The relations of the couples are usually a complex interaction that involves various levels of comprehension and attachment, as well as different situations including conflict ones. It seems sometimes not clear why some relations are more stable whereas the others are falling apart quickly. The fact is that people are different and they tend to behave in a different way when in a couple. This is why it is necessary to understand the individual features of the person and its combination in partner relationship.
The proposed empirical study is aimed to investigate the correlation between attachment insecurity, perception of the conflicts and relation satisfaction in couples in order to understand the mechanism of their accordance and influence one each other.
Previous researchers mentioned in the paper have presented to reader some information about the functioning of couple relations. These researches helped in further construction of the theory and development of hypotheses. Some of the researches mentioned were giving the opposite suggestions, as the relation between the conflict role and couple satisfaction was not investigated properly. For example, the author describes a work of Gill where it was claimed that conflicts are resulting in negative experience and future dissatisfaction. On the other hand, it was also said by Bradbury that engaging in a conflict and problem solving will be more positive for the couple than the complete ignorance of issues. There were as well researches that explained the parameters used for the study, as, for example, the attachment theory, explained by Bowlby . It suggests that the history of person’s relations is influencing his or her future behavior and forms a certain attachment system that indicates how person will interact with others. It was also stated that attachment style will influence the way people are perceiving conflicts in a couple. For example, people who are more attachment secure tend to perceive conflict as something normal and not regard it as a threat to their relationships. On the opposite, people that are having insecure history of attachment would consider the conflict as a threat to their relations .
The study is a qualitative research based on the responses on a designed questionnaire that was sent by mail to both partners . According to the conditions, the confidentiality was provided and all the participants were granted with a monetary encouragement. Three main measures for this research were used: the attachment, perception of conflict and couple satisfaction . Each of them was studied with a help of different scales and approaches.
The respondents were heterosexual French-speaking couples from Canada with the limited age between 18 and 35 that are either married or are living together not less than 6 months . All in all their overall quantity was 299. They were recruited by a special survey firm by the random-digit dialing .
One of the main messages is that for men and women the perception of conflict is correlating with different parameters. For men it was women’s anxiety and for women – men’s avoidance . It basically means that men perceive the potential conflict higher in the couple where the woman is more emotional, while on the contrary, women were more sensitive to men’s alienation and avoidance. Once again the research proved that the level of partner satisfaction depends on both own and partner’s perception of conflict. It is interesting however to discover that the avoidance of the conflict does not make people more stable in relationships but on the contrary, could be a reason why partners do not trust each other with emotional support . All in all the hypotheses about the connection between attachment insecurities and perception of conflict were approved.
The obtained results are important for the society as they could be used by therapists for the improvement of understanding inside the couple . Moreover, in my opinion, there is also a personal value. When a person gets to know herself better, he or she is able to predict their future behavior and react accordingly. It is also convenient to understand why some relations are luckier to work out for a person and which are not. These conclusions could be used not only in psychological practices, but as well in sociology and other social sciences.
Personally I find this research as a useful material to explain the nature of the conflicts in couples and predict the possible reaction of the partner considering his or her personal characteristics. The important point is that there are not that much of basic variables; however each of them is investigated properly. This study shows how the quantitative methods of research are helping in understanding some personal psychological issues. There is a range of possibilities for future researchers. For example, they could be developed in the way the researches are proposing – with an accent on longitude of the research, using different methods of respondent recruitment and engaging English speaking couples .
In my opinion, the next researches could be either once again quantitative, or switch to the deeper research with the help of qualitative methodology. Thus, in the first case, there would be other parameters that could correlate with the attachment types and conflict perception. If we consider the qualitative methodology, there could be various interviews or couple sessions held in order to understand better the way different people are behaving in couples and then it can serve to build up even a classification of combination types.
References
Bowlby, J. (1982). Attachment and loss: Vol I. New York: Basic Books.
Bradbury, T. N., Rogge, R., & Lawrence, E. (2001). Reconsidering the role of conflict in marriage. Couples in conflict , 59-81.
Brassard, A.,Lussier, Y., Shaver, P. (2009). Attachment, Perceived Conflict, and Couple Satisfaction: Test of a Mediational Dyadic Model. Family Relations , 634-646.
Gill, D. S., Christensen, A., & Fincham, F. D. (1999). Predicting marital satisfaction from behavior:Do all roads really lead to Rome? Personal Relationships , 369 – 387.
Pietromonaco, P. R., Greenwood, D.,&Feldman Barrett,. (2004). Conflict in adult close relationships:An attachment perspective. In W. S. Rholes & J. A. Simpson (Eds.). Adult attachment: Theory,research, and clinical implications , 267 – 299.
