Marital battles affect women more than men

While both men and women can end up with a disgruntled, hostile spouse, study findings suggest that only women seem to be depressed by the bad relationship.

"Women who have hostile spouses report more symptoms of depression compared to women with less hostile marital partners. However, men's reported depressive symptoms are unrelated to their spouse's hostility," Dr. Beverly H. Brummett of the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, told Reuters Health.

Brummett led a team of researchers who looked at hostility and depression in almost 900 couples participating in a long-term study of risk factors for coronary heart disease. Each person completed a set of questionnaires assessing symptoms of depression and three aspects of hostility: cynicism, aggressive response to problems, and negative emotions about others. The study subjects rated both their own hostility and their spouse's.

As expected, participants who considered themselves to be hostile also tended to be depressed. Men -- but not women -- who considered themselves to be cynical also tended to be depressed.

However, women's own depression ratings were closely linked to their spouse's self-ratings of all three aspects of hostility. No such relationship was found between men's depression and their wives' hostility, according to the report in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine.

"For both women and men, certain aspects of one's hostility may have an impact on depressive symptoms. Furthermore, for women a hostile spouse may also contribute to one's emotional distress," Brummett and colleagues conclude. "This pattern of results was not found for men."

Previous research, the authors explain, found that the quality of close relationships is more important to women's well being, while men respond primarily to whether there is a relationship at all.

Because both depression and hostility have been linked to increased risk for heart disease, these findings may have important health implications, note the researchers. In addition, understanding more about the interaction between hostility and depression in couples may help in attempts to prevent and treat marital difficulties.

SOURCE: Journal of Behavioral Medicine 2000;23:95-105.

 

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