Marital Functioning and Psychological Distress Among Older Couples Over an 18-Month Period

Abstract

Many authors have underlined the existence of a negative association between marital functioning and psychological distress. However, little is known about the direction of this association over time among older couples. This study examined the relation over time between psychological distress and marital functioning among 394 community-dwelling couples. The authors conducted dyadic data analyses to determine whether marital functioning at baseline (T1) predicted psychological distress 18 months later (T2), and inversely. The results for women suggested that marital and psychological functioning may each predict the other. The results for men showed that marital problems lead to more psychological distress. The authors found some significant partner effects: In both genders, the marital functioning of one spouse influenced the marital functioning of the other. Men's marital functioning at baseline significantly predicted women's psychological distress at T2. The authors conducted analyses also to determine how 6 patterns of change in marital functioning between times were associated with changes in psychological distress, and inversely. Changes characterized by an increase in psychological distress over time in at least 1 spouse were associated with a decrease in marital functioning. These findings underlined the importance for clinicians and researchers to pay closer attention to the association between these variables.

Depression, emotion regulation, and the demand/withdraw pattern during intimate relationship conflict

“…Thus, we cannot know whether depressive symptoms predicted demand/withdraw behaviors or vice versa. Several longitudinal studies suggest a bidirectional association between depressive symptoms and relationship functioning (e.g., Davila, Karney, Hall, & Bradbury, 2003; Villeneuve et al, 2014). When we conducted follow-up analyses to examine several alternative mediation models, none of the key indirect reverse effects emerged as significant.…”

Couple Differentiation: Mediator or Moderator of Depressive Symptoms and Relationship Satisfaction?

“…Denton et al (2009) demonstrated that women diagnosed with major depressive disorder who also reported lower quality romantic relationships were less likely to recover from the depression following individual psychotherapy, medication, or a combination of both. Other studies have demonstrated varying associations between depression and marital quality depending on the length of the relationship (Maier & Priest, 2016;Villeneuve et al, 2014;Whisman, Robustelli, Beach, Snyder, & Harper, 2015). Najman et al (2013) demonstrated a reciprocal association between marital quality and depressive symptoms, with higher depression predicting lower marital quality and vice versa, in a 21-year longitudinal study of women.…”

“…() demonstrated that women diagnosed with major depressive disorder who also reported lower quality romantic relationships were less likely to recover from the depression following individual psychotherapy, medication, or a combination of both. Other studies have demonstrated varying associations between depression and marital quality depending on the length of the relationship (Maier & Priest, ; Villeneuve et al., ; Whisman, Robustelli, Beach, Snyder, & Harper, ). Najman et al.…”

Treatment response in couple therapy: Relationship adjustment and individual functioning change processes.

“…demonstrated both cross-sectionally and longitudinally (e.g., Davila, Karney, Hall, & Bradbury, 2003;Villeneuve et al, 2014;Whisman, Uebelacker, & Weinstock, 2004).…”