Does Couples' Communication Predict Marital Satisfaction, or Does Marital Satisfaction Predict Communication?

• Author: Benjamin R. Karney,Thomas N. Bradbury,Justin A. Lavner
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12301
• Date: 01 June 2016
• Published date: 01 June 2016

J A. L University of Georgia

B R. K  T N. B University of California Los Angeles∗

Does Couples’ Communication Predict Marital

Satisfaction, or Does Marital Satisfaction Predict

Communication?

The quality of communication between spouses

is widely assumed to affect their subsequent

judgments of relationship satisfaction, yet this

assumption is rarely tested against the alterna-

tive prediction that communication is merely a

consequence of spouses’ prior levels of satisfac-

tion. To evaluate these perspectives, newlywed

couples’ positivity, negativity, and effectiveness

were observed four times at 9-month intervals,

and these behaviors were examined in relation

to corresponding self-reportsof relationship sat-

isfaction. Cross-sectionally, relatively satised

couples engaged in more positive, less negative,

and more effective communication. Longitudi-

nally, reliable communication-to-satisfaction

and satisfaction-to-communication associations

were identied, yet neither pathway was par-

ticularly robust. These ndings raise important

doubts about theories and interventions that

prioritize couple communication skills as the key

predictor of relationship satisfaction, while rais-

ing new questions about other factors that might

Department of Psychology, Psychology Building,

University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602

(lavner@uga.edu).

∗Department of Psychology, Universityof California, 1285

Franz Hall, Box 951563, Los Angeles, CA 90095–1563.

This article was edited by Rob Crosnoe.

Key Words: communication, low-income families, marriage

and close relationships, satisfaction.

predict communication and satisfaction and that

strengthen or moderate their association.

Communication occupies a central role in

models of relationship deterioration, as inti-

mate bonds are believed to remain strong to

the extent that partners respond with sensi-

tivity to one another (e.g., Reis & Patrick,

1996). Nonetheless, evidence substantiating the

critical importance of communication comes

almost exclusively from cross-sectional studies

(Woodin, 2011) and from longitudinal studies

in which communication observed at one time

point is used to predict later marital satisfaction

(Karney & Bradbury, 1995). If changes in com-

munication are truly the mechanism by which

satisfaction changes, however, longitudinal data

on communication behaviors are needed to

show that communication consistently predicts

changes in satisfaction over time. Moreover, in

the absence of such data, cause and effect cannot

be disentangled: Actual effects of communica-

tion on later satisfaction might be overstated if

earlier assessments of satisfaction are generating

variability in later communication. In the current

study we addressed this gap by using four waves

of observed communication and self-reported

satisfaction data from a sample of newlywed

couples to examine whether communication

predicts changes in satisfaction and whether

satisfaction predicts changes in communication.

680 Journal of Marriage and Family 78 (June 2016): 680–694

DOI:10.1111/jomf.12301