Couple Classes of Depressive Symptom Trajectories and Associations with Relationship Satisfaction

Abstract

The literature indicates a robust negative relationship between depression and couple relationship satisfaction. However, less is known about the differential effects of romantic relationships on depression over time and whether one or both partners experience depression. Using data from 1215 couples across 4 years, we sought to examine couple classes of depressive symptom trajectories and investigate the degree to which relationship satisfaction predicted class membership. Using joint-probability growth mixture modeling, we found three couple classes of depressive symptom trajectories: women’s moderate, men’s low class, men’s moderate, women’s low class, and men’s and women’s low class. Logistic regression results revealed both men’s and women’s higher relationship satisfaction was associated with women’s moderate, men’s low class membership while both partners’ higher relationship satisfaction was not associated with men’s moderate, women’s low class membership, in comparison to the men’s and women’s low stable class. These findings contribute to the literature by identifying the heterogeneity of patterns of depressive symptom trajectories among couples and the association of relationship satisfaction with couple classes.