Verbal and nonverbal marital interaction patterns of alcoholics and nonalcoholics.

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Abstract
Videotape recordings were made of the verbal and nonverbal interaction patterns of 6 hospitalized alcoholics and their wives and 6 hospitalized psychiatric patients and their wives (mean ages 49, 48, 44 and 40, respectively). The mean duration of the present marriage of the alcoholics and nonalcoholics was 25.6 and 20.0 yr. The alcoholics had an average of 9.2 yr of education, and their wives 11.2. Each couple was videotaped during 24 min, when they were told to discuss either alcohol-related or nonalcohol-related topics for alternate 6-min periods. Independent raters (2) evaluated the videotapes on the following variables: duration of looking at the spouse (each couple was seated side by side), duration of speech, number of positive or negative statements, number of interruptions, touching and requests for new behavior. Husbands talked more during alcohol-focused conversations, wives more during nonalcohol-focused conversations. Husbands talked as much as their wives during alcohol-focused periods but not as much during nonalcohol-focused periods. Wives in both groups looked at their spouses more than their husbands did during discussion of the alcohol-related topic, but not during discussion of the alternate topic. Alcoholic husbands and their wives interrupted each other more frequently than the nonalcoholics regardless of the topic of conversation. No significant differences between groups were found on the other variables. Future research in this area should include a nonhospitalized normal control group and should evaluate a wider variety of interactional patterns. Videotaping in the home environment was also recommended.

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