COMMUNICATION PATTERNS IN AGGRESSIVE ENGAGED COUPLES

The communication patterns of 20 aggressive and 21 nonaggressive engaged couples were investigated through a communication coding system and through self-report inventories. Selection of subjects was based on their self-report on the Conflict Tactics Scale (Straus, 1979) over three years. Aggressive couples were on the average younger and less educated than nonaggressives.;Although group means on the self-report instruments were within non-discordant ranges, aggressive couples, as compared to nonaggressive couples, displayed lower mean ratings on the MAT, the FQ, the PCI, and BDI. Although group frequencies on the KPI content summary categories were in nondiscordant ranges, aggressive couples scored significantly higher in the Negative Content category of communication. Affect categories of communication were the most powerful discriminators of interspousal aggression with aggressive couples scoring higher than nonaggressive couples in negative affect; their mean frequencies were more similar to those of discordant couples than of non-distressed spouses. Discriminant Analyses comparing self-report and observational measures indicated that Negative Affect and Negative Content of KPI were the most powerful correlates of interspousal aggression. Among the self-report measures, the PCI yielded the highest discriminant loadings.;Lag Sequential Analyses of the KPI gave evidence of negative affect reciprocity in the aggressive, but not in the nonaggressive group. Negative content reciprocity was found in both groups. Positive affect reciprocity was found in all couples, but aggressive couples displayed longer cycles of positive affect. Positive content reciprocity was not evidenced in any of the groups at lag-1; in the nonaggressive group positive cycles were obtained at later lags when the wives' positive communication was the criterion.;Multivariate factorial analyses of covariance (gender by level of aggression) were conducted to assess correlates of interspousal aggression using the Marital Adjustment Test (MAT); the Feelings Questionnaire (FQ); the Primary Communication (PCI); the Spouse-Specific Assertiveness Scale (SSAsser); the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI); the Michigan Alcohol Screening Test (MAST); and the Defendance and the Impulsivity subscales from the Personality Research Form-E. The communication analogue was a 10-minute audiotaped discussion focusing on a relationship problem chosen by the couple and coded via a modified English version of the Kategoriensystem fur Partnerschafliche Interaktion (Hahlweg, Reisner, Kohli, Vollmer, Schindler and Revenstorf, 1984).