Back to TTM ResultsThere is a strong bidirectional association between depressive symptoms and marital distress. That is, depressed spouses are more likely than non-depressed spouses to experience marital distress, and maritally distressed spouses are at risk for depression. However, not all maritally distressed spouses are at risk for depression and not all depressed spouses will go on to experience marital distress. The purpose of this study was to chronic stress as a risk factor of these associations.
Using a sample of 190 couples from the TTM study, we examined whether increases in non-marital chronic stress (e.g., from work, finances, friends, family-of-origin, in-laws) augmented the risk of depressive symptoms in spouses with more marital distress. We also examined whether increases in chronic stress made higher depressive symptoms more predictive of marital distress. The results indicated that when spouses reported increases in chronic stress, the association between their own marital distress and depressive symptoms strengthened. That is, spouses' marital distress became more predictive of increases in depressive symptoms. Contrary to expectation, when spouses reported increases in chronic stress, the association between depressive symptoms and marital distress was weaker; that is, these spouses were less likely to report marital distress when they reported increases in depressive symptoms. Although the latter finding was unexpected, it may indicate that these spouses externalize the the reason for feeling depressed to sources outside the marriage (e.g., poor work situation, difficult in-laws) in marriage and less likely to blame their partners for their depressed mood.
Acknowledgements
A manuscript based on this study is currently in preparation to be submitted for publication. This article is based in part on Patrick Poyner-Del Vento's master's thesis. Preparation of this article was supported by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Research Grant 410-2005-0829 awarded to Rebecca J. Cobb. The authors wish to thank Alex Chapman, Ph.D. and Norm O'Rourke, Ph.D., for their helpful comments on drafts of this manuscript, the research assistants who helped with data collection, and the couples who participated in this research.