[Marital feedback behavior: relations between feedback activity of the partner and feedback quality, duration of the marriage and ability of the marriage to function].

The effect of the quality of feedback and the feedback activity of partners on the feedback behavior of married controls, who differed with regard to the duration and the functioning of their marriages, was investigated. 106 married couples were divided into a group of disturbed marriages in the first half of life (GJE), a group of disturbed marriages in the second half of life (GAE), and harmonious marriages (HAE). During a conflict-conversation that was structured according to the technique of revealed differences the partners exchanged positive and negative feedback optically and acoustically. Corresponding to the frequency of the feedback active and less active partners were differentiated. In comparison with the couples of the HAE group, couples of the GAE group gave less feedback, especially less positive feedback. The less active partner of the GAE group gave significantly more negative feedback than the comparable partner of the HAE group. Differences between the GAE and the GJE group that can be called statistically significant do not exist. The results have been discussed with respect to their application.