ABSTRACT
Well-functioning marriages 2 can be seen in spouses’ ability to adapt to and tolerate each other’s differences, work together to create and preserve intimacy, and fl exibly respond to and resolve confl ict. In contrast, spouses in distressed marriages frequently do not engage in these collaborative processes, but rather think, interact, and experience one another in ways that make intimacy more diffi cult to achieve and that intensify existing confl ict. We refer to escalating behavioral, cognitive, and emotional processes in distressed marriages as polarization processes . This chapter argues that polarization processes exacerbate marital distress that occurs as a result of individual differences becoming more pronounced, confl ict becoming more entrenched, and spouses becoming less tolerant of each other. Moreover, polarization processes are infl uenced by intrapersonal, interpersonal, and intergenerational risk factors.
