ABSTRACT

This article was to review the marital conflict of the elderlycouples from the viewpoints of conflict theory. At the same time,types of the marital conflict, coping behaviors, and relatedvariables were reviewed. The variables sex, age, education, health,income, attitudes toward sex role, self-esteem, differentiation of theself, division of labor, power relations between couples,communication style, the joint leisure pattern, relationships betweenelderly parents and their siblings were revealed as significantvariables explaining the levels, types, or coping strategies of themarital conflict of the elderly couples.