ABSTRACT
Communicators continually attend to the evaluative significance of their own and others’ actions. When actions fail in various ways this may lead to the emergence of troubles or problems. To conceive of something as a problem opens up the need for a response of some sort to solve, reframe, or at least cope with the problem (Buttny, 1985; Morris, 1985). In short, to frame an action, event, or relationship as problematic makes a response practically necessary (Scott & Lyman, 1968). In close relationships, such as marriage, the perception of and talk about relational problems are characteristic of the disintegration and alienation phases of relational change (Conville, 1991).
