MEN AND WOMEN DEALING WITH CONFLICT IN HETEROSEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS

Marital therapists and researchers have suggested a tendency toward Pursuit by women and Withdrawal by men as an important gender-linked pattern of dealing with marital conflict. The relationships of gender and sex role orientation to behavior in intimate heterosexual relationships were examined in two studies of nondistressed couples. In Study 1, 29 couples were examined longitudinally before and after marriage using an observational and self-report design. No gender differences in Problem Solving, Intimacy, or Conflict behaviors were observed premaritally, but communication variables seemed in general to be more important for men's satisfaction than for women's. In Study 2, 324 undergraduates were examined cross-sectionally. In this self-report study, stereotypical gender differences, particularly for Withdrawal, were observed. We conclude that gender differences, such as the Pursuit/Withdrawal cycle, are a function of gender roles and marital distress rather than gender per se.