Files and links (1)
Kluft_Estelle_198113.23 MB
PDF Restricted Access, VIEWABLE UPON REQUEST: contact archives@drexel.edu
Thesis
Nonverbal communication and marriage: an investigation of the movement aspects of nonverbal communication between marital partners
Master of Arts (M.A.), Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital of Philadelphia
Jan 1981
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/etd-1099
Abstract
This study explores the quality of communication between marital partners by investigating their movement behavior while they are conversing with each other. The first hypothesis states that movement behavior provides useful information about the way a married couple communicates with respect to a couple's sensitivity, attentiveness, flexibility, and involvement in marital communication, and with respect to an individual's ability to affiliate with and separate from his or her spouse. The second hypothesis states that additional information can be obtained by comparing a couple's reported perception of communication in the marriage to the couple's movement behavior. The results of the study support both hypotheses. The subjects are eleven married couples, predominantly young and college-educated. The results of rating each couple on an instrument of movement assessment are compared to the results of a self-report questionnaire that rates the marital communicational process. Results suggest that movement behavior plays a role in the degree of satisfaction with their communicational style felt and reported by the marital partners, and in the overall quality of the communicational process. Intrapersonal and interpersonal movement parameters are used as a means of developing and evaluating movement profiles of the couples. The profiles are compared to one another along with the results of the self-report questionnaires. Although the couples have many movement features in common, differences are found that often coincide with differences in questionnaire scores. The movement behavior indicates that high scorers tend to have more resources available for coping, tend to be more able to stay attentive during the conversation, and tend to have more movement features in common with their spouses than do low scorers. Some evidence is found that couples who score in the upper half of the range of questionnaire scores possess more resourcefulness, sensitivity, liveliness, alertness, and ease, and are more comfortable with affiliation and separation, than couples who score in the lower half of the range. The results indicate the importance of movement as a source of information about the marital relationship and the value of taking movement behavior into consideration in the course of therapeutic treatment.
Metrics
41 File views/ downloads
32 Record Views
Details
- Title
- Nonverbal communication and marriage
- Creators
- Estelle S. Kluft - DH
- Contributors
- Nancy J. Goldberg (Advisor) - DH
- Awarding Institution
- Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital of Philadelphia
- Degree Awarded
- Master of Arts (M.A.)
- Publisher
- Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital of Philadelphia; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Resource Type
- Thesis
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital of Philadelphia (1885-1982); Creative Arts in Therapy [Historical]; Mental Health (Technology/Sciences) [Historical]; College of Allied Health Professions (1968-1982)
- Other Identifier
- 1099; 991014632442904721