Identifying communication patterns of women with marital conflict: A Qualitative Study

The aim of this study was to investigate the communication patterns of Conflicting women. The research method was qualitative and phenomenological. The research population consisted of available conflicting women in Tehran in 1399 and the population was equal to the target sample. According to the inclusion criteria, conflicting women were selected and sampling was continued until data saturation. A total of 15 women were studied through semi-structured interviews and the findings were analyzed by the Colaizzi’s method. The main themes in the present study include the two main themes of "maladaptive communication patterns" including the sub-themes of "negative physical exchanges", "negative verbal exchanges", "negative emotional exchanges", "difficulty in expressing emotions", "adverse reaction to a spouse's mistake". "Lack of attention to the feedback process", "Inefficient marital relations", "Inefficient response to problems", "Difficulty in expressing demands", "Ineffective dialogue", "Non-cooperation", and "coexistence" and the main theme of "adaptive communication patterns" The sub-themes included "optimal response to error", "effective nonverbal communication", "effective response to problems", "ease of expression" and "effective dialogue". Findings indicated that the manifestation of marital conflict in various aspects of the lives of women with conflict such as problem-solving patterns, expressing demands, methods, and subjects of conversation, and division of their duties. On the other hand, some participants were able to maintain a positive pattern in areas such as non-verbal communication and expression of demands.