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“My way or no way”: Anarchic power, relationship satisfaction, and male violence
Author(s) -
REHMAN UZMA S.,
HOLTZWORTHMUNROE AMY,
HERRON KATHERINE,
CLEMENTS KAHNI
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
personal relationships
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.81
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1475-6811
pISSN - 1350-4126
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2009.01235.x
Subject(s) - psychology , power (physics) , social psychology , domestic violence , sample (material) , suicide prevention , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , poison control , medical emergency , medicine , physics , chemistry , chromatography , quantum mechanics
It was hypothesized that couples experiencing husband violence are more likely than nonviolent couples to have “anarchic” power outcomes, that is, the failure to reach agreement or make a decision when discussing relationship problems. Three groups of U.S. couples in committed relationships participated in the current study: 41 experiencing husband violence, 23 nonviolent but maritally distressed, and 39 nonviolent‐nondistressed. The power outcome was assessed by noting which partner's solution couples adopted using both hypothetical and actual marital problem discussions. The study findings suggested that power gridlocks are related to relationship dysfunction but may not be specifically linked to husband violence among a community sample. The conclusion includes a discussion of the methodological and theoretical issues that need to be considered in future research.