The Comparison of the Interpersonal Processing, Effective Listening and Self-expanding in Normal and Applicant Women for Divorce

The Iranian family has been exposed to structural changes in the current era, which has transformed the existing relationships among family members. The increasing visits to counseling centers and the increase in divorce rates indicates the necessity for attention to couples' communication issues The aim of the current study was to compare interpersonal processing, effective listening and self-expanding in normal women and divorce applicants. 

Methods and Data:

 The method of this study was casual-comparative, and the sample size consisted of 120 married women (60 women applying for divorce who referred to the social work clinic in Nourabad, Lorestan city and 60 normal women) in 2018 who were selected by convenience sampling method and completed the questionnaires of the interpersonal processing (Zahradnick, 2002), commitment listening styles (Doell, 2003) and self-expanding (Lewandowski & Aron, 2002). The data were analyzed using U Mann-Whitney test and comparison of means. 

The findings indicated that there are differences among women applying for divorce and normal women with regard to the variables of interpersonal processing, effective listening, and self-expanding. Normal women in comparison to the women applying for divorce in the three variables had higher mean. Also, Women on the verge of divorce had more listening style to respond. 

It can be said that women applying for divorce, due to a lack of appropriate processing of thoughts and feelings of themselves and their spouses and less effective listening and less self-expanding, cannot experience more intimacy, and resolve their communication issues. 

Key Message: 

Counselors for couples and family can use the findings of this research in their consoling, and train interpersonal processing and empathy, effective listening style and self-expanding, and emphasis on individual talents to solve couples’ problems.