Informative Disagreements: Associations Between Relationship Distress, Depression, and Discrepancy in Interpersonal Perception Within Couples

• Published date: 01 June 2017
• Author: Kenneth L. Critchfield,Lynne M. Knobloch‐Fedders,Erin M. Staab
• Date: 01 June 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12201

Informative Disagreements: Associations Between

Relationship Distress, Depression, and Discrepancy

in Interpersonal Perception Within Couples

LYNNE M. KNOBLOCH-FEDDERS*

,†

KENNETH L. CRITCHFIELD

‡

ERIN M. STAAB

§

This study evaluated the associations between relationship distress, depression symp -

toms, and discrepancy in interpersonal perception within couples. After completing a series

of discussion tasks, couples (N=88) rated their behavior using the circumplex-based

Structural Analysis of Social Behavior Model (SASB; Benjamin, 1979, 1987, 2000).

Overall, couple members were strikingly similar in their interpersonal perceptions, and

tended to see themselves as friendly, reciprocal in their focus, and balanced between

connection and separateness. As hypothesized, however, perceptual discrepancy was

related to relationship distress and depression. Relationship distress was associated

with discrepancy regarding transitive behavior focused on the partner, while depres-

sion was associated with disagreement about intransitive, self-focused behavior. Analy-

sis of affiliation and autonomy revealed that relationship distress was associated with

seeing oneself as reacting with more hostility than the partner sees , and perceiving

one’s partner as more hostile, more controlling, and less submissive than he or she

does. Partners of depressed individuals viewed themselves as more controlling than

their mate did. Men’s depression was associated with disagreement between partners

regarding men’s self-focused behavior. Results underscore the importance of considering

interpersonal perception when conceptualizing relationship distress and depression

within intimate relationships.

Keywords: Couples; Relationship Distress; Depression; Interpersonal Behavior

Fam Proc 56:459–475, 2017

Healthy interpersonal behavior, or secure attachment relating (Benjamin, Rothweiler,

& Critchfield, 2006), is characterized by a baseline of friendliness, reciprocity of focus

on self and other, and a balance between connection and separateness. Departures from

these patterns have been linked to a wide range of individual and relational psychopathol-

ogy (Benjamin, 1996, 2006). For example, interpersonal interactions marked by hostility,

control, and distance have been implicated in the development and maintenance of depres-

*The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.

†

Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.

‡

Department of Graduate Psychology, James Madison University, Richmond, VA.

§

Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Lynne M. Knobloch-Fedders, The Family

Institute at Northwestern University, Bette D. Harris Center, 618 Library Place, Evanston, IL 60201.

E-mail: l-knobloch@northwestern.edu.

This project was funded in part by the Randy Gerson Memorial Research Award granted to the first

author by the American Psychological Foundation.

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Family Process, Vol. 56, No. 2, 2017 ©2015 Family Process Institute

doi: 10.1111/famp.12201

sion (Coyne, 1976; Davila, Bradbury, Cohan, & Tochluk, 1997; Knobloch-Fedders, Kno-

bloch, Durbin, Rosen, & Critchfield, 2013). Depressed individuals perceive higher lev els of

hostility from significant others, and report responding with less friendliness (Benjamin,

Wamboldt, & Critchfield, 2006, p. 169), while partners of depressed persons exhibit more

hostility and submission than do individuals from couples without depression (Knobloch-

Fedders et al., 2013) .

While intimate relationship distress and depression are strongly related (for review,

see Rehman, Gollan, & Mortimer, 2008), questions remain as to whether the interpersonal

correlates of relationship distress and depression are consensually experienced by both

members of the couple, or whether they reflect perceptual distortions. In this study, we

examine a key process relevant to the associations between relationship distress and

depression: discrepancy in interpersonal perception between partners.

Accurate perception of another’s interpersonal behavior, a component of interpersonal

sensitivity (Bernieri, 2001), relates to a wide array of adaptive psychosocial variables,

including competency at work, relationship skills, social and emotional functioning, and

mental health (Hall, Andrzejewski, & Yopchick, 2009). In contrast, depression has been

linked with perceptual inaccuracy, including biases toward expecting hostility and per-

ceiving ambiguous reactions as negative (Coyne, 1976). For example, depressed individu-

als direct their attention selectively to sad faces (Gotlib, Krasnoperova, Yue, & Joormann,

2004), social threatening words (Mathews, Ridgeway, & Williamson, 1996), and emotional

signs of disapproval or rejection (van Beek & Dubas, 2008; Ehrmantrout, Allen, Leve,

Davis, & Sheeber, 2011).

However, the degree to which accurate perceptions versus expectation-linked biases

are associated with depression remains unclear. Both features may be operative in the

close relationships of depressed persons, as suggested by evidence reviewed in the follow-

ing section.

Depression and Accuracy of Interpersonal Perception in Intimate Relationships

Although researchers have long been interested in the links between depression and

accuracy of social perceptions (Kowalik & Gotlib, 1987; Siegel & Alloy, 1990; Strack &

Coyne, 1983), only a handful of studies have assessed depressed individuals’ accuracy in

appraising the behavior of their intimate partners (Gadassi, Mor, & Rafaeli, 2011; Papp,

Kouros, & Cummings, 2010; Thomas, Fletcher, & Lange, 1997). Within these studies, two

specific components of interpersonal behavior have been examined: empathic accuracy

and criticism.

Empathic accuracy (Ickes, 1993) is the degree of consensus between an individual’s per-

ceptions of his or her partner’s emotions and the partner’s self-reported feelings. Both

depressed individuals and their partners show lower levels of empathic accuracy com-

pared to healthy controls (Gadassi et al., 2011; Papp et al., 2010), suggesting that percep-

tual distortions may exist for both members of the couple. For example, partners of

individuals with depression symptoms showed difficulty identifying their spouse’s anger

in conflict interactions (Papp et al., 2010).

Although criticism and other forms of hostility are strongly associated with relationship

distress and depression (see Rehman et al., 2008, for rev iew), it is uncertain whether this

reflects actual exposure to hostility from partners, globally negative perceptions made by

those suffering from relationship distress or depression, or both. Given the negativity bias

underlying the interpersonal perceptions of people who are depressed or relationally dis-

tressed (Bradbury & Fincham, 1990; Epstein & Baucom, 2002; Gotlib & Krasnoperova,

1998; Ingram, Miranda, & Segal, 1998; Overall & Hammond, 2013; Townsley, Beac h,

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