ABSTRACT
We come then to the heart of the problem of marital conflict. Personality defects and personality differentials are important only because they produce frustrations. But the bulk of marital frustrations are produced by very specific conflicts of interest which cannot be attributed to definite weaknesses of either person nor to degrees of similarity or difference between them. The partner's behavior, indeed, always plays a part in causation, but it is some specific phase of his behavior in relation to some wish of his partner which in other situations might produce no trouble. It is often a phase of his behavior which would not easily be noted before marriage as a danger. Both partners at first may be well adjusted to life in general, but they may develop maladjustments to each other which then spread to wider spheres.
