Personal Barriers to High Conflict Domestic Dispute Resolution

The aim of this research is to determine the antecedents that cause domestic disputes to devolve into high conflict domestic disputes (HCDs) in couples with children. Little is known about how antecedents can cause conflict to progress from low to high levels, comprehensive assessment of existing and potential conflicts, or the effectiveness of interventions that may help couples in HCDs. Using a qualitative, grounded theory approach, a theory that identifies the antecedents that cause regular conflict to devolve into a HCD was developed. This theory increases understanding of early identification of antecedents, and the use of proactive and targeted interventions to specifically address these antecedents could help reduce or eliminate HCDs by allowing the root cause of the conflict to be addressed before it escalates to high conflict. The purposes of this study were, therefore, to (1) explore the perceptions of family counselors about assessment of and interventions for antecedents that can cause conflicts to progress to HCDs in couples with children and (2) develop a conceptual framework and theory to explain how antecedents can create barriers to conflict resolution and describe a process for decreasing the potential for the development or continuation of HCDs in couples with children.