Second, alternatives to constructive conflict management make mat-
ters worse. For example, conflict is negatively related to feelings of love
during relational dissolution ( Braiker & Kelley, 1979; Canary & Spitz-
berg, 1989; Lloyd & Cate, 1985). Moreover, Schafer, Braito, and Bohlen
( 1976) found that marital conflicts and tensions contribute to a lack of
self-concept support and accurate role-taking.

It is also common for negative acts from one partner to be reciprocated
by negative acts from the other. In both distressed and nondistressed
couples, negative communication behavior is more likely to be recipro-
cated than positive ( Gottman, Markman, & Notarius, 1977; Margolin &
Wampold, 1981; Wills, Weiss, & Patterson, 1974). Of course, there is
greater negative reciprocity for dissatisfied couples than for happy ones
( Gottman, 1982a, 1982b; Margolin & Wampold, 1981; Pike & Sillars,
1985).

Because destructive conflict behavior may harm intimate relationships,
it is important to better understand interpersonal conflict. Numerous
studies by empirical researchers and counselors appearing in several
related disciplines, especially in psychology, communication, and family
studies, have attempted to answer the question: What are the bases,
processes, and outcomes of interpersonal conflict in intimate relation-
ships? The problem is that these different lines of research lack coordina-
tion. Some studies merely duplicate those in other fields. Some are under-
taken without awareness that the same questions are being asked in
related disciplines and therefore do not benefit from insights and prog-
ress being made there. Even in cases where researchers in different
disciplines attempt to answer some of the same questions using experi-
mental methodology, each researcher deals with a discipline's unique
issues and writes in its jargon.

There is a need for a review that pulls together loose ends as a step
toward building a consensus among social scientists. Although reviews
exist on each of the subjects of interpersonal communication, intimate
relationships, and conflict, there is no comprehensive review of empirical
studies on interpersonal conflict in intimate relationships. By examining
research on intimates in conflicts, a review may provide an answer to the
question, "Where do researchers go from here?"

In keeping with this book's purpose to cut across the social sciences in
the study of intimates in conflict, this chapter interrelates the empirical
findings of numerous studies in a way that charts progress toward answer-
ing the following basic questions: What is unique about conflict in inti-
mate relationships? How might intimate conflicts be classified? What are
the bases of destructive conflict between intimates? In the final section,
answers to these questions lead to a discussion of the implications of past
empirical findings for future research.

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