating Effect of Emotional Communication

This study investigated associations among one partner's relational satisfaction and the other partner's style of attachment and emotional communication. Findings from a questionnaire study involving 581 couples showed that participants reported more relational satisfaction when their partners scored high in security and low in dismissiveness and preoccupation. These associations between one's relational satisfaction and the partner's attachment style were partially mediated by how the partner reported communicating emotions. Specifically, participants were less satisfied in relationships with preoccupied partners who reported expressing anger using destructive communication. Participants were less satisfied with dismissive partners who reported using detached emotional communication. Finally, participants were more satisfied with secure partners who reported using prosocial emotional communication. These findings suggest that the often-cited relationship between attachment and relational satisfaction is partially explained by emotional communication.