防御性悲观与思维方式对夫妻间冲突化解的作用

The Role of Defensive Pessimism and Thinking Style in Marital Conflict Resolution

本研究通过对203对夫妻的调查,探讨了防御性悲观和思维方式对夫妻冲突化解的作用。结果发现防御性悲观阻碍了夫妻的冲突解决,思维方式在其中起到中介作用。但对夫妻双方而言,具体的影响机制并不完全相同——尽管夫妻双方的焦虑都通过各自思维矛盾性来负向预测冲突化解,但妻子的悲观期望还会通过其联系性和矛盾性影响冲突化解。研究结果不仅拓展了防御性悲观的研究领域,揭示了思维方式的重要作用,而且对化解夫妻矛盾,提升婚姻质量具有重要的现实意义。

Defensive pessimism refers to the tendency of setting low expectations and thinking over all the possible consequences regardless past successful experience.Prior research on defensive pessimism is limited within the area of achievements such as learning,nevertheless,its role in marital conflict resolution has been rarely investigated.In the current research,we investigated whether defensive pessimism,a useful cognitive strategy in the achievement area,can be applied to marital conflict resolution.We recruited 319 pairs of couples across China and obtained 203 effective responses.Results show:(1)Husband and wife’s defensive pessimism negatively predicted marital conflict resolution.Specially,negative thinking and anxiety negatively predicted their own conflict resolution while reflectivity was unrelated to conflict resolution.(2)Holistic thinking style mediated the relationship between defensive pessimism and conflict resolution.Specifically,the couple’s anxiety negatively predicted their own conflict resolution via contradiction thinking.In addition,wife’s negative thinking predicted her own conflict resolution through contradiction and connection thinking.Our study contributes to the literature of defensive pessimism by examining its role in marital conflict resolution.Meanwhile,the critical role of thinking style is emphasized.Our study also has practical implications for couples to better solve marital conflict,thus leading to sound marital quality.