Pathways between self-esteem and depression in couples.

Abstract

Guided by concepts from a relational developmental perspective, this study examined intra- and interpersonal associations between self-esteem and depressive symptoms in a sample of 1,407 couples surveyed annually across 6 years in the Panel Analysis of Intimate Relations and Family Dynamics (pairfam) study. Autoregressive cross-lagged model results demonstrated that self-esteem predicted future depressive symptoms for male partners at all times, replicating the vulnerability model for men (low self-esteem is a risk factor for future depression). Additionally, a cross-partner association emerged between symptoms of depression: Higher depressive symptoms in one partner were associated with higher levels of depression in the other partner one year later. Finally, supportive dyadic coping, the support that partners reported providing to one another in times of stress, was tested as a potential interpersonal mediator of pathways between self-esteem and depression. Female partners' higher initial levels of self-esteem predicted male partners' subsequent reports of increased supportive dyadic coping, which, in turn, predicted higher self-esteem and fewer symptoms of depression among female partners in the future. Male partners' initially higher symptoms of depression predicted less frequent supportive dyadic coping subsequently reported by female partners, which was associated with increased feelings of depression in the future. Couple relations represent an important contextual factor that may be implicated in the developmental pathways connecting self-esteem and symptoms of depression. (PsycINFO Database Record

Psychometric properties and measurement invariance of the Polish version of the dyadic coping inventory

“…Studies confirm a significant relationship between positive dyadic coping and higher relational satisfaction and the quality of relationships (Bodenmann et al 2006(Bodenmann et al , 2007Falconier et al 2013b;Iafrate et al 2012;Kardatzke 2009;Randall and Bodenmann 2017). Studies on dyadic coping carried out on clinical populations showed that positive dyadic coping had the potential to reduce depressive symptoms Gabriel et al 2016;Johnson et al 2017) and strengthen the quality of the relationship (Beach et al 2014). Breast cancer patients and partners who presented more common dyadic coping declared higher relational satisfaction (Badr et al 2010) and negative behaviors were associated with depressed mood for both patients and their partners (Rottmann et al 2015).…”

Stable cohabitational unions increase quality of life: Retrospective analysis of partnership histories also reveals gender differences

“…Level of depression symptoms is a widely used indicator of psychological problems and can be used to approximate respondents' overall mental health status. This indicator is also measured within couples (Johnson et al 2017). Partnership expectations are directly correlated to individuals' previous and subsequent partnership careers.…”

Samoocena i styl przywiązania jako predyktory oceny zachowań komunikacyjnych własnych oraz partnera

“…Doświadczanie rozpadu związku zmniejsza poczucie własnej wartości, rezultat ten jednak znika po 1 roku, nawet jeśli badany pozostaje sam. Wysoka samoocena pozwala na przewidywanie możliwości wejścia w związek, a niska samoocena zwiększa prawdopodobieństwo rozpadu związku -być może za sprawą mediującej roli jakości komunikacji (Luciano, Orth, 2017;Johnson, Galambos, Finn, Neyer, Horne, 2017). Doniesienia z badań wskazują również na znaczenie ogólnej samooceny bezpośrednio dla jakości życia seksualnego.…”