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Associations Between Marital Discord and Depressive Symptoms: A Cross‐Cultural Analysis
Author(s) -
Salinger Julia M.,
Whisman Mark A.,
Randall Ashley K.,
Hilpert Peter
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
family process
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.011
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1545-5300
pISSN - 0014-7370
DOI - 10.1111/famp.12563
Subject(s) - psychology , depressive symptoms , association (psychology) , psychological intervention , partner effects , depression (economics) , clinical psychology , cross cultural studies , marital status , demography , psychiatry , social psychology , sociology , psychotherapist , anxiety , population , economics , macroeconomics
The objectives of this study were to investigate actor and partner effects of the association between marital discord and depressive symptoms in a sample of 4,779 couples from 11 European countries that were divided into three groups (i.e., Northern, Central, Southern Europe), and evaluate the potential gender and cross‐cultural invariance of this association. Actor–partner interdependence models were used to analyze the cross‐sectional associations between self‐reported perceived marital conflict and depressive symptoms. Marital conflict was significantly and positively associated with self‐reported depressive symptoms for husbands and wives (actor effects), as well as with partner‐reported depressive symptoms (partner effects). Pooling across cultural groups, no significant difference in the magnitude of actor or partner effects based on gender was found. The magnitude of the actor effects varied across cultural groupings only for women: a significantly weaker association existed for women residing in Northern Europe relative to women in Central or Southern Europe. These results suggest that marital discord is a reliable correlate of depressive symptoms for European couples and that the magnitude of the positive association varies by culture for women. Should these results be replicated longitudinally, couple‐based interventions may be indicated to reduce marital discord and prevent and treat depression in Europe.