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Past research on the relation between hostility in intimate relationships and adiposity has yielded mixed findings. The present study investigated whether the association between relationship hostility and adiposity is moderated by people's biological reactions to couple conflict. Cohabiting adult couples (N = 117 couples) engaged in two conflict interactions, before and after which salivary cortisol levels were measured. Results revealed an association between relationship hostility and adiposity, but this association was concentrated among people with relatively low levels of cortisol reactivity to couple conflict. Results are interpreted in light of research demonstrating that cortisol reactivity can become blunted over time in response to repeated stressors. These results provide precision to etiological models of obesity by identifying cortisol reactivity as a factor that moderates the association between relationship hostility and adiposity. (PsycINFO Database Record [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on the J. C. Meehan, A. Holtzworth-Munroe, and K. Herron (2001) failure to replicate the J. M. Gottman et al. (1995) results of 2 different types of batterers, defined by heart rate reactivity: Type 1 men lowered their heart rate from baseline to the high-conflict marital discussion, and Type 2 men increased their heart rate from baseline to the high-conflict marital discussion. Discussion is about criminality-psychopathy literature associated hypoarousal and hyporeactivity and the hostility-cardiovascular disease literature, which reports associated hyperreactivity and hostility related to cardiovascular disease. The Type 1-Type 2 distinction should be referred to these two venerable literatures. This article proposes the hypothesis that the Meehan et al. study failed to replicate Gottman et al. because it used a low-conflict marital discussion rather than the high-conflict discussion Gottman et al. used. This article reviews a study that did use a high-conflict marital task and found results generally supporting the Gottman et al. findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A significant source of confusion in the marital observation area is the proliferation of systems for collapsing microbehavioral codes into categories. This study used an archival data set of 995 couples' videotaped conflict negotiations coded with the Marital Interaction Coding System-IV (MICS). A factor analysis was conducted to provide some empirically based guidance for the formation of coding categories. Four factors emerged for both men and women: Hostility, Constructive Problem Discussion, Humor, and Responsibility Discussion. Suggestions are made for category formation with MICS codes and for the development of a new coding system based on these results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]