Participation in Laboratory Research Result in Emotional Distress with One’s Partner: Comparing Violent and Nonviolent Couples

The present study compared impact of participating in laboratory research assessments on couples experiencing partner violence and nonviolent couples. Across two studies, 192 couples participated in a variety of potentially distressing laboratory procedures, including discussing relationship problems, viewing videotapes of their discussions, and completing questionnaires about personal and relationship problems. At the end of each laboratory session, participants rated their emotions about their partners as a result of having participated in the study procedures. Couples, recruited from the community, were placed into one of three groups: experiencing violence (V), nonviolent but maritally distressed (NVD), and nonviolent and nondistressed (NVND). Overall, study participants did not report high levels of negative feelings toward their spouses at the end of lab sessions. Few differences between V and NVD spouses were statistically significant, suggesting that violent spouses are not at greater risk than NVD spouses for negative feelings following study participation, although the finding of greater fear among V partners in one study deserves future attention. Relative to V and NVD couples, happy couples reported more positive and fewer negative feelings; NVD wives were the most likely to report negative emotions, in sessions involving a marital problem discussion. These findings can be used in discussions with Institutional Review Boards about the potential risks of laboratory procedures for violent couples recruited from the community.