PROMOTING CONSTRUCTIVE CONFLICT IN LOW SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS (SES) COUPLES: AN ABSTRACTION-BASED INTERVENTION APPROACH

有充分的证据表明，低社会经济水平的夫妇特别容易经历关系问题和不稳定。本研究旨在探讨一种新的关系改善干预对低SES夫妇冲突管理的影响。本研究以识解水平理论为基础，检验了一种假设，即对一个人的关系采用抽象的心理表征(即高水平的识解)可以促进对冲突的建设性管理，进而改善长期关系的结果。为了测试关系解释水平干预对低SES夫妇日常生活中冲突管理的影响，我计划使用一种密集的纵向方法，采用调查-实验设计。146对低SES夫妇被随机分配到实验(高水平解释训练干预)或控制条件下。这项研究将在3.5个月的时间内进行，从2周的每日日记开始，以3个月的跟踪调查问卷结束。在实验条件下，夫妻将接受训练，当他们在关系中遇到冲突时，自我诱导一种抽象的心态，并在整个研究过程中接受定期干预练习。在日记期间，将收集冲突和关系影响的每日测量数据。后续调查将评估关系质量和冲突管理策略的变化。我假设，与对照条件下的夫妻相比，实验条件下的夫妻在3个月的随访中将表现出更好的日常冲突管理(更多地使用建设性冲突策略，更少使用破坏性策略)和更多的冲突解决方案，以及更好的关系质量和冲突管理，并且与基线措施相比，关系质量和冲突管理有所改善。我的目标是为这项研究的发现提供信息，为社会服务计划和政策提供信息，以促进低SES人群的关系、健康和福祉。

It is well documented that low socioeconomic couples are particularly vulnerable to experiencing relationship problems and instability. The proposed study investigates the impact of a novel relationship improvement intervention on the management of conflict in low SES couples. Building off Construal Level Theory, this research tests the hypothesis that adopting an abstract mental representation (i.e., high level construal) of one’s relationship should promote the constructive management of conflict and in turn improve long term relationship outcomes. To test the impact of a relationship construal level intervention on the management of conflict in low SES couples’ everyday lives I plan to use an intensive longitudinal approach with a survey-experimental design. 146 low SES couples will be randomly assigned to either an experimental (high level construal training intervention) or control condition. The study will take place over a 3.5 month period, beginning with a 2 week long daily diary and ending with a 3 month follow up questionnaire. Couples in the experimental condition will be trained to self-induce an abstract mindset when they encounter conflict in their relationship and received regular intervention exercises throughout the study. During the diary period daily measures of conflict and relationship affect will be collected. The follow up survey will assess change in relationship quality and conflict management strategies. I hypothesize that couples in the experimental condition will display better daily conflict management (greater use of constructive conflict strategies and lower use of destructive strategies) and more conflict resolution as well as better relationship quality and conflict management at the 3 month follow-up compared to control condition couples, and improved relationship quality and conflict management compared to baseline measures. My goal is for the findings of this research to inform social service programs and policies for the promotion of relationship health and wellbeing in low SES populations.