A Critical Analysis of the Representation of Couples’ Interpersonal Communication Problems in Books on Marital Relationships

This interdisciplinary study, situated at the intersection of communication and family studies, offers a communication-oriented and critical reading of how couples’ interpersonal communication problems are represented in books on marital relationships. Given the dominance of psychological, educational, and prescriptive approaches in these sources, the study asks to what extent such works, despite lacking an explicit communication-based perspective and terminology, have succeeded in expressing, explaining, and framing couples’ communication problems in ways consistent with the principles of human communication. Using qualitative content analysis and drawing on a paradigmatic model of couples’ interpersonal communication problems developed from books on marital relationships, the study critically reexamines selected texts. The findings show that the identified weaknesses stem less from a lack of data or lived experience than from the ways these communication problems are framed, analyzed, and explained. These weaknesses fall into four main categories: conceptual and formulation-related weaknesses; analytical weaknesses related to levels of analysis; process-related explanatory weaknesses; and reductionist weaknesses that diminish couples’ agency. Overall, the findings suggest that such shortcomings may lead readers to form an incomplete, imprecise, or non-communication-centered understanding of couples’ interpersonal communication problems.