Verbal Language Use in Distressed Couples

Date of Award

2005

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Ryan, Kimberly

Keywords

Couples, Language, Marital Satisfaction

Area of Concentration

Psychology

Abstract

Verbal language use in therapy sessions with distressed couples was examined to determine whether spouses with high ratios of positive to negative emotion words reported greater marital satisfaction in pre-therapy, 6-month follow-up, and 1-year follow-up assessments and less negativity in arguments in pre-therapy and 1-year follow-up assessments than did spouses with low ratios of positive to negative emotion words. One therapy session for each of 15 couples from a brief marital intervention group of a larger study were transcribed and analyzed using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC), a text-analysis program. Individuals with high in therapy ratios of positive to negative emotion word use and their respective spouses reported greater marital satisfaction and less negativity in arguments at all time points.

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