ABSTRACT
Well-functioning marriages 2 can be seen in spouses’ ability to adapt to and tolerate each other's differences, work together to create and preserve intimacy, and flexibly respond to and resolve conflict. In contrast, spouses in distressed marriages frequently do not engage in these collaborative processes, but rather think, interact, and experience one another in ways that make intimacy more difficult to achieve and that intensify existing conflict. We refer to escalating behavioral, cognitive, and emotional processes in distressed marriages as polarization processes. This chapter argues that polarization processes exacerbate marital distress that occurs as a result of individual differences becoming more pronounced, conflict becoming more entrenched, and spouses becoming less tolerant of each other. Moreover, polarization processes are influenced by intrapersonal, interpersonal, and intergenerational risk factors.
