Specificity of the Association between Marital Discord and Longitudinal Changes in Symptoms of Depression and Generalized Anxiety Disorder in the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing

• Author: Briana L. Robustelli,Lindsay T. Labrecque,Mark A. Whisman
• Date: 01 September 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12351
• Published date: 01 September 2018

Specificity of the Association between Marital

Discord and Longitudinal Changes in Symptoms of

Depression and Generalized Anxiety Disorder in the

Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing

MARK A. WHISMAN*

BRIANA L. ROBUSTELLI*

LINDSAY T. LABRECQUE*

This longitudinal study was conducted to evaluate actor and partner effects of marital

discord on changes in symptoms of depression and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) in a

large population sample of Irish adults (N=1,445 couples), adjusting for the potential

confounds of quality of other social relationships and other psychopathology symptoms.

The Actor–Partner Interdependence Model was used to examine actor and partner effects of

marital discord on changes in symptoms of depression and GAD at a 2-year follow-up.

Additional models examined these associations adjusting for family and friend discord

and symptoms of the other type of psychopathology (depressive or GAD symptoms) . Actor

effects of marital discord on depressive and anxiety symptoms were greater for men than

for women. There were significant, positive actor effects of marital discord on depressive

symptoms for husbands and wives, which remained significant when adjusting for family

and friend discord and GAD symptoms. There were significant, positive actor effects of

marital discord on GAD symptoms for husbands, which remained significant when adjust-

ing for family and friend discord and depressive symptoms. Results demonstrate that lon-

gitudinal associations between marital discord and depressive symptoms (for wives and

husbands) and GAD symptoms (for husbands) are incremental to other rival explanations

(family and friend discord and the other set of symptoms). Findings provide evidence for a

potential causal association leading from marital discord to symptoms of depression and

GAD.

Keywords: Depression; Generalized Anxiety Disorder; Longitudinal; Marriage;

Prospective

Fam Proc 57:649–661, 2018

The marital discord model of depression (Beach, Sandeen, & O’Leary, 1990) proposes

that poor marital adjustment leads to depression by decreasing available support from

one’s partner and increasing stress and conflict. The cross-sectional and longitudinal

To read this article in Simplified Mandarin, please see the article’s Supporting Information on Wiley

Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/famp).

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

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

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

mark.whisman@colorado.edu.

TILDA data may be accessed from the Irish Social Science Data Archive (ISSDA) at the University Col-

lege Dublin (http://www.ucd.ie/issda/data/tilda/) or the Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social

Research (ICPSR) at the University of Michigan (http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/studies/

34315).

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Family Process, Vol. 57, No. 3, 2018 ©2018 Family Process Institute

doi: 10.1111/famp.12351