Marital Conflict Resolution

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Abstract
Thirty white, middle-class, married couples were interviewed concerning the strategies each spouse used in attempting to resolve a number of actual conflicts experienced by each couple. Four types of strategies are examined: authority, control, influence, and manipulation. Findings show that husbands win most conflicts regardless of the strategies they or their wives employ. Controls for possession of strategy-relevant resources, area of responsibility, and belief in the use of various strategies demonstrate no consistent relationship to strategy choice or conflict resolution outcome. Wife's employment status, husband's education, and the general degree of familial traditionalism are related to strategy choice and outcome, but controlling for these does not produce a relationship between strategy and outcome. The evidence suggests that individual conflicts are not resolved on an individual basis; general background factors of the marriage shape outcomes but the process by which they are translated into outcomes in specific cases is still unclear.

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