Subclmical depression and role fulfillment in domestic settings: Spurious relationships,imagined problems,or real effects?

Considerable evidence has accumulated in support of the hypothesis that subclinical depression may inhibit role performance in important ways. However, interpersonal stress and marital discord often precede the development of depressive symptomatology and may independently predict deficits in family role functioning. In addition, cognitive theories suggest that persons with subclinical depression may report poor role functioning even in the absence of any real performance deficits. The current research examines the possibility (1) that the effect of depression on the fulfillment of important family roles is attributable to previously unmeasured contextual variables of ongoing interpersonal stress and/or relationship dissatisfaction or, alternatively, (2) that this relationship is the result of depressive distortion associated with self-report of symptoms and performance. Multiple regression analyses of interview data collected from 495 community-dwelling adults found, however, that depression is related to role functioning beyond any spurious effects attributable to interpersonal stress, spousal stress, or marital satisfaction. In addition, the effect of depression persists when collateral reports of role functioning utilized. Accordingly, it appears that subclinical depression is related to decrements in role performance, and this effect is not entirely due to contextual elements or shared method variance between self-report measures.The authors acknowledge research support from Research Grants R01-AA-07250 and R01-AA-07218 from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Research Grant R01-DA-07417 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and National Institutes of Mental Health Grant A-41487-07.     

Long Lasting Marriages in Chile

Reports the Chilean segment of a multicultural, multicountry (Canada, Germany, Israel, Netherlands, South Africa, Sweden, USA) study on long-term marriages. This pilot study is seen as a starting point in research focusing on the childhood background and family history of long-term marital partners in Chile. No statistically significant association between marital satisfaction and economic or educational level was found. A positive correlation was found between marital satisfaction and happiness during childhood. Love, trust, and loyalty appear to be the main ingredients of satisfaction for both satisfied and unsatisfied couples. The findings across countries as to the essential ingredients reported here have been remarkably similar.     

心理弹性儿童的人际关系认知

探查儿童寻求信任性人际关系建立和向他人求助启动阶段的人际关系认知,检验心理弹性儿童是否比缺乏心理弹性儿童拥有更准确、快速的人际关系类型和更积极、快速的中性人际关系性质认知。利用自编人际关系类型认知和中性情境人际关系性质认知实验程序,对经由汇聚操作法筛选出的心理弹性儿童(99人)和缺乏心理弹性儿童(176人)实施实验,记录被试的反应结果和反应时。以年龄和性别为协变量,分别对两组儿童人际关系类型认知得分及反应时、中性情境人际关系性质认知得分及反应时进行组间差异的协方差分析。结果支持部分研究假设:心理弹性儿童人际关系类型认知总分显著高于缺乏心理弹性儿童;心理弹性儿童在中性情境下人际关系性质认知积极与消极维度总分、积极—消极连续体上的振幅均显著小于缺乏心理弹性儿童,但心理弹性儿童对中性情境人际关系性质认知更具积极偏向;两组儿童在所有任务指标上的平均反应时差异皆不显著。提示,儿童对人际关系类型的准确把握及对人际关系性质谨慎却相对积极的认知,可能是有效寻求和建立人际关系、获取社会支持资源以良好应对严重压力/逆境的重要主体性因素。     

Marital satisfaction in covenant versus standard marriages: Is there a difference?

After the rapid increase of the American divorce rate in the late 20th century, one of the most conspicuous efforts of the marriage movement in the 1990s that was used to increase marital stability was the legislation of the covenant marriage license, a more restricted marriage license issued in three different states of the U.S. To investigate the marital life of newlywed covenant versus standard couples, a large-scale 5-year couple study was conducted between 1998 and 2003 in Louisiana. The present study uses this large-sample, multiple-wave, multiple-group dyadic dataset to examine differences in co-development and divorce rates in 297 covenant and 380 standard mixed-sex couples using a multiple group growth curve modeling and survival analysis. We examined differences in marital trajectories between covenant and standard couples as well as between husbands and wives in each marital group. The results show (1) that the couples in both groups experienced, on average, declines in marital satisfaction, and such a decline was slower in covenant husbands than their wives as well as those in standard marriages, and (2) that co-development in marital satisfaction was more prominent in standard marriages than in covenant marriages, meaning standard couple's marital satisfaction declined at a more similar rate than that of covenant couples. We provide possible explanations and discuss practical implications.     

The way I make you feel: How relatedness and compassionate goals promote partner’s relationship satisfaction

Research has investigated the role of three basic psychological needs as proposed by Self-Determination Theory – autonomy, competence, and relatedness – in explaining relationship satisfaction. Research has also explored how relatedness specifically increases prosocial motivations in the individual but has not focused on the role of relatedness in shaping partners’ relationship functioning over time. This research takes a dyadic perspective that proposes that relatedness fulfillment fosters compassionate goals, which in turn predict increases in partner’s satisfaction. Forty-five heterosexual dating couples were asked about their relatedness need fulfillment, compassionate goals, and relationship satisfaction. Relationship satisfaction was assessed again four weeks later. Results showed that one’s own relatedness fulfillment, but not one’s partner’s relatedness fulfillment at Time 1 uniquely predicts partner’s increased satisfaction at Time 2, and that this is mediated by one’s own higher compassionate goals. These findings highlight the dyadic importance of having one’s needs met in promoting relationship functioning over time.     

Maintenance of Gains in Relationship and Individual Functioning Following the Online OurRelationship Program

In the United States, more than 40% of marriages end in divorce and more than one third of intact marriages are distressed. Unfortunately, only a minority of couples seek couple therapy to improve their relationships. Online interventions, with their increased reach and reduced costs, offer the potential to improve relationships nationwide. The online OurRelationship program has been shown in previous nationwide studies to improve relationship and individual functioning. The present study examined whether initial gains in the OurRelationship program were maintained in the following year and whether the extent of maintenance varied across important demographic and individual factors. In this study, 151 distressed heterosexual couples (302 individuals) who were randomized to the OurRelationship program were assessed 3 and 12 months following the intervention. Initial gains in relationship satisfaction, relationship confidence, and negative relationship quality were maintained through 12 months; positive relationship quality significantly improved over follow-up. Furthermore, couples maintained their initial gains in depressive symptoms, perceived health, work functioning, and quality of life; anxious symptoms continued to significantly decrease over follow-up. Finally, there was no evidence that historically underserved groups—racial/ethnic minorities, lower income couples, or rural couples—experienced greater deterioration. In fact, Hispanic couples reported continued improvement in relationship confidence and negative relationship quality in the 12 months following the program. The ability of the OurRelationship program—an 8-hour, primarily self-help program—to create long-lasting improvements in distressed relationships indicates it may have the potential to improve the lives of distressed couples on a broad scale.     

婚姻冲突、应对策略及其与婚姻满意度的关系

探讨婚姻冲突、应对策略、婚姻满意度的特点及其关系。采用方便取样,选取辽阳市已婚完整家庭1～10年的夫妻620对进行问卷调查。结果表明：1）夫妻报告的前三项冲突是：家务琐事、不良习惯和交流解决问题方面。在家务琐事、交流解决问题和孩子方面,妻子报告的冲突显著多于丈夫;妻子报告的双方回避应对显著多于丈夫;2）人际关系冲突和工作方面的冲突分别对妻子和丈夫的婚姻满意度有显著预测作用;双方都报告人际关系方面的冲突对对方婚姻满意度有显著预测作用,但妻子报告的人际关系冲突对丈夫婚姻满意的预测作用更大;3）自己和对方的应对策略在妻子报告的冲突与婚姻满意中起完全中介作用,在丈夫报告的冲突与婚姻满意中起部分中介作用。     

Mindfulness and Marital Satisfaction

This study investigated the relationships among mindfulness, marital satisfaction, and perceived spousal similarity. All 95 subjects responded to a questionnaire measuring each of these variables, and an additional series of demographic variables. A significant positive relationship was found between mindfulness and marital satisfaction, with no statistically significant relationship found between perceived spousal similarity and marital satisfaction. There was a stronger correlation between mindfulness and marital satisfaction than the correlation between marital satisfaction and any of the other variables, including similarity. These results carry meaningful implications for the role of mindfulness techniques within the context of building and maintaining happy marital relationships and general well-being.     

Deleterious Effects of Stress on Time Spent Together and Parents' Relationship Satisfaction

Data from 90 German committed heterosexual couples who had a least one child were used to examine the associations between chronic minor external stress, quantity and quality of time spent together as a couple, and partners' relationship satisfaction. Using an extended version of the Actor Partner Interdependence Model, the authors found significant negative indirect effects from mothers' chronic minor external stress via quality, but not quantity, of shared time to both parents' reported relationship satisfaction. Mothers' chronic minor external stress was associated with fewer reported quality time activities, which were also associated with lower reports of relationship satisfaction for both mothers and fathers. The authors did not find indirect effects for fathers' chronic minor external stress. Overall, the frequency of quality time activities may be more important for mothers, as it explained 25% of variance in their relationship satisfaction, compared with 15% in fathers' relationship satisfaction. Implications for relationship researchers and clinicians are discussed.     

A situational analysis of the relationship between spouse-specific assertiveness and marital adjustment

This study examined the relationship between marital adjustment and spousespecific assertiveness, conceptualized in terms of defense of rights, in a sample of 115 married women, 27 of whom were in a distressed marriage. Subjects indicated their likely behavioral responses in 11 commonly occurring marital conflict situations and provided ratings of the expected effectiveness of their responses, the amount of resentment they would experience in the situations, and the frequency of occurrence of the situations in their marage. Marital adjustment was found to be directly related to response effectiveness and level of assertive responding and inversely related to situational resentment and frequency of transgression by spouse. Surprisingly, the level of assertive responding was less strongly related to marital adjustment than were any of the other principal variables. A multiple regression analysis indicated that the set of experimental variables accounted for 45% of the variance in marital adjustment. All of the principal variables uniquely accounted for significant levels of variance in marital adjustment. Viewed collectively, the results of this study indicate that (1) parameters of marital conflict situations have considerable importance for the marital adjustment of women and (2) explication of the relationship between marital conflict and marital adjustment requires investigation of a variety of behavioral, affective, and contextual variables.