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The Ability to Negotiate or the Ability to Love?

Evaluating the Developmental Domains of Marital Competence

Sarah Badger

Brigham Young University

Chongming Yang

Duke University

Drawing from developmental theories of interpersonal competence, this article presents a multidimensional model of marital competence and reports on a study that provides a preliminary evaluation of the model and its central tenets. Structural equation modeling analyses were run with a nationally representative sample of 750 couples to test the model. The results demonstrated that the model accounted for 65% to 67% of the variance in partners' relationship quality and provided initial support to the theoretical and empirical utility of distinguishing marital competence according to developmentally defined domains of intrapersonal and interpersonal competencies. Implications of these findings for research and intervention are discussed.

Key Words: marital competence • communication skills • couple conflict • marital communication • marital love • marital quality

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