Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, 3210 Tolman Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720-1650.
Age-Related Changes in Demand-Withdraw Communication Behaviors
Article first published online: 1 JUL 2013
Copyright © National Council on Family Relations, 2013
Journal of Marriage and Family
Volume 75, Issue 4, pages 822–836, August 2013
How to Cite
Holley, S. R., Haase, C. M. and Levenson, R. W. (2013), Age-Related Changes in Demand-Withdraw Communication Behaviors. Journal of Marriage and Family, 75: 822–836. doi: 10.1111/jomf.12051
- Issue published online: 1 JUL 2013
- Article first published online: 1 JUL 2013
- Manuscript Accepted: 15 APR 2013
- Manuscript Revised: 15 MAR 2013
- Manuscript Received: 15 MAR 2012
- life span development;
- marital relations
Demand-withdraw communication is a set of conflict-related behaviors in which one partner blames or pressures while the other partner withdraws or avoids. The present study examined age-related changes in these behaviors longitudinally over the course of later life stages. One hundred twenty-seven middle-aged and older long-term married couples were observed at 3 time points across 13 years as they engaged in a conversation about an area of relationship conflict. Husbands' and wives' demand-withdraw behaviors (i.e., blame, pressure, withdrawal, avoidance) were objectively rated by trained coders at each time point. Data were analyzed using dyad-level latent growth curve models in a structural equation modeling framework. For both husbands and wives, the results showed a longitudinal pattern of increasing avoidance behavior over time and stability in all other demand and withdraw behaviors. This study supports the notion that there is an important developmental shift in the way that conflict is handled in later life.