THE LONGITUDINAL IMPACT OF DEMAND AND WITHDRAWAL DURING MARITAL CONFLICT

Forty-eight couples completed a measure of relationship satisfaction a nd participated in 2 videotaped problem-solving interactions, 1 focuse d on an issue identified by the woman and 1 focused on an issue identi fied by the man. Thirty-six men and 36 women completed the satisfactio n measure again 2.5 years later. Demandingness, and to a lesser extent withdrawal, during the interactions showed many significant associati ons with both Time 1 and Time 2 satisfaction. The relationship of dema ndingness and withdrawal to change in satisfaction was also examined u sing both change scores and partial correlations. Withdrawal by men an d woman demand-man withdraw during discussions of issues identified by the women reliably predicted change (decline) in wives' relationship satisfaction.