Investigating Couples' Interactive Patterns at Three Stages of the Family Life Cycle

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

2 Family Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Abstract

Introduction: This study aims to investigate the couples' interaction patterns at three stages of family life cycle including couples without children, childbearing families and families with adolescent children.
Method: This study is a qualitative research with a phenomenology method. Using purposive sampling, 28 couples were selected from Yazd (20-50 year old couples). The required data was collected through designed scenarios using in-depth semi-structured interview and the Marital Adjustment Test. To analyze the data, the seven-stage Colaizzi model was imitated.
Results: Totally, 12 components of negative interaction patterns were identified including defensiveness, criticism, anger, gender rules, belligerence, family contempt, contempt, domineering, tense humor, contempt for her/himself, sadness and retreat. Positive interaction codes included cautious behavior, interest in the relation, validation, affection, humor, surprise, self-disclosure, seeing themselves as a unit, sense of humor, emotion management, and normalization. The findings indicate significant differences in the amount of usage, form, purpose and verbal manifestation of these components in each of the stages.
Conclusion: It can be stated that different life cycle stages have certain features that can make an impact on the couples' interaction patterns.
 

Keywords

References

Reference
1.   Saadati N, Rostami M, Darbani SA. Comparing the effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) on improving self-esteem and post-divorce adaptation in women. Journal of Family Psychology. 2017;3(2):45-58.
2.   American Psychological Association [Research in Action Education] Marital Education Programs Help Keep Couples Together. [updated 2017/3/8; cited 2004 October 8]. A3.
3    Karimi R, Bakhtiyari M, Arani A. Protective factors of marital stability in long-term marriage globally: a systematic review. Epidemiology and health. 2019;41.
4.   Lavner JA, Karney BR, Bradbury TN. Does couples' communication predict marital satisfaction, or does marital satisfaction predict communication? Journal of Marriage and Family. 2016;78(3):680-94.
5.   Gottman JM. What predicts divorce?: The relationship between marital processes and marital outcomes: Psychology Press; 2014.
6.   Isanezhad O. Effectiveness of relationship enhancement on marital quality of couples. . International Journal of Behavioral Sciences. 2010;4(1):9-16.
7.   Kiecolt-Glaser JK. Marriage, divorce, and the immune system. American Psychologist. 2018;73(9):1098.
8.   Haase CM, Holley SR, Bloch L, Verstaen A, Levenson RW. Interpersonal emotional behaviors and physical health: A 20-year longitudinal study of long-term married couples. Emotion. 2016;16(7):965.
9.   Robles TF, Slatcher RB, Trombello JM, McGinn MM. Marital quality and health: A meta-analytic review. Psychological bulletin. 2014;140(1):140.
10. Wilson SJ, Martire LM, Zhaoyang R. Couples’ day-to-day pain concordance and marital interaction quality. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. 2019;36(3):1023-40.
11. Driver J, Tabares A, Shapiro AF, Gottman JM. Couple interaction in happy and unhappy marriages: Gottman Laboratory studies. 2012.
12. Sillars A, Shellen W, McIntosh A, Pomegranate M. Relational characteristics of language: Elaboration and differentiation in marital conversations. Western Journal of Communication (includes Communication Reports). 1997;61(4):403-22.
13. Goncalves K. Diskursmuster-Discourse Patterns: Conversations of Intercultural Couples. Berlin/Boston, DE: Akademie Verlag GmbH. 2013.
14. Bahavornia E. Evaluation models of linear and curved marital satisfaction in married life cycle Shahid Beheshti University; 2009.
15. Abbasi M, Dehghani M, Mazaheri M, Ansarinejad F, Fadaie Z. Trend analysis of changes in marital satisfaction and related dimensions across family life Cycle. Journal of Family Research. 2010;6(1):5-22.
16. Olson DH, Lavee Y. Family systems and family stress: A family life cycle. Family systems and life-span development. 2013:165-96.
17. Carstensen LL, Gottman JM, Levenson RW. Emotional behavior in long-term marriage. Psychology and aging. 1995;10(1):140.
18. Pahlavan M. Compare married in Tehran communication patterns in most conflict situations during the past three generations: Shahid Beheshti University; 2013.
19. Swensen CH, Eskew RW, Kohlhepp KA. Stage of family life cycle, ego development, and the marriage relationship. Journal of Marriage and the Family. 1981:841-53.
20. Levchenko M, dushkina K. Factors of marriage satisfaction at different stages of family life cycle. Bulletin of Science and Practice. 2017;9:243–9.
21. Ballard MB. The family life cycle and critical transitions: Utilizing cinematherapy to facilitate understanding and increase communication. Journal of Creativity in Mental Health. 2012;7(2):141-52.
22. Cowan PA, Cowan CP. Normative family transitions, couple relationship quality, and healthy child development. 2012.
23. Kluwer ES. From partnership to parenthood: A review of marital change across the transition to parenthood. Journal of Family Theory & Review. 2010;2(2):105-25.
24. Kusner KG, Mahoney A, Pargament KI, DeMaris A. Sanctification of marriage and spiritual intimacy predicting observed marital interactions across the transition to parenthood. Journal of Family Psychology. 2014;28(5):604.
25. Kira S. Growing Older Together: Couple Relationships and Aging. The Gerontologist. 2017;57(2):381–2.
26. First M, Spitzer R, Gibbon M, Williams J. User’s guide for the structured clinical interview for DSM-IV axis I disorders SCID-I: clinician version: American Psychiatric Pub. Back to cited text. 1997(7).
27. Sharifi V, Assadi SM, Mohammadi MR, Amini H, Kaviani H, Semnani Y, et al. A persian translation of the structured clinical interview for diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: psychometric properties. Comprehensive psychiatry. 2009;50(1):86-91.
28. Mazaheri M. The study of validity and reliability of MAT questionnaire. Journal of Psychology. 2000;15:286-318.
29. Sadeghi MS, Mazaheri MA, Motabi DF, Zahedi K. Marital interaction in iranian couples: examining the role of culture. Journal of Comparative Family Studies. 2012;43(2):281-300.
30. Salavati S, Mootabi F, Sadeghi MS. Reaction to the Infidelity in Iranian couples: A Phenomenological Study. International Journal of Behavioral Sciences. 2018;11(4):135-41.
31. Ting-Toomey S. Percieved decison-making power and marital adjusment. Communication Research Reports. 1984;1(1).
32. Volling BL, Oh W, Gonzalez R, Kuo PX, Yu T. Patterns of marital relationship change across the transition from one child to two. Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice. 2015;4(3):177.
33. Gottman JM, Notarius CI. Marital research in the 20th century and a research agenda for the 21st century. Family process. 2002;41(2):159-97.
34. Stafford L. Marital sanctity, relationship maintenance, and marital quality. Journal of Family Issues. 2016;37(1):119-31.
35. Ahmadi K, Rezazade M, Saadat H, Kimiaei SA, Zade NH. Contribution of marital conflict to marital quality in short and long-term marriages: An actor-partner interdependence model. Journal of education and health promotion. 2015;4.
36. Yavorsky JE, Kamp Dush CM, Schoppe‐Sullivan SJ. The production of inequality: The gender division of labor across the transition to parenthood. Journal of Marriage and Family. 2015;77(3):662-79.
37. Birditt KS, Brown E, Orbuch TL, McIlvane JM. Marital conflict behaviors and implications for divorce over 16 years. Journal of Marriage and Family. 2010;72(5):1188-204.
38. Gilford R, Bengtson V. Measuring marital satisfaction in three generations: Positive and negative dimensions. Journal of Marriage and the Family. 1979:387-98.
39. Bookwala J, Sobin J, Zdaniuk B. Gender and aggression in marital relationships: A life-span perspective. Sex roles. 2005;52(11-12):797-806.
International Journal of Behavioral Sciences
Volume 14, Issue 4
February 2021
Pages 191-198

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics