Distress and aggression during dating conflict: A test of the coercion hypothesis

Research with clinically depressed and maritally discordant couples suggest s that women's distressed behaviors function to suppress their partners' su bsequent aggressive responses. We applied this coercion hypothesis to a non clinical sample of dating couples (N = 288). We further examined whether th ese effects were gender-specific, and whether distressed and aggressive beh aviors differ within physically violent versus nonviolent relationships. Wo men but not men reported engaging in elevated rates of distress in response to partner aggression during past dating conflicts. However, both women an d men expected distressed behavior to suppress partner aggression during fu ture conflicts. Expectations about the functional effects of distressed beh avior did not differ for participants with physically violent partners vers us nonviolent partners. However, participants in violent relationships repo rted enacting more distressed behaviors and had greater expectations for pa rtner verbal aggression during future conflicts than did participants in no nviolent relationships. Future research may identify the early onset of dys functional interaction patterns in couples and concomitant psychological di stress.