The days add up: Daily marital discord and depressive reactivity linked to past-month depressed mood and marital risk across 10 years
Year: 2022
Type: article
Abstract: Marital discord fuels depression, according to decades of research. Most prior studies in this area have focused on macro-longitudinal change in depression over the course of years, and on global ratings of marital satisfaction. Less work has examined fluctuations in depressed mood and marital discord in daily life, and none has investigated associations of short-term patterns with longer-term depressed mood and marital outcomes. Using data from participants in the Midlife in the U.S. (MIDUS) project, the current study examined daily associations between marital discord and depressed mood, as well as their links to concurrent and prospective patterns of past-month depressed mood and marital risk. Results showed that, on average, depressed mood rose on days when individuals had an argument or tension with their spouse (i.e., marital discord). More frequent daily marital discord was also associated with greater past-month depressed mood and marital risk, above and beyond prior levels. Those with larger depressive mood responses to discord in daily life (i.e., greater reactivity) exhibited higher concurrent past-month depressed mood and greater 10-year increases in depressed mood. As the first study to link daily marital patterns to concurrent and prospective changes in depressed mood and marital outcomes, this investigation uncovered two novel processes-daily marital discord and depressive reactivity-as important for understanding long-term patterns of marital risk and depression.
Authors: Stephanie J. Wilson, Christina M. Marini
Institutions: Southern Methodist University, Adelphi University
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: Couples' Interactions and Inflammatory Responses: The Context-Dependent Role of Age, G384665445, Sleep as a Mechanism Through Which Marital Quality Influences Older Adults’ Mental Health, G7051643869, G738160294, Couples' Interactions and Inflammatory Responses: The Context-Dependent Role of Age, G8375329700, G9000020185, G9000056320
OpenAlex ID: W4286111698