Ball F L, Cowan P, Cowan C P
School of Education, Nanyang University, Singapore.
Fam Process. 1995 Sep;34(3):303-21. doi: 10.1111/j.1545-5300.1995.00303.x.
Previous research on marital communication indicates that women have more influence in marital problem solving because they raise the issues and shape the discussion. Other studies suggest that men have the power in marital problem solving. This study re-examines power and influence from the partners' point of view. Twenty-seven couples-18 with a first child under 2, and 9 undecided about having children-were videotaped while working on a self-selected problem concerning their division of family labor. Data sources included: (a) transcribed audiotaped accounts given by each partner while viewing a videotape of their problem-solving discussion; (b) self-report questionnaires; and (c) ratings by a research team of the concordance between spouses' accounts. Husbands and wives were perceived as having a primary influence on different aspects of the discussion. Women tended to raise the issues and draw men out in the early phase of the discussion, while men controlled the content and emotional depth of the later discussion phases, and largely determined the outcome. The women's accounts emphasized that their influence in the early phase was often illusory: their behavior was shaped primarily by the effort to choose strategies that would avoid upsetting their husbands. In terms of overall satisfaction with marriage, wives had greater tolerance than their husbands for conflict in the area of division of domestic labor, but less tolerance for their husbands' domination of the discussion process. Women's marital satisfaction was higher when there was concordance between spouses in their accounts of their problem-solving discussion. This research highlights the importance of eliciting spouses' own perceptions and definitions in understanding the impact of gender-linked power differences in martial communication.
先前关于婚姻沟通的研究表明，在解决婚姻问题方面女性具有更大影响力，因为她们提出问题并主导讨论。其他研究则表明男性在解决婚姻问题中掌握着权力。本研究从夫妻双方的角度重新审视了权力和影响力。研究人员对27对夫妻进行了录像，其中18对夫妻育有一个2岁以下的头胎子女，另外9对夫妻尚未决定是否要孩子，他们正在就一个自行选择的有关家庭劳动分工的问题进行讨论。数据来源包括：（a）每位伴侣在观看他们解决问题讨论的录像带时给出的录音文字记录；（b）自我报告问卷；以及（c）一个研究团队对夫妻双方叙述一致性的评分。丈夫和妻子在讨论的不同方面被认为具有主要影响力。在讨论的早期阶段，女性倾向于提出问题并引导男性参与，而在后期讨论阶段，男性控制着讨论的内容和情感深度，并在很大程度上决定了结果。女性的叙述强调，她们在早期阶段的影响力往往是虚幻的：她们的行为主要是由选择避免让丈夫心烦的策略的努力所塑造的。就对婚姻的总体满意度而言，妻子对家庭劳动分工领域的冲突比丈夫有更高的容忍度，但对丈夫主导讨论过程的容忍度较低。当夫妻双方对解决问题讨论的叙述一致时，女性的婚姻满意度更高。这项研究凸显了在理解婚姻沟通中与性别相关的权力差异的影响时，引出配偶自身看法和定义的重要性。
