Understanding Couple Conflict

Couple conflict has received significant attention in couples research, chiefly because poorly managed conflict raises risk for a host of negative outcomes including relationship dissatisfaction, divorce, domestic violence, occupational impairment, and poor child well-being. Effective conflict management is a central target of couple therapy and relationship education. In this chapter, we define couple conflict, describe the frequency and common topics of conflict, and provide examples of how researchers measure conflict. We then describe different ways that couples manage conflict, highlighting effective and ineffective conflict management behaviors and how they affect relationship functioning. Next, we describe conflict and conflict management among historically underrepresented couples. Last, we present information on relationship interventions that target couple conflict and describe future directions for research on couple conflict.