Sex Differences in Prospective Associations between Marital Quality and Depressed Mood

CRYSTAL DEHLE Idaho State University ROBERT L. WEISS University of Oregon Key Words: depression, marital quality, sex. Our study replicates earlier findings linking marital quality and depressed mood and investigates whether this association is moderated by sex. Fortyseven recently married couples completed two assessments over a 3-month period. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that sex moderated the association between initial marital quality and later depressed mood. More specifically, lower scores on initial marital quality predicted greater subsequent increases in depressed mood for females than for males. In addition, for both husbands and wives, initially higher scores for depressed mood predicted greater declines in marital quality scores 3 months later. Marital therapists have long recognized that mild to moderate levels of depression are fairly commonplace among couples who seek marital therapy. Interest in explaining this clinical finding and in exploring the potential effectiveness of marital therapy for alleviating both marital distress and depressive symptomatology led to the development of the marital discord model of depression (Beach, Sandeen, & O'Leary, 1990). This model posits that facets of the marital relationship play a powerful role in the development and maintenance of depression and may promote recovery and maintenance of gains. Specifically, the model proposes that aspects of the relationship (like couple cohesion, coping assistance, self-esteem support, and spousal dependability) that can provide support are less available in distressed marriages. In addition, marital distress introduces higher levels of stress and strain through mechanisms like spousal criticism, threats of separation and divorce, disruption of marital routines, verbal and physical aggression, and major idiosyncratic marital stressors related to depressive symptomatology. Taken together, the increase in stressors and the decrease in available support are believed to mediate the link between marital distress and depression. Despite early clinical accounts of this link between marital distress and depression and the strong empirical data showing a nearly 2 to 1 rate of depression in women versus men, there is relatively little empirical data on the role of sex in associations between marital distress and depression. This study seeks to add to limited empirical data in this area of research. THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN MARITAL QUALITY AND DEPRESSION Both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies of marital quality and depressed mood indicate a robust association between marital quality and depression. In clinical samples, approximately 50% of married clients presenting for depression also report marital distress (i.e., low marital quality; Rounasville, Weissman, Prusoff, & Herceg-Baron, 1979), and 50% of distressed couples in marital therapy include at least one partner who reports mild to moderate levels of depressive symptomatology (Beach, Jouriles, & O'Leary, 1985). Depressed inpatients report greater marital distress than community controls do. Moreover, high rates of spousal agreement between depressed and nondepressed spouses in the inpatient group on global marital distress indicate that perceived marital distress is not solely a symptom of depressive status (Merikangas, Prusoff, Kupfer, & Frank, 1985). Community samples also reveal an association between marital distress and depression. In a risk analysis of 267 married persons, Beach, Arias, and O'Leary (1986) found that the group with low marital quality had twice the risk of elevated depressive symptomatology than did the group with high marital quality. In addition, a more recent examination of odds ratios in a community sample of 328 couples who were assessed 18 months after marriage also provides evidence that distressed couples show an increased risk of elevated depressive symptomatology (O'Leary, Christian, & Mendell, 1994). …