Married couples' conflict responses and marital quality

In order to further our understanding of conflict within a marital relation ship, this study had two purposes: (i) to identify married couples' conflic t response profiles, and (ii) to relate these conflict profiles to appraisa ls of marital quality. Spouses in 173 intact married couples completed a qu estionnaire that included measures of a sample of aggressive, withdrawing, and problem-solving responses occurring during conflict episodes, and indic es of marital quality. Cluster analyses of married dyads' conflict response s generated four conceptually interesting profiles - two symmetrical ('dist ancing couples' and 'engaging couples') and two asymmetrical ('distancing h usbands' and 'distancing wives'). Results indicated that couples who endors e different conflict profiles could be distinguished according to their lev el of marital adjustment. The advantages to understanding conflict response s within a marriage by studying the couple as the unit of analysis were hig hlighted.