Facial Expressions During Marital Conflict
By John Gottman, Robert Levenson, and Erica Woodin.
Seventy-nine married couples were studied in 1983 in our laboratory engaging in a marital conflict discussion. Their facial expressions were coded from videotape using the Ekman and Friesen (1978) Emotion Facial Affect Coding System. This article describes the validity of this coding in several measurement domains: (a) the couple's perception of the relationship; (b) the prediction of the number of months of marital separation within the next four years; (c) the couple's physical health within the next four years; (d) the couple's cardiac physiological responses during the conflict interaction (interbeat interval and pulse transit time); (e) the number of floor switches or interacts in the conflict conversation; and (f) coding of the couple's Oral History Interview, which assesses dimensions of the couple's relationship history and philosophy. Facial expressions were consistently related to most domains of measurement.
Journal of Family Communication, 1 (1), 37-57, 2001. By John Gottman, Robert Levenson, and Erica Woodin.
Decade Review: Observing Marital Interaction
By John M. Gottman and Clifford I. Notarius.
This article reviews advances made in the decade of the 1990s in observing marital interaction. Many technological advances in data collection, including synchronization of physiology, behavior, and cognition, and advances in data analysis such as sequential analysis, have yielded new understanding and advances in prediction of marital outcomes. The advances have also included the study of developmental processes, including the transition to parenthood and the study of midlife and older marriages. Central advances have been made in the study of affect and the study of power and in their integration. This advance has included the mathematical modeling of interaction using nonlinear difference equations and the development of typologies. There has been an added focus on health outcomes and the bi-directional effects of marriages on children. There has been an expansion of the study of marital interaction to common comorbid psychopathologies. Most important has been emergent theorizing based on the interaction of behavior, perception, and physiology, as well as their predictive power.
Journal of Marriage and the Family 62 (November 2000): 927-947. By John M. Gottman and Clifford I. Notarius.
The Timing of Divorce: Predicting When a Couple Will Divorce Over a 14-Year Period
By John M. Gottman and Robert W. Levenson.
This paper investigates the predictability of divorce in a long-term prospective longitudinal study. Past research indicates that two periods are most critical for the survival of marriages: (a) the first seven years of marriage, during which half of all divorces are known to occur, and (b) the period during which the first child reaches 14 years of age, which has been suggested as a low point for marital satisfaction in the life course. Couples who were negative during conflict early in their marriages were more likely to divorce early in their marriages. Couples who were disengaged or had a lack of positive emotions in events-of-the-day and conflict discussions predicted later divorcing, rather than earlier divorcing in the marriage. The model predicted divorce with 93% accuracy.
From Journal of Marriage and the Family 62 (August 2000): 737-745. By John M. Gottman and Robert W. Levenson.
Theoretical and Mathematical Modeling of Marriage
edited by Marc Lewis and Isabela Granic (Cambridge University Press, 2000),
Our work shows the marital relationship to be a complex system in which the movement of marital interaction to predictable points in that system represents the emergency of order. In this chapter we present two methods for describing this system. First we present an empirically based theory, the Sound Marital House theory, which describes the process of function and dysfunction in marriage. Following this, the order of the marital systems is depicted in our recently developed mathematical model. These congruent models of marital interaction provide us with a method for delineating the underlying emotional structure, and the developmental trajectory, of the marital system. Furthermore, these models present us with an opportunity to prescribe clinical interventions with the aim of devising effective marital therapies. pp. 349-372.
In Emotion, Development, and Self-Organization: Dynamic Systems Approaches to Emotional Development, edited by Marc Lewis and Isabela Granic (Cambridge University Press, 2000), pp. 349-372.
How Stable is Marital Interaction Over Time?
By John M. Gottman and Robert W. Levenson.
This is a report of the degree of stability in affective marital interaction over a four-year period. There were statistically significant levels of stability in overall emotionality, and in positive and negative affect, particularly for wives. There was also stability for specific affects, but, except for humor and listener back channels, these varied with gender. Women were more stable than men in overall negative and positive affect. Men were more stable than women in belligerence, contempt, and tension/fear. Women were more stable than men in whining.
Family Process, Vol. 38, No. 2, pp. 159-165,1999. By John M. Gottman and Robert W. Levenson.
Rebound for Marital Conflict and Divorce Prediction
By John M. Gottman and Robert W. Levenson.
Marital interaction has primarily been examined in the context of conflict resolution. This study investigated the predictive ability of couples to rebound from marital conflict in a subsequent positive conversation. Results showed that there was a great deal of consistency in affect across both conversations. Also examined was the ability of affective interaction to predict divorce over a four-year period, separately in each of the two conversations. It was possible to predict divorce using affective variables from each conversation with 82.6% accuracy from the conflict conversation and with 92.7% from the positive rebound conversation.
Family Process Vol. 38, No. 3, pp.387-292. By John M. Gottman and Robert W. Levenson.
Psychology and the Study of Marital Processes
By John M. Gottman.
The divorce rate in the United States is extremely high, at least 50%. There are strong negative consequences to separation and divorce on the mental and physical health of both spouses, including increased risk for psychopathology, increased rates of automobile accidents, and increased incidence of physical illness, suicide, violence, homicide, significant immunosupression, and mortality from diseases. In children, marital distress, conflict, and disruption are associated with depression, withdrawal, poor social competence, health problems, poor academic performance, and a variety of conduct-related difficulties. Though intervention techniques might be expected to reduce these grim statistics, our best scholars have concluded that marital therapy is at a practical and theoretical impasse. This article discusses the progress of research on the study of marriage. 169-197.
Annual Review of Psychology, 1998. By John Gottman
Battering and the Male Rejection of Influence from Women
By James Coan, John M. Gottman, Julia Babcock, Neil Jacobson
The propensity of men to reject influence from women and individual differences in this tendency were examined in the present report as potentially related to two types of domestically violent men. We operationalized rejection of influence in sequential analyses of emotional behavior during a 15-minute marital interaction. In our previous research we identified two types of batterers: Type-1, whose heart rates decelerated below baseline during the marital interaction; and Type-2, whose heart rates accelerated. We found that only Type-1 husbands reject any and all influence from their wives. We postulate that Type-1 batterers reject influence as a means of maintaining power and control.
Aggressive Behavior 1997 Vol. 23. By James Coan, John M. Gottman, Julia Babcock, Neil Jacobson
Long-Term Marriage: Age, Gender, and Satisfaction
By Robert W. Levenson, Laura L Carstensen, and John M. Gottman
Long-term marriages (N=156) varying in spouses' age (40-50 years or 60-70 years) and relative marital satisfaction (satisfied and dissatisfied) were studied. Spouses independently completed demographic, marital, and health questionnaires and then participated in a laboratory-based procedure focused on areas of conflict and sources of pleasure. Findings supported a positive view of older marriages. Compared with middle-aged marriages, older couples evidenced (a) reduced potential for conflict and greater potential for pleasure in several areas (including children), (b) equivalent levels of overall mental health and physical health, and (c) lesser gender differences in sources of pleasure. The relation between marital satisfaction and health was stronger for women than for men. In satisfied marriages, wives' and husbands' health was equivalent: in dissatisfied marriages, wives reported more mental and physical health problems than did their husbands.
Psychology and Aging 1993. Vol. 8, No. 2, 301-313. By Robert W. Levenson, Laura L Carstensen, and John M. Gottman
How a Couple Views Their Past Predicts Their Future: Predicting Divorce from an Oral History Interview
By Kim T. Buehlman, John M. Gottman, and Lynn Fainsilber Katz.
A longitudinal study of 52 married couples is reported. Using nine key variables from an oral history interview at time one, the researchers were able to predict which couples would separate or divorce or remain intact upon three-year follow-up. A discriminant function analysis showed that the oral history variables could predict divorce or marital stability with approximately 94% accuracy. The oral history variables also correlated in clear ways with Time 1 marital interaction in problem solving and affect, the couple's physiological reactivity during marital interaction, as well as Time 1 and Time 2 marital satisfaction. Despite the correlation of oral history variables with Time 1 marital satisfaction, in a discriminant function analysis, Time 1 marital satisfaction variables alone resulted in a nonsignificant canonical correlation coefficient in the prediction of divorce
Journal of Family Psychology, Vol. 5 No. 3 & 4, March/June 1992 295-318. By Kim T. Buehlman, John M. Gottman, and Lynn Fainsilber Katz.
Buffering Children from Marital Conflict and Dissolution
By Lynn Fainsilber Katz and John M. Gottman
Examined several protective mechanisms that may reduce deleterious correlates of marital conflict and dissolution in young children. Fifty-six families with a preschool child were studied at two time points: when the children were 5 years old (Time one) and again when the children were 8 years old (Time two). At time one, naturalistic observations of marital and parent-child interaction were conducted and assessment of child regulatory physiology was obtained through measures of basal vagal tone and suppression of vagal tone. Parents were also interviewed individually about their feelings about their own and their children's emotions (meta-emotion philosophy) and children's intelligence was assessed. At Time two assessment of child outcomes were obtained, including observations of peer interaction, mother ratings of behavior problems and mother and teacher ratings of peer aggression, mother ratings of child physical illness, and measures of achievement. Results indicated that all Time one buffering factors protected children in face of marital conflict and dissolution.
Journal of Clinical Child Psychology 1996 Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 157-171. By Lynn Fainsilber Katz and John M. Gottman
The Roles of Conflict Engagement, Escalation, and Avoidance in Marital Interaction: A Longitudinal View of Five Types of Couples
By John M. Gottman
Seventy-three couples were studied at two time points, four years apart. A typology of five groups of couples is proposed on the basis of observational data of Time 1 resolution of conflict, specific affects, and affect sequences. Over the four years, the groups of couples differed significantly in serious considerations of divorce and in the frequency of divorce. There were 3 groups of stable couples: validators, volatiles, and avoiders, who could be distinguished from each other on problem-solving behavior, specific affects, and persuasion attempts. There were two groups of unstable couples: hostile and hostile/detached, who could be distinguished form each other on problem-solving behavior and on specific negative and positive affects. A balance theory of marriage is proposed, which explores the idea that three existing adaptations exist for having a stable marriage. Note: These five types are described in Why Marriages Succeed or Fail, which is written for general audiences.
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 1993 Vol. 61, No 1, 6-15. By John M. Gotman
Studying Emotion in Social Interaction
By John M. Gottman
This chapter reviews observational research on families and marriages. This area has an interesting history from the standpoint of emotion theory, because the data from this research made it clear that the study of emotion in families was imperative. Here is an example of a field that did not begin with an interest in emotion, but was compelled to study emotion by the results of the research. The field was then faced with practical problems of how best to conceptualized and measure emotion within the context of studying naturalistic social interaction. Unfortunately, the emotion field has little guidance to offer. In addition, this chapter discusses the practical problems of studying e motion in social interaction, and demonstrates that in resolving them, a number of theoretical issues were also posed for emotion theory itself. These practical issues lead naturally to a reconceptualization of emotion that both borrows from laboratory research and contributes to it. In conclusion, we can also see the limitations of studying emotion in the marital and family context; that is, we can see what is missing from an analysis of family systems that relies solely on emotion.
This article is available in libraries.
Marital Discord and Child Outcomes: A Social Psychophysiological Approach
By Lynn Fainsilber Katz and John M. Gottman
It has long been recognized that marital and family relationships affect the adjustment of developing children. Observations of the suffering and confusion of children whose parents continually disagree have been corroborated generally by research findings of powerful familial correlates of young children's adjustment. Indeed, the best familial predictor of childhood behavior problems has been found to be marital discord. Less clearly understood are the processes by which the marital relationship affects the children. This chapter reviews research this topic, and present Gottman's research.
This article is available in libraries.