Marital interaction of agoraphobic women: a controlled, behavioral observation study.
Married couples with a female agoraphobic spouse (n = 22) were compared with demographically similar community control couples (n = 21) on self-report and observational measures of marital interaction. Consistent with hypotheses, husbands of agoraphobic women were more critical of their wives than were control husbands, and clinical couples were less likely to engage in positive problem solution than control couples. Contrary to hypothesis, clinical husbands were not less supportive than control husbands. Where general measures of marital distress were concerned, clinical couples, relative to control couples, evinced more distress by self-report, by their higher rate of negative nonverbal behavior, and by their longer sequences of negative exchanges.
Chambless
Dianne L
DL
Agoraphobia and Anxiety Treatment Center, Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, USA. chambles@email.unc.edu
Fauerbach
James A
JA
Floyd
Frank J
FJ
Wilson
Kimberly A
KA
Remen
Anna L
AL
Renneberg
Babette
B
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D000328:Adult; D000379:Agoraphobia / Q000523:psychology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D019260:Expressed Emotion / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage / Q000523:psychology*; D019370:Observation; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000502:physiology; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012650:Self Disclosure; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires