Marital power, marital adjustment, and therapy outcome

This study examined the association of marital power type to (a) marital adjustment and (b) response to behavioral marital therapy. A behavioral measure was used to classify 53 distressed couples into egalitarian, husband-dominant, wife-dominant, or anarchic power patterns. Marital adjustment was assessed by measures of marital satisfaction, desired relationship change, and 2 communication indexes. At pretreatment, egalitarian couples showed the best overall marital adjustment, and anarchic couples showed the worst; at posttreatment, egalitarian and wife-led couples reported the highest marital satisfaction, and anarchic couples reported the lowest. Wife-dominant couples improved the most, reporting increased marital satisfaction and demonstrating improved communication. The discussion considers the special treatment needs of anarchic couples for whom improved communication occurred in a context of continued marital dissatisfaction.