Study: Women Best at Problem-Solving Skills in a Marriage

A new study published in the Journal of Counseling Psychology suggests that when solving problems within a marriage, it is the women that wield all the power.

The study was recently published under the title "Sex Differences in the Use of Demand and Withdraw Behavior in Marriage: Examining the Social Structure Hypothesis" and was led by David Vogel, Associate Professor of Psychology at Iowa State University and Megan Murphy, Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Studies also at Iowa State.

The study included 72 married couples from the state of Iowa that were documented to be relatively happy in their marriages. According to the report, none of the couples were undergoing any form of therapy (or counseling) during the study.

Spouse participants had an average age of 33 years and a marriage longevity of approximately 7 years. Ethnically, two-thirds (66%) of the couples were of European ancestry, 22% were Asian, and the rest were Hispanic and African-American at 5 and 4% respectively.

The data was collected through a series of questionnaires eliciting information on relationship satisfaction and evaluating the capacity to make decisions within the marriage. Each individual spouse was also prompted to identify a problem or issue they felt needed attention and resolution and that could not be solved unless there was support and cooperation from the other spouse. Participants were then asked to enlist the specific behaviors and actions that were used to solve the problem once it emerged.

Once the data was collected, the couples were reunited and encouraged to discuss each of the dilemmas for ten minutes at a time. All of the discussions were documented via videotape. The researchers made sure that no one else but the couple was able to participate in any of the discussions.

The team then subsequently studied the videotapes and scored the couples interactions according to a rating system that takes into account five "demand and withdraw" behaviors. These include: avoidance, discussion, blame, pressure for change, and withdrawal behavior

As a whole, the researchers found that during problem-solving negotiations, it was the wives that were more likely to display power in a domineering fashion irrespective of which spouse initiated the discussion. In other words, it was the women who were more likely to have the partner give in. The researchers emphasized that their study refutes previous assumptions that sex differences in marital power favor the husbands.

In the press release from Iowa State University, Professor Vogel stated that "The study at least suggests that the marriage is a place where women can exert some power, whether or not it's because of changing societal roles, we don't know. But they are, at least, taking responsibility and power in these relationships. So at least for relatively satisfied couples, women are able to take some responsibility and are able to exert some power, but it's hard for us to say why that's so."

As per the ISU brief, Professor Murphy said that "Women are responsible for overseeing the relationship -- making sure the relationship runs, that everything gets done, and that everybody's happy, and so, maybe some of that came out in our findings in terms of women domineering and dominating, that they were taking more responsibility for the relationship, regardless of whose topic was being discussed."

The research team also noted that previous studies have found that healthy marriages usually tend to have men that accept influence from their wives.

Source: Journal of Psychology Counseling: http://content.apa.org/journals/cou/54/2/165

Iowa State News Service: http://www.iastate.edu/~nscentral/news/2007/jun/wifepower.shtml