Communication and Longitudinal Relationship Satisfaction in Western, Chinese, and Intercultural Western-Chinese Couples

Abstract

The current study examined whether communication behaviours predict relationship satisfaction longitudinally in a culturally diverse sample of Western, Chinese, and intercultural Western-Chinese couples. The communication of 33 Western couples, 36 Chinese couples, 36 Western male-Chinese female, and 16 Chinese male-Western female couples during a problem-solving discussion was observed and coded. Analysis of the sample as a whole revealed a longitudinal effect of negative speaker behaviours for females such that higher rates of female negative speaker predicted slower declines in female satisfaction but higher rates of male negative speaker predicted faster declines in female satisfaction. In addition, a number of cross-sectional effects were apparent such that in general, positive behaviours were associated with higher relationship satisfaction and negative behaviours were associated with lower relationship satisfaction. Analysis of each cultural group separately revealed a paucity of longitudinal effects overall and a small number of cross-sectional effects in Western and Western-male-Chinese female couples. For Western couples, a longitudinal effect of negative listener was found for males such that higher rates of male negative listener predicted faster declines in male satisfaction but higher rates of female negative listener predicted slower declines in male satisfaction. Cross-sectionally, higher rates of female negative listener and negative speaker were associated with lower male satisfaction. For Western male-Chinese female couples, higher rates of female negative speaker were associated with lower initial relationship satisfaction for both genders. In addition, higher rates of female positive listener were associated with higher initial satisfaction in males. Overall, these findings suggest that the link between couple communication behaviours and longitudinal relationship satisfaction is likely to be a complex one. Furthermore, additional research is needed to clarify the role of culture in the link between communication and satisfaction.