Do Conflict Resolution Styles Impact Marital Quality?

Conflict is natural and is to be anticipated in marriages as in other close relationships. Ironically, some of the most intense conflicts happen in an intimate relationship as couples. Communication, finances, children, sex, housework, jealousy and in-laws are found to be the most recurrent topics of conflict in marital relationships. Conflicts that are recurrent and stable over time are most problematic for relational stability. Research substantiates that conflict behaviors can successfully discriminate between distressed and non distressed married couples. There are typical patterns of conflict behaviors. The sequences of behavior that occur during conflict are structured and more predictable in distressed than in non distressed marriages. With decades of extensive observation of marital interaction, theories propose of behavioral patterns that even predict divorce. Thus, several factors like the frequency and reasons for conflict, conflict behaviour patterns, etc influence marital quality of a couple, hence the present study examines the difference between the conflict resolution styles adopted by distressed and non distressed heterosexual married couples. The study involved a community sample of 60 heterosexual married couples (i.e., 120 individuals), drawn from Bangalore using purposive sampling. Marital Quality Scale (MQS; Shah, 1995) was used to categorize the couples for being distressed or non distressed couples. Conflict Resolution Style Inventory (CRSI; Kudrek, 1994) was used to examine four specific styles of conflict resolution labeled as positive problem solving, conflict engagement, withdrawal and compliance. When compared, a significant difference was observed between the distressed and nondistressed heterosexual married couples with regard to their conflict resolution styles.