Gender and Marital Intimacy

Abstract

This study is based on the hypothesis that spouses presenting for couples counseling will present similar intimacy complaints. The sample of 100 couples accessing two community mental health centers completed the Personal Assessment of Intimacy in Relationships (PAIR) questionnaire to describe their expectations and perceptions of current marital intimacy. Correlational analyses reveal no relationships between spouses' expectations of marital intimacy but significant positive relationships between spouses perceptions of marital intimacy on thefive intimacy subscales of the PAIR. Tests of difference did not support the original hypothesis; instead, they specified that husbands and wives came to counseling with different intimacy complaints. The implications of these results for case conceptualization and clinical intervention are discussed.