Violence and Intimacy in Close Relationships

Abstract

This study has two foci: identifying what is known about couples' dynamics and violence and presenting an empirical study of 283 upper level college students. The review of current studies concerning emotional factors that lead to violence (or foster safety) demonstrated how positive emotions inhibit couples' violence. The empirical study demonstrated how specific, emotional components serve as protections against dyadic violence (positive affective tone, listening and understanding). The data supported these variables as highly predictive of couples' violence. The results of the study also showed that self-disclosure is not protective against violence in intimate relationships. The authors have posited that the quality of the self-disclosure and the over all emotional state of the relationship (level of deterioration) are factors that affect the predictive and protective importance of self-disclosure. The study also introduced an innovative approach to the study of couples'violence, through the use and validation of a new methodology for gathering information on violence in close relationships.