The effects of marital disagreement style, frequency, and outcome on marital disruption

Studies of the relationship between marital conflict behaviors and marital functioning have focused almost exclusively on conflict resolution styles to the neglect of other components of marital conflict. The present study takes a first step toward addressing this limitation by examining the comparative and interactive effects of marital disagreement style, frequency and outcome on the occurrence of marital disruption (separation or divorce) over a 3-year period. The study is based on a general population sample of 691 married couples. Results of exploratory factor analysis show that self-reports of frequency, style and outcome of marital disagreements share a common underlying structure best described as negativity. Logistic regression analysis documents that while each of the components of negativity is a significant predictor of marital disruption, frequency and negativity are more powerful than either style or outcome. Multivariate analyses reveal that disruption is most powerfully predicted by self-reported negativity among the recently married and by self-reported disagreement frequency among the longer married. The report closes with a discussion of the implications of these results for future research on marital functioning. (August 1993)