PERCEPTIONS OF MARITAL INTERACTION AMONG BLACK-AND-WHITE NEWLYWEDS

Perceptions of marital interactions were gathered from a representativ e sample of urban newlywed couples (199 Black and 174 White). A factor analysis of the reports found 6 factors common to husbands and wives: Disclosing Communication, Affective Affirmation, Negative Sexual Inte raction, Traditional Role Regulation, Destructive Conflict, and Constr uctive Conflict. Avoiding Conflict was specific to men and Positive Co orientation was specific to women. Wives reported fewer constructive a nd more destructive conflict behaviors. Compared with Whites, Blacks r eported more disclosure, more positive sexual interactions, and fewer topics of disagreement. They also more often reported leaving the scen e of conflict and talking with others more easily than with the spouse . As hypothesized, perceptions that marital interactions affirm one's sense of identity strongly predicted marital well-being. Although regr ession analyses predicting marital happiness yielded few interactions with race or gender, those that are significant, coupled with race and gender differences in perceiving interaction, suggest taking a contex tual orientation to the meaning of marital interaction.