Toward a Behavioral Ecology of Stressful Marital Interactions

Abstract

In order to assess the behavioral ecology of stressful marital interactions, each partner from 16 maritally distressed and 16 nondistressed couples monitored the occurrence, antecedents and consequences of stressful interactions in their relationship for two weeks. As hypothesized, stressful interactions were more likely to occur in particular locations, on weekdays rather than weekends, and in association with life stress. The topics of stressful interactions were strongly associated with partners' activities prior to the interaction. The same setting variables were associated with stressful interactions in both distressed and nondistressed couples. Compared with nondistressed individuals, distressed individuals were more likely to report that stressful interactions were terminated by one or other partner exiting, and less likely to report interactions being resolved. Discussion focuses on generalization to high-risk settings of those communication skills taught during marital therapy and the potential clinical applications of the marital diary developed in this study