Affect Expression, Marital Satisfaction, and Stress Reactivity Among Premenopausal Women During A Conflictual Marital Discussion

Abstract

Relationships between women's affect expressions, marital satisfaction, and cardiovascular reactivity were investigated. Twenty‐four healthy women and their spouses completed the Marital Satisfaction Inventory (MSI). Women's cardiovascular reactivity was monitored during a 10‐minute videotaped husband‐wife conflict discussion that later was rated for affect expressions. Regression analysis showed that active negative affect accounted for 20% of the variability in systolic blood pressure. Neither positive affects nor MSI Global Marital Distress was related to women's cardiovascular responses. For women, 53% of the variance in MSI Global Marital Distress was accounted for by total negative affect, but for men affects and marital distress were unrelated. Further research is warranted on the associations between marital distress, affect expression, and cardiovascular reactivity that may lead to physical and mental health problems.

Marital Stress: Immunologic, Neuroendocrine, and Autonomic Correlatesa

“…9,11 Other researchers have also found stronger associations between physiology and behavior for women. 38–40 Women's greater sensitivity to negative marital interactions clearly has physiological correlates, consistent with epidemiological evidence that marriage appears to be more beneficial for men's health than women's. 41,42…”

Hostile behavior during marital conflict alters pituitary and adrenal hormones.

“…These blood pressure changes were specifically associated with hostile marital interactions: neither supportive nor neutral behaviors produced significant changes. Parallel data from Morrell and Apple (20) showed that negative affect during a marital conflict discussion accounted for 20% of the variance in women's systolic blood pressure (men's changes were not assessed), and positive affect was unrelated to women's cardiovascular responses. Thus, the pattern of change in our immunological and blood pressure data was consistent with both the endocrine data reported in this paper and results of two other marital interaction studies.…”

“…Negative or hostile communication also predicts divorce in longitudinal studies (16). Moreover, a number of studies have shown a pattern of heightened autonomic arousal associated with marital conflict (18)(19)(20)(21)(22).…”

Health Implications of Conflict in Close Relationships

“…Positive affect and positive exchanges during conflict do not appear to influence cardiovascular reactivity (Ewart et al, 1991;Morell & Apple, 1990); however, this is not to say that positive relationship features are unimportant. For example, when spouses perceive that their partners are generally supportive, they experience lower SBP, DBP, and VRI before and during conflict relative to when they do not believe their spouses are supportive (see Broadwell & Light, 1999).…”

“…In fact, simply disagreeing with a hostile partner can cause one's HR to increase (Smith & Gallo, 1999). Further, wives who are hostile themselves, or in a hostile relationship, show increases in SBP, HR, and VRI relative to non-hostile wives or those in non-hostile relationships (Broadwell & Light, 2005;Ewart et al, 1991;Morell & Apple, 1990). Husbands' cardiovascular reactivity demonstrates similar patterns; for example, husbands in hostile relationships show a significant increase in VRI, and hostile husbands' DBP increases when they are confronting their wives about an issue (Broadwell & Light, 2005;Newton & Sanford, 2003).…”