Conflict communication in separation and divorce

Understanding, assessing and exploring the communication skills in the dyadic conflict is fundamental for healthy relationships (Aron et al. 2000; Miller et al. 2013; Testa et al., 2015) . This study has the main goal to apply Rapid Marital Interaction Coding System (Heyman, Vivian, 2000) to family mediation context. Family mediation is a process to solve and prevent family disputes, work out plans for the future of children and parents too. During family mediation, parents try to reach agreements about all aspects of separation and divorce or dissolution, including arrangements for children, finances and property. Again, it is a process in which the missing elaboration for separation could interfere with parental role. We investigated which kind of communication can better predict a common problem. In particular, the aim of this study was to analyze how the RMICS codes could be associated to observations derived by partners’ problem solving interactions. In this exploratory study, 15 couples were recruited at the Family Mediation Section in Rome. Results showed a high use of neutral problem-solving code (PD in RMICS). At the same time, we found a prevalence of negative codes, connected to an unfriendly marital area. These preliminary results would represent a starting point for professional mediators, who could immediately assess the parental couple’s resources and weaknesses. Future studies will implement these results to different outcomes in family mediation