Linear and Nonlinear Age Trajectories of Language Use: A Laboratory Observation Study of Couples’ Conflict Conversations

Objectives This study investigated linear and nonlinear age effects on language use with speech samples that were representative of naturally occurring conversations. Method Using a corpus-based approach, we examined couples’ conflict conversations in the laboratory. The conversations, from a total of 364 community-dwelling German-speaking heterosexual couples (aged 19–82), were videotaped and transcribed. We examined usage of lower-frequency words, grammatical complexity, and utterance of filled pauses (e.g., äh [“um”]). Results Multilevel models showed that age effects on the usage of lower-frequency words were nonsignificant. Grammatical complexity increased until middle age (i.e., 54) and then declined. The utterance of filled pauses increased until old age (i.e., 70) and then decreased. Discussion Results are discussed in relation to cognitive aging research.

Coercive Process and Intimate Partner Violence in Committed Relationships

This chapter proposes a unifying explanation to two questions: Why do people persist in exhibiting angry, coercive escalating behaviors toward family members despite the unpleasant and destructive qualities of the behavior and despite the fact that such behaviors typically violate personal and societal norms about how to treat loved ones? How are some people able to deescalate out of angry conflict in a way that strengthens, rather than corrodes, their relationships? It posits an integrative model of the mechanisms that control dyadic anger escalation and deescalation in couples’ conflict and examines evidence from studies that have tested it. It reviews the extant literature pertinent to coercion in couples’ interactions and intimate partner violence and discusses the results of a study intended to test and extend the coercion model in couples.