Content area
Abstract
This study assumes that communication is the essence of the marital relationship, and that communicator style occupies a central role in such relationships. It was argued that a more productive way of understanding marital communication would be to investigate communicator style from a multidimensional perspective. Therefore, this study investigated the association between six dimensions of communicator style (dominant, communicator image, impression leaving, attentive, open, and dramatic) and marital adjustment. Specifically, three research questions were asked: (1) Is there an association between married couples' similarity of communicator style and marital adjustment? (2) Is there an association between accuracy of husbands' perception of wives' communicator style and marital adjustment? (3) Is there an association between accuracy of wives' perception of husbands' communicator style and marital adjustment?
To address these questions, 103 married couples completed Spanier's Dyadic Adjustment Scale and two versions of Norton's Communicator Style Measure (self as focus, then spouse as focus). Subjects' responses to the CSM (self as focus) were factor analyzed to further assess the construct validity of the CSM. Step-wise multiple regression analyses were then computed to answer the three research questions, and post hoc analyses were conducted.
Results of the factor analysis indicated that the CSM appears to measure six of the dimensions originally developed by Norton. Results of the multiple regression analyses indicated that (1) married couples' similarity on six dimensions of communicator style was not significantly associated with marital adjustment; (2) husbands' perception of wives' communicator style on the dimensions of open, dramatic, impression leaving, and attentive, was significantly associated with marital adjustment; and, (3) wives' perception of husbands' communicator style on the dimensions of communicator image, impression leaving, attentive, and dominant, was significantly associated with marital adjustment.
In light of post hoc analyses, it was suggested that the findings be accepted with caution, since males and females appear to perceive a number of communicator style dimensions differently. Finally, a number of limitations were noted.
