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11 - Conflict Management and Problem Solving as Relationship Maintenance

from Part III - Processes of Relationship Maintenance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2019

By
Karena Leo ,
Feea R. Leifker ,
Donald H. Baucom  and
Brian R. W. Baucom
Edited by
Brian G. Ogolsky  and
J. Kale Monk
Brian G. Ogolsky
Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
J. Kale Monk
Affiliation:
University of Missouri
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Summary

Maintaining a committed relationship over a long period of time is a challenging task for couples, as both partners need to be responsive to each partner’s preferences and needs, function well together, and be attentive to their environment. Balancing these factors can be difficult, particularly given that all of these domains are likely to change over time. Therefore, partners inevitably experience conflict as they engage in this ongoing process, often differing in their approaches to the myriad factors they must address. Conflict is a normative process that has the potential to help a couple move forward adaptively by restoring balance within the relationship when the differences between partners are addressed. However, it is how an individual handles conflict that determines whether conflict contributes to relationship maintenance. This chapter presents an integrative conceptual model of conflict management using the Valence-Affective-Connection (VAC) model, which comprises three axes along which conflict management and problem-solving tactics vary as well as two timeframes of relationship maintenance. It is our hope that the VAC model will contribute to future research by presenting a framework for deriving testable hypotheses that build on well-established relational theories and incorporate key principles from individual models of psychopathology and physical health.

Keywords

couplesconflictrelationship maintenancecommunication behavioraffective expression
Type
Chapter
Information
Relationship Maintenance
Theory, Process, and Context
 , pp. 194 - 214
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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