MARITAL COMMUNICATION AND THE PERSISTENCE OF MISUNDERSTANDING

This research examined spouses' understanding of their partners and th e relation of understanding to the amount of communication in marriage . The results showed that spouses overestimated agreement with their p artners; therefore, understanding scores were low after response simil arity (i.e. agreement) was factored out. Reported communication had a complex relation to understanding. Communication had a slight positive association with wives' understanding of husbands' instrumental perce ptions and a negative association with wives' understanding of compani onate perceptions. Communication was not associated with husbands' und erstanding scores. The results partly supported previous research in w hich communication had a stronger relation to understanding of instrum ental perceptions than to understanding of abstract, relational (i.e. companionate) perceptions.