Marital Communication and the Persistence of Misunderstanding

Abstract

This research examined spouses' understanding of their partners and the relation of understanding to the amount of communication in marriage. The results showed that spouses overestimated agreement with their partners; therefore, understanding scores were low after response similarity (i.e. agreement) was factored out. Reported communication had a complex relation to understanding. Communication had a slight positive association with wives' understanding of husbands' instrumental perceptions and a negative association with wives' understanding of companionate perceptions. Communication was not associated with husbands' understanding scores. The results partly supported previous research in which communication had a stronger relation to understanding of instrumental perceptions than to understanding of abstract, relational (i.e. companionate) perceptions.

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