UCLA

Behavioral perspectives of relationship distress suggest that communication and relationship outcomes are tightly linked in couples. The series of studies in this dissertation examine observed communication in 10–min videotaped interactions at each of three time points (i.e., pre–therapy, post–therapy, 2–year follow–up) from a sample of 134 distressed couples assigned to either Traditional Behavioral Couple Therapy (TBCT; Jacobson & Margolin, 1979) or Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy (IBCT; Jacobson & Christensen, 1998) in a randomized clinical trial. Although both treatments assume communication to be an integral aspect of relationship functioning, they are distinguished by IBCT’s incorporation of acceptance techniques and use of contingency–shaped change strategies, and TBCT’s explicit change focus using rule–governed methods. In Paper 1 we examined changes in individual partner communication rated by trained coders. We found continued improvements in communication following treatment termination, with IBCT couples demonstrating greater improvements from post–therapy to 2–year follow–up relative to TBCT couples. We also found limited evidence of associations between communication and relationship outcomes at 2– and 5–year follow–up. Finally, we replicated an odd finding that increased positivity is associated with poorer outcomes but clarified this finding by demonstrating that counterintuitive links between positivity and relationship satisfaction disappear after controlling for withdrawal. In Paper 2 we examined the extent to which “naïve” (untrained) raters could make useful judgments of couples’ interactions. We compared naïve ratings of both overall relationship quality and dyadic interaction patterns to the trained ratings from Paper 1. Not only were naïve and trained ratings closely linked, but naïve ratings were also strongly and consistently associated with relationship satisfaction. Naïve ratings uniquely predicted relationship outcomes, and at times were better predictors of outcomes than trained ratings. In Paper 3 we investigated whether changes in naïve ratings over time depended on treatment condition. Consistent with the underlying theories of change in the respective treatments, TBCT couples improved more from pre–therapy to post–therapy, but IBCT couples improved more from post–therapy to 2–year follow–up. Taken together, the findings in this dissertation support communication improvements in couples following therapy termination, and the utility of innovative methods of communication assessment.