Langhinrichsen Rohling, J., & Vivian, D. (1994). The correlates of spouses'

incongruent reports of marital aggression. Journal of Family Violence, 9(3), 265-283

Compared 97 couples' reports of engaging in or experiencing marital aggression to

determine congruence (spousal agreement on whether either spouse had been

nonviolent, mildly violent, or severely maritally violent within thepast year).

Whereas approximately equal numbers of clinic couples wereincongruent for

husband and for wife violence (32% vs 31%), only incongruence for husband-to-wife

(HTW) violence correlated with reports of affective andrelationship functioning.

Incongruent HTW wives were more likely to bedepressed and angry. HTW

incongruent wives were also more negative about theinterspousal communication

and rated the relationship as more unsatisfactoryfor them than did congruent wives.

Incongruent HTW husbands also perceived therelationship more negatively, but

their levels of depression and anger did notdiffer from congruent HTW husbands.

These findings were not replicated forspouses who were incongruent for wife violence.

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