• 231-01 - Conflict Management Across Eight Situations: Actor-partner Interdependence Model
  Presented by: David Thompson, Joyce Baptist, Chelsea Link, Kaleb Beyer
• 231-02 - Sexual Self-disclosure and Communication Among Swinger Couples
  Presented by: Claire Kimberly, Jason Hans
• 231-03 The Relational Effects of Same-sex Marriage in Iowa
  Presented by: Parris M. Green, Mary S. Green, Markie L. C. Blumer, Megan J. Murphy
• 231-04 - Emotional Congruence Within Couple Interaction: The Role of Attachment Avoidance
  Presented by: Ryan Seedall, Karen Wampler

Abstracts

Conflict Management Across Eight Situations: Actor-partner Interdependence Model

Presented by: David Thompson, Joyce Baptist, Chelsea Link, Kaleb Beyer

The Vulnerability-Stress-Adaptation model was applied to examine how personality traits and marital attributions influence conflict across eight different situations that commonly occur in marriages.   The interdependence of actor-partner attributions and conflict styles were further examined. Wives were more consistent in their conflict styles across conflict situations while husbands' conflict style was dependent on the situation. Situational conflict styles were not only impacted by gender, but personality traits.  Results confirmed the influence of actors' negative attributions on conflict styles except for wives' use of volatility.  Partner effects were found for wives' conflict styles indicating that wives may be more in-tuned and responsive to husbands' attributions.

Sexual Self-disclosure and Communication Among Swinger Couples

Presented by: Claire Kimberly, Jason Hans

While the characteristics associated with effective sexual self-disclosure (SSD) are well documented, the process of developing and utilizing those skills within a relationship remains unclear. Swinger couples tend to exhibit particularly effective patterns of SSD and have such healthy communication processes in general that some have suggested they could serve as models for marital satisfaction. The purpose of this study is to develop a grounded theory of the process through which swinger couples develop and utilize SSD skills, with the hope that in doing so new approaches to developing successful communicative strategies in all couples may begin to emerge.  

The Relational Effects of Same-sex Marriage in Iowa

Presented by: Parris M. Green, Mary S. Green, Markie L. C. Blumer, Megan J. Murphy

The purpose of this study was to explore the reasons same-sex couples in Iowa chose to get married and the effect marriage had on them and their relationships with others. The final sample consisted of 371 persons who were mainly White, well educated professionals with above average income with an average age of 46 years. The main reason people got married was love and commitment, followed by the desire for legal status and financial rights and concerns. The largest positive changes were in terms of feelings about permanence, self-esteem, life, couple relationship, commitment, and trust.

Emotional Congruence Within Couple Interaction: The Role of Attachment Avoidance

Presented by: Ryan Seedall, Karen Wampler

Attachment avoidance refers to the strategy some use of shutting down emotionally and covering up what they are feeling when distressed. This represents incongruence between emotional experience and expression. Incongruence has been identified as a core aspect of repressive coping, about which research has identified several long-term health risks. In this study, we used skin conductance and moment-to-moment reports of feelings towards partner to understand the relationship between attachment avoidance and emotional congruence within the context of semi-natural and therapy-like interactions. Findings indicate that those higher in avoidance indeed demonstrated greater incongruence between what they reported and their physiological response.