Journal article
Marital Interaction and Depression
Journal of abnormal psychology (1965), Vol.99(3), pp.229-236
08/1990
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/114974
PMID: 2212272
Abstract
In this article, patterns of marital interaction as a function of depression and marital satisfaction are examined. The purpose of the study was to separate dysfunctional marital interaction patterns that were unique to depression from those that were associated with marital distress. The presence or absence of a depressed wife was crossed with level of marital satisfaction (distressed or nondistressed) to produce four groups of subject couples. Couples in which the wife was depressed exhibited more depressive behavior than did nondepressed couples, but only during discussion of a high conflict (as opposed to neutral) topic. Sex × Depression Level × Marital Satisfaction interactions were found for aggressive behavior: Depressed women in nondistressed relationships exhibited behavior that was characteristic of maritally distressed couples (high rates of aggression). In contrast, the husbands of these women exhibited behavior that one would expect in happily married couples (low rates of aggression). We failed to replicate previous findings that depressive behavior served a coercive function, although distressed couples, regardless of depression status, exhibited all the usual signs of negative dysfunctional interaction. In general, the findings suggested that marital distress rather than depression per se may be responsible for the dysfunctional interaction patterns frequently observed in depressed couples.
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Details
- Title
- Marital Interaction and Depression
- Creators
- Karen B Schmaling - University of WashingtonNeil S Jacobson - University of Washington
- Publication Details
- Journal of abnormal psychology (1965), Vol.99(3), pp.229-236
- Academic Unit
- Psychology, Department of
- Publisher
- American Psychological Association
- Identifiers
- 99900547740801842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article