Definition
Marital communication refers to the verbal and nonverbal communication between spouses. Marital communication has been studied most widely in the context of heterosexual relationships. Most frequently, communication behaviors in relationships are studied in terms of how they are associated with relationship satisfaction, with comparisons being made between the communication behaviors of satisfied couples and the communication behaviors of dissatisfied couples.
Description
Satisfaction with one’s marital relationship is one of the most important variables associated with the quality of one’s life, contributing more to global happiness for most adults than satisfaction with work, finances, friendships, other family relationships, and health (Glenn & Weaver, 1981). One of the variables that is most often examined for its relationship to marital satisfaction is...
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Buehlman, K. T., Gottman, J. M., & Katz, L. F. (1992). How a couple views their past predicts their future: Predicting divorce from an oral history interview. Journal of Family Psychology, 5(3/4), 295–318.
Carrère, S., & Gottman, J. M. (1999). Predicting divorce among newlyweds from the first three minutes of a conflict discussion. Family Process, 38(3), 293–301.
Caughlin, J. P., & Huston, T. L. (2002). A contextual analysis of the association between demand/withdraw and marital satisfaction. Personal Relationships, 9(1), 95–119.
Doohan, E. M., Carrère, S., & Riggs, M. L. (2010). Using relational stories to predict the trajectory toward marital dissolution: The oral history interview and spousal feelings of flooding, loneliness, and depression. Journal of Family Communication, 10, 57–77. doi:10.1080/15267430903396401.
Fincham, F. D. (2004). Communication in marriage. In A. L. Vangelisti (Ed.), Handbook of family communication (pp. 83–103). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Gardner, K. A., & Cutrona, C. E. (2004). Social support communication in families. In A. L. Vangelisti (Ed.), Handbook of family communication (pp. 495–512). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Glenn, N. D., & Weaver, C. N. (1981). The contribution of marital happiness to global happiness. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 43, 161–168.
Gottman, J. M. (1993). The role of conflict engagement, escalation, and avoidance in marital interaction: A longitudinal analysis of five types of couples. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 61, 6–15.
Gottman, J. M. (1994). What predicts divorce? The relationship between marital processes and marital outcomes. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Gottman, J. M., & Porterfield, A. L. (1981). Communicative competence in the nonverbal behavior of married couples. Journal of Marriage and Family, 43, 817–824.
Julien, D., Brault, M., Chartrand, E., & Begin, J. (2000). Immediacy behaviours and synchrony in satisfied and dissatisfied couples. Canadian Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 32, 84–90.
Koenig Kellas, J., Trees, A. R., Schrodt, P., LeClaire-Underberg, C., & Willer, E. K. (2010). Exploring links between well-being and interactional sense-making in married couples’ jointly told stories of stress. Journal of Family Communication, 10, 174–193. doi:10.1080/15267431.2010.489217.
Noller, P. (1980). Misunderstandings in marital communication: A study of couples’ nonverbal communication. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 1135–1148.
Segrin, C. (2006). Family interactions and well-being: Integrative perspectives. Journal of Family Communication, 1, 3–21. doi:10.1207/s15327698jfc0601_2.
Veroff, J., Sutherland, L., Chadiha, L., & Ortega, R. (1993). Newlyweds tell their stories: A narrative method for assessing marital experiences. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 10, 437–457.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this entry
Cite this entry
Doohan, EA.M. (2014). Marital Communication. In: Michalos, A.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_1728
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_1728
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-0752-8
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-0753-5
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawReference Module Humanities and Social Sciences