Configuration of Couple Relationships and Marital Conflict

Abstract

One of the most well-known marital typologies in the study of lasting marriages was developed by John Cuber and Peggy Harroff (1965) and is used as the main theoretical framework in the present analysis. I collected data using the technique of individual, semi-structured, face-to-face interviews and participatory, uncontrolled, hidden observation. This paper highlights some specific features of marital conflicts in different types of marital relationships. I also underline that marital partners, to a different extent, focus either on the pragmatic or the emotional benefits of marriage, and this priority influences their behaviors during their conflictual situations.