It's part of the demand-withdraw pattern, and both partners have to take responsibility to change it 

 

A meta-analysis of 74 studies encompassing more than 14,000 participants, published in the March 2014 Communication Monographs, found the demand-withdraw pattern to be one of the most damaging types of relationship conflict and one of the hardest patterns to break. It often is a predictor of divorce.

 

Elizabeth Bernstein | The Wall Street Journal