Confusion in decision-making roles, argument level, and self-esteem within marital dyads.

Abstract

Confusion between spouses in decision-making roles, number of marital arguments, and self-esteem of spouses were examined. The volunteer couples were university students and church members from the Middle Tennessee area. Confusion level and argument information were determined with a take-home survey given to both spouses who were instructed to complete them independent of each other. Confusion level was computed by the differences in spousal responses to questions of marital decision-making. A regression equation was used, and a statistically significant positive correlation was found between confusion level and number of marital arguments. The relationship between confusion level and self-esteem of husbands and wives (separately) yielded no significant effects. A regression equation yielded no significant effect for self-esteem of husbands on argument frequency; however, a statistically significant negative correlation was found for argument frequency and self-esteem of wives. A stepwise regression analysis including all variables for husbands and wives combined revealed that confusion level and self-esteem were useful in predicting the frequency of marital arguments. Gender was not found to be a useful predictor. No significant interaction effects were found.