INTERACTION PATTERNS WITHIN THE BLACK MARRIED DYAD FROM WIVES' PERSPECTIVES

This study is an effort to provide more knowledge about intact black married couples as seen from the black wife's perspective. There are two basic foci--communication and behavior. In this exploratory study, using an inductive approach, we were interested in discovering relationships and understanding what may be happening between members of a dyad. Descriptive statistics (percentages) were used to investigate the nature of the wife/husband relationships. Inductive analysis (using the Pearson Correlation Coefficient and Chi-square) was used in an attempt to find out the variables having the greatest effect on the communication and behavior scales. We have found that behaviors are better predictors of communication or visa versa, some types of communication are better predictors of behavior than the typical sociological variables such as income, education, and length of marriage. We further found that religious participation is consistently related to most of the communication and behavior scales.