Abstract
When two individuals are involved in long-term relationship they adjust their behaviors to their partner. This may occur in a friendly and understanding way, but also through aggression in a verbal or physical form.
In our study, we focused on the second part, employing a novel interactional method. Relationship Drama Method is based on reenactment of a couple's specific and most typical conflictual situation, allowing partners to express their natural variety of behaviors in a safe laboratory setting.
Sixty Czech couples (MageF = 25.2 +- 5.7; MageM = 24.8 +- 4.6 years) participated in our study. Mean duration of their relationship was 2.91 +- 2.16 years, ranging from 7 months to 14 years.
Open codes were used to code verbal and nonverbal aggressive behavior (e.g., swearing, blackmailing / throwing objects, grabbinpg). Two standardized measures, Control and Decision-making Scale (CDS) and Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS) were used.
Sub-scales of Consensus, Satisfaction, Cohesion, and Affectional Expression, were also used. For Regression analyses, we used adjusted scores of the difference within couples.
None of the aggressive behavioral displays had significant impact on situational dominance - winning or losing. In men, the largest difference between partners on the sub-scale Relationship Satisfaction (DAS) was positively related to the number of physical threats to the female partner.
In women, the largest difference on the Consensus sub-scale (DAS) between partners positively related to displays of verbal aggression. From a methodological point of view, many of the non-verbal communications are problematic to research since they are unique to communication dyads (couples), and researchers may not spot them or interpret them in meaningful ways.
In future studies, it would be beneficial to test couples soon after they started dating, following them longitudinally, and including kind and hostile behaviors that complement the aggressive ones.