Research on the Counseling Process of Two Couple's Relational Conflict Coordination

• Main Authors: Lin, Mei-Hsun, 林美珣
• Other Authors: Chen, Pein-Huw
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2007
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/03820424599915989163

碩士 === 國立臺灣師範大學 === 教育心理與輔導學系 === 95 === The purpose of the current research is to examine how individuals coordinates needs between individual satisfaction and maintaining relationship in couple relationship under the Taiwan/Chinese cultural transition when conflicts of these two types of need exist. The research questions were: 1) what are the major issues of the relationship which causes conflict within self and the action to coordinate in couple counseling? 2) what are the interaction pattern and interaction relation between the couple in conflict? 3) in couple counseling, what components facilitate the couples to coordinate in their relationship? And, 4) in couple counseling, what is the result of conflict-coordinating in these conflicts? The participants of this study were two couples around 30 years of age, unmarried, and were having conflicts or difficulty in coordinating individual and relational needs. Each couple was involved in the counseling sessions which combined individual and couple counseling. This research obtained a total of eleven tape-recorded sessions in couple counseling of the participants. The first pair of couple had six sessions while the other couple had five sessions. A qualitative approach using reference to open coding and selective coding in Grounded Theory was adapted to analyze the data. Following the data analysis, the researcher wrote up the relational issues of these two couples based on the results of data analysis. Integrating the results form data analysis, primary and secondary core relational issues of coordinating in conflicts were extracted from the studied two couples. The first one couples had three core issues and the second couple had one. These four core issues consist of the follow five sub-categories of core issues. The contents of these sub-categories are articulated as follows: 1. Conflicts in the relationship: this theme consist of two categories: the first one emphasizes on the problem of interaction and expectation in the relationship and the second one focus on conflict of different priority between family of original and the couple relationship. 2. inner conflict within self: five categories were developed in this category including “conflict in expressing self directly or suppressing”, “conflict between in caring for self versus the other”, “conflict between being directive and being respectful”, “conflict in either terminate or retain the relationship”, and “conflict in the whether or not to be attached”. 3. pattern and interaction in relation: this issue comprises of five categories including “emotional ties”, “one initiate direct communication, the other is avoidant”, “one receive emotions, the other wants catharsis”, “one angrily criticize, the other remains calm”, and “one is actively directive, the other cooperate selectively”; interaction relation include “obedient cooperation with emotions”, “suppress the need to express self”, “apprehend cooperation with emotions”, and “cannot make promises”. 4. components that facilitate the couple to coordinate in the relationship: nine categories were developed including “motivation and willingness to change”, “clearly expression of one’s own needs”, “sufficient communication”, “enhancing awareness of self and the relationship”, “feeling each other’s care and goodwill”, “willing to express affirmation and appreciation”, “having confidence in dealing with problems in the relationship”, “willingness and action to take care of each other’s needs”, and “expectation to establish new communication patterns”. 5. results of conflict-coordinating in the relationship: both couples tried to coordinate in their relational dilemma through counseling; one couple was effective in improving their relationship, dealing with conflicts, gained better results, and increased the relationship ties and intimacy. However, the other couple was insistent in their conflicts, hence was not able to obtain a satisfactory conflict- coordinating result for both partners. Comparison of the findings in the current research with previous research was made based on the research result with special focuses on perspectives from gender difference and conflict-coordinating in couple counseling. At the end of the thesis, the research limitations, recommendation for counseling and future research with regard to relationship conflicts and coordinates were highlighted