Marital Functioning

There are both positive and negative reasons for marriage.  Everyone has their own reasoning of why they want to get married and what they want their marriage to be like.  John Gottman's theory is interesting because it deals with the type of individual people, not the couple as a whole.  He discussed issues with conflict and how different people go about dealing with it.  There were 3 different types: volatile, validating, and conflict-avoiding. It made me think about which one I would like to be in a relationship and how I would go about dealing with conflict.  If its possible to choose, I would want to be in the middle of those 3 types, ideally more validating.  Dealing with conflicts, calmly, I believe is the best way to deal with it.  Jumping to conclusions and creating drama does not solve any issues.  Making a marriage a success takes a lot of work from both individuals involved and keeping the conflict and issues to a minimum is key!