A LONGITUDINAL-STUDY OF CONFLICT IN EARLY MARRIAGE

Thirty-three couples were assessed in terms of their communication and relationship satisfaction, just before marriage and twice during the first 2 years, using questionnaire and interaction-based methods. Ther e were few changes over time, except that couples lower in relationshi p satisfaction temporarily decreased their use of negative strategies and increased their use of positive strategies after 1 year. Spouses h igh in satisfaction after 2 years of marriage were less likely to mani pulate the partner, to avoid dealing with conflict, to behave coercive ly and to engage in destructive patterns such as demand-withdraw. Ther e were moderately strong effects of communication behaviours on concur rent relationship satisfaction. Communication behaviours predicted lat er satisfaction for wives only. Relationship satisfaction also predict ed later communication behaviours for both husbands and wives, indicat ing a reciprocal relationship between these variables.