Cortisol responses to marital conflict depend on marital interaction quality

A sample of 80 couples were videotaped discussing a marital conflict and we re then grouped in 3 types according to their interaction behavior: both pa rtners displaying predominantly negative behavior (N = 36 couples); both pa rtners showing positive behavior (N = 26); and couples showing asymmetric b ehavior (one positive, one negative; N= 16). Positive or negative in this c ontext refers to the empirically defined quality of speaker and listener sk ills by the Kategoriensystem Partnerschaftlicher Interaktion. Psychophysiol ogical responses were measured 5 times, both before and after the conflict discussion. Participants rated their overall marital quality, the number of marital problems, and their actual cognitions and emotions. Overall respon ses to the conflict revealed a greater cortisol response in women than in m en. Couples grouped according to their interaction style showed significant differences in cortisol responses: In couples with positive interaction, c ortisol increased markedly, whereas couples with negative interaction showe d a nonresponse, that is, a slight decrease expected with diurnal variation , although they rated the actual conflict discussion as "stressful" like th e other groups of couples. We conclude that marital interaction directly af fects physiological responses to a conflict depending on interaction qualit y.