| dc.description.abstract | Psychiatric symptoms and aggressive communication between partners tend to
coexist. However, the majority of studies on the relation between couples’ aggressive
communication and psychiatric disorders are cross-sectional and often report on how
one partner’s aggression may affect symptoms of psychiatric disorders in the other
partner, so-called partner effects of aggression. The impact of third variables
notwithstanding, prospective studies is needed to disentangle potential causes from
alleged effects. Moreover, various types of conflict communication, e.g. overt
aggression versus passive aggressive communication styles, may have different
impact on different mental health problems. I therefore examined whether symptoms
of depression, anxiety, eating disorder and personality disorders as well as symptoms
of alcohol abuse affected change in the use of different conflict styles with partner in
a large sample of women. Data was collected over a two-year period. The aggression
types were measured by the Conflict and Problem-Solving Scale (CPS), symptoms of
psychiatric disorders and alcohol use were measured by Beck Depression Inventory
(BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), The Eating disorder Examination
Questionnaire (EDE), The DSM-IV and ICD-10 Personality Questionnaire (DIP-Q)
and The Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT). The results showed that
cluster C personality disorder symptoms predicted an increase in the use of Verbal
aggression towards partner. Symptoms of depression and alcohol use were found to
predict an increase in Stonewalling, a communication type characterized by angry
withdrawal and refusal to engage on others’ initiative. Psychiatric symptoms and
alcohol abuse did not affect changes in physical aggression towards one’s partner.
Overall, the findings suggest that specific psychiatric symptoms are risk factors for
the use of aggressive communication styles when facing partner conflict. Although
future research is needed to test such assumption, it is reasonable to assume that
addressing partner communication in patients suffering from the above noted
psychiatric symptoms may prevent aggressive partner conflicts from escalating. | nb_NO |
