A Letter of Advice

A Letter of Advice

Dear Bill and Susie,

To ensure that you have a long lasting and meaningful marriage, you must both become aware of your interpersonal communication skills to prevent miscommunication and continue to improve those already sharpened skills. Skills that relate to good communication are effective listening, self-disclosure, minding non-verbal cues, and being aware of barriers that prevent effective communication. Managing interpersonal conflict will be accomplished by using these skills to maintain effective communication and over time, these skills will continue to strengthen.

I would love to give you some advice on some key aspects of interpersonal communication that you can look into to ensure you have a strong marriage. My advice isn’t just my personal opinion, but instead comes from research and studies that help support the concepts that will I would like to explain to you. It will put you at a strong advantage to get this advice before you are married so that you can better prepare for what you will face in the future.

An interpersonal communication skill that you can first identify and work on is listening; listening strategies will help manage interpersonal conflicts. Pasupathi, Carstensen, Levenson, & Gottman, (1999) explain that “Marital researches are correct that in many marriages, listening behavior of all types plays a key role in maintaining satisfaction in the face of conflict” (Pg. 191). In order to determine what improvements could be made on listening skills, they must first be identified. This can be done by taking an online test that will reflect willingness to listen. Once this is completed, reading about poor listening habits and ways to improve those habits will place you at a great advantage. This is all important since studies have continued to show that listening behaviors have an effect on the quality of long lasting marriages.

I have recognized several weaknesses in my listening skills and these are things...