Discovery of a Partner Affair and Major Depressive Episode in a Probability Sample of Married or Cohabiting Adults

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12185
• Published date: 01 December 2016
• Author: Mark A. Whisman
• Date: 01 December 2016

Discovery of a Partner Affair and Major Depressive

Episode in a Probability Sample of Married or

Cohabiting Adults

MARK A. WHISMAN*

Prior research has found that humiliating marital events are associated with depression.

Building on this research, the current study investigated the association between one speci-

fic humiliating marital event—discovering that one’s partner had an affair—and past-year

major depressive episode (MDE) in a probability sample of married or cohabiting men and

women who were at high risk for depression based on the criterion that they scored below

the midpoint on a measure of marital satisfaction (N=227). Results indicate that

(i) women were more likely than men to report discovering their partner had an affair in

the prior 12 months; (ii) discovering a partner affair was associated with a higher preva-

lence of past-year MDE and a lower level of marital adjustment; and (iii) the association

between discovering a partner affair and MDE remained statistically significant when

holding constant demographic variables and marital adjustment. These results support

continued investigation into the impact that finding out about an affair has on the mental

health of the person discovering a partner affair.

Keywords: Aff air; Infidelity; Cheating; Depression; Major depressive episode; Marital

Adjustment

Fam Proc 55:713–723, 2016

There is a large body of literature linking stressful life events with the onset, severity,

and course of depression (for a review, see Hammen, 2005). In evaluating the associa-

tion between stressful life events and depression, researchers have developed various

ways of classifying stressful events. Brown, Harris, and Hepworth (1995) developed a

descriptive typology of life events, in which severely threatening events were categorized

in terms of their probability of eliciting certain kinds of feelings. Specifically, events were

categorized into the three broad themes of humiliation, loss, or danger. The term humilia-

tion was used to convey that events in this category result in the person be ing devalued

with respect to self or others. Examples of humiliating events include discovery of infi-

delity and direct verbal or physical attack. Relative to events characterized by loss or dan-

ger, life events characterized by humiliation were associated with a greater risk of

depression in both patient and nonpatient samples of women.

Brown et al. (1995) reported that humiliation events most often involved spouses or

lovers. Since then, researchers have examined the association between depression and

humiliating events specifically occurring in intimate relationships. One study focused on

*Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Mark A. Whisman, Department of

Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, 345 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0345. E-mail:

mark.whisman@colorado.edu.

This research was supported in part by a grant from the National Institute on Aging (grant

R03AG045301).

713

Family Process, Vol. 55, No. 4, 2016 ©2015 Family Process Institute

doi: 10.1111/famp.12185