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INTIMACY IN MARRIAGE: THE CONCEPT AND MANIFESTATION OF CLOSENESS IN LONG-TERM MONOGAMOUS RELATIONSHIPS
Abstract
The present research employed a phenomenological approach to explore intimacy in the context of actual long-term marital relationships. A conceptualization of the process of interpersonal intimacy was elaborated from participants' interpretations of their experiences of closeness. Intimacy was defined in terms of six overlapping arenas of interpersonal activity (emotional, spiritual, intellectual, physical, sexual, and vocational/avocational) and seven dimensions encompassing different mechanisms of intimacy (closeness/vulnerability, concept, affective manner, commitment, time together, mutuality, and conflict). A total of 19 couples married from 12-27 years participated in one of two track options. Track I couples (15) each participated in two semi-structured interviews and individually completed a Friendship Rating Scale, a Jourard Self-Disclosure Questionnaire, and a Self-Rep Inventory. Track II couples (4) completed only the three questionnaires. Two couples married 8-9 years participated in a pilot study of Track I. Five hypotheses were tested. (1) Couples can be differentiated from each other along a continuum of intimacy. (2) The articulation of a well-developed concept of intimacy is related to a couple's degree of intimacy. (3) The ability to effectively deal with conflict is related to degree of intimacy. (4) The capacities for empathy and intimacy are interrelated. (5) The degree of intimacy in a relationship is partly a function of the individual members' capacities for close interpersonal relationships. Two independent judges assessed the degree of overall intimacy in a couple's relationship by using 5-point rating scales on each of seven dimensions on researcher-constructed Intimacy Rating Criteria. Qualitative and statistical analyses of the results tentatively supported hypotheses 1-3. Hypothesis 4 was not verified primarily as a result of ambiguity inherent in the measurement; and hypothesis 5 received partial support. It was concluded that mutually intimate couples differ from one another on the basis of degree of closeness from lesser to greater. It was also concluded that the process of couple intimacy is a phenomenon created in this unique interpersonal relationship which is not fully explained by the combination of the individual members' interpersonal style of relating.
Subject Area
Psychotherapy
Recommended Citation
BROCKETT, NANCY MCCLURE, "INTIMACY IN MARRIAGE: THE CONCEPT AND MANIFESTATION OF CLOSENESS IN LONG-TERM MONOGAMOUS RELATIONSHIPS" (1982). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8217518.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8217518