The purpose of this study is to analyze, separately and in combination, the patterns of relational control and nonverbal affect in clinic-distressed and nonclinic-nondistressed couples' interaction. The results indicated a low to moderate relation-ship between control and affect; however, each dimension conveyed nonredundant interactional information. Clinic couples displayed more domineeringness, more affect negativity, and a stronger association between one-up control and negative affect than nonclinic couples. Lower levels of neutral affect reciprocity and one-down/one-across (J1-) transitory control interacts were also salient characteristics in differentiating clinic from nonclinic couples' interaction. Further, the combined control-affect analysis indicated a higher proportion of escalating competitive symmetry with negative affect for clinic couples. For nonclinic couples, competitive symmetry with negative affect was counterbalanced by competitive symmetry with neutral affect and diverse transitory patterns with neutral or positive affect. Implications of these results are discussed.
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