Good Communication & Marital Happiness
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Marriage, as well as other personal relationships, represents a challenging and intriguing context in which to examine communication structures. The marital relationship is characterized by strong emotions, and is also linked to societal expectations, requirements and demands. Developing and testing theories of human communication within long-term relationships such as a marriage is a good way for social scientists to test and validate these theories. Jean Wilson Houck and Richard W. Daniel writing in Journal of Humanistic Education & Development (1994) offer their theories about communication in a marriage. They write that how husbands and wives communicate with one another affects the development of their relationship, as well as their satisfaction with their marriages, and that spouses' perceptions of their own marital communication were an essential element in the progress, or in the deterioration of their relationship. They suggest that wives may have higher expectations for openness and sharing in the relationship, but that males often demonstrate less well-developed nonverbal and verbal communication skills. A different interpretation of the same facts would suggest that men prefer not to communicate intimately rather than men lack the ability to do so (Houck, Daniel, 1994, 21). Most people believe that good communication is considered a key to marital happiness. Although married couples agree that good communication is one of the key to success, men and women often
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e it when both partners have had time to calm down and think more rationally. Ellen Kleiner writing in Mothering 1994 writes that the quest for a happy union hinges on its ability to handle conflict. Kleiner adds that it is not the differences between partners that cause problems, but how the differences are handled when they arise. Addressing the issue of communications, she notes that spouses need to practice relationship skills including intimate, caring, open and honest communications in order to become good at them (Kleiner, 1994, 26).
Frequently, feeling hurt or unloved results in criticizing and nagging. What one spouse may want most in the relationship is more attention and tenderness, but if those needs are not met for whatever reason they respond by lashing out with critical, hurtful comments. Louise Ferrebee writing in Marriage Partnership (1997) suggests that men need to do to successfully communicate with their wives. Men often ineffective at meeting a woman's need to feel valued and understood because men are not mentored about how to be sensitive to the needs of their spouses. Ferrebee adds that this breakdown in communication works both ways with males and females equally dysfunctional. She explains that many wo
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Marriage Partnership, Marital Interaction, Counseling Development, Ellen Kleiner, Education Development, John Gray, Marriage Family, Social Psychology, Fowers Jacobs, Ripley Worthington, writing journal, marital enrichment, marital happiness, journal humanistic education, humanistic education development, noller fitzpatrick 1988, die 1990, pollock die, communication skills, dysfunctional relationship, spouse relationship, houck daniel, houck daniel 1994, journal social psychology, fighting fair,
Approximate Word count = 1856
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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