PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS IN HAPPY AND DISTRESSED COUPLES: EFFECTS OF VIDEOTAPE AND VERBAL FEEDBACK' CATHERINE S. FICHTEN' JOHN WRIGHT Dawson College Vniversite de Montreal Montreal. Quebec Montreal, Quebec Investigated communication in happy and distressed married couples, in two studies. Fifty-eight couples* problem-solving behaviors were evaluated by the spouses themselves and by trained observers. Some distressed couples viewed their own videotape; others received a placebo intervention. Half of the distressed couples received written feedback before a second discussion. Results indicated that (a) distressed and happy couples differed on some behavioral measures; (b) both happy and distressed wives engaged in more negative behaviors than husbands; (c) videotape and written feedback were ineffective in altering behaviors; (d) husbands' and wives' negative behaviors were correlated highly; and (e) spouses' and observers* ratings were indepen- dent. Implications for research on marriage and for behavioral couple therapy are discussed. Two studies were conducted to answer the following questions: In what ways do happy and distressed couples differ in their problem-solving behavior? Do husbands and wives communicate differently? Are videotape and verbal feedback, two techniques fre- quently used in behavioral couple therapy, effective in improving spouses* problem- solving behaviors? Published reports in this area have a number of limitations (Birchler, 1979; Fichten & Wright, 1983). The present studies differ from others in a variety of ways. The unhap- py sample was severely distressed. Spouses discussed their own rather than hypothetical problems. Husbands' and wives' scores were not lumped together, but were examined separately. Both spouses' and trained coders' ratings of the same behaviors were ob- tained in order to investigate the relationship between observers' and spouses' evaluations. Couples were followed up 6 months after testing in order to determine the effects of participation. The major goal of therapy component analyses iS to discover which techniques are most effective in teaching couples to improve their relationship. In almost all of the research, training packages that contain a variety of treatment com- ponents have been used. In the present investigation, the effects of videotape and of ver- bal feedback on communication are not confounded by other variables and, thus, can be evaluated independently. STUDY I METHOD Subjects 5s were 28 married couples (56 5s), 20 of whom volunteered in response to media publicity and 8 of whom were referred from clinical sources. Couples in this study were participating in a larger project; this is described by Fichten (1979, Note 1). Of 69 in- terested couples who returned completed questionnaires, the 10 couples whose couple- mean scores were 110 or more on the Marital Adjustment Scale (MAS) (Locke & Wallace, 1959) were designated Happy, while the 18 couples whose MAS scores fell below 80 were designated Distressed. The mean MAS score for the 20 Happy 5s was 123 and for the 36 Distressed 5s was 63. 5s ranged in age from 21 to 61; the mean was 39 years for husbands and 36 for wives. This manuscript is based in part on the first author's doctoral dissertation research, conducted at McGill University. Thanks are due to L. Fox, R. Amsel, J. Fichten, the Martoses, and the student coders. 'Reprint requests should be sent to Catherine Fichten, Department of Psychology, Dawson College, 350 Selby Street. Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3Z IWF. 340 Fichten, C.S., & Wright, J. (1983). Problem-solving skills in happy and distressed couples: Effects of videotape and verbal feedback. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 39, 340-352.