The influence of mental hygiene on communication styles in couples

Abstract

A couple represents a bond formed between two people that develop and evolve together, which have the common objective of forming a family. We ask ourselves which are the factors which influence the communication style of the partners in the relationship. This work has the general objective of determining possible correlations between some variables which define the mental hygiene of the individual and the communication styles in the couple. In this regard 78 people, male and female, within the ages of 19 and 66 years old have been tested. I provided this objective with special importance as it involves all directions of research. Likewise, I consider that this research highlights the importance of communication in a couple at any age. The hypotheses of the research consider the different correlations between nonassertive, aggressive, manipulating and assertive communication styles and the psychologic factors such as the types of personal autonomy: cognitive, behavioral, emotional and value. Unhappiness in the couple and marital conflict have also been targeted. I also followed a comparison related to the dominance of a communication style between sexes. Following the correlations and the comparison made, I found the following aspects: a high level of cognitive autonomy leads to an assertive communication style in a couple, a low level of value autonomy determines unhappiness in a couple, a low level of behavioral autonomy leads to a nonassertive communication style in a couple, a high level of marital conflict does not determine a manipulative communication style, men communicate more aggressively in a couple compared to women, and a low level of conscientiousness determines a nonassertive style in couples.