A Behavioral Self-Report Technique for Assessing Conflict in Close Relationships

This paper describes the development of a behavioral self-report measure of conflict in everyday life. The method entails using a structured disagreement record to track conflicts as they occur on a daily basis. This record assesses information such as the length of the disagreement, who initiated the disagreement and time of day as well as assessments of the intensity, resolution and stability of the conflict. These disagreement records were used in a longitudinal study of twenty-five dating couples; results indicate that dimensions of conflict as described on the disagreement records were related to both global properties of the relationship (for example, love, ambivalence) and relationship continuance versus noncontinuance.