The effect of marital satisfaction on the self-assessed depression of husbands and wives: investigating the moderating effects of the number of children and neurotic personality

Abstract

Background Based on the family system theory, there is an interactive relationship in the family, especially the cognitive style and emotional changes of the husband and wife will affect the behavior, cognition and emotion of the partner. Data about the effects of marital relationships on mental health are often paired. Scholars study the effect of individual independent variables on the dependent variables and the effect of spouse independent variables on the dependent variables to explore the actor and partner effect in marital relationships. Methods This study used the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) 2018 dataset to collect paired data on the marital satisfaction and self-rated mental health of 9,560 couples. The Actor–Partner Interdependence Moderation Model (APIMoM) was used to analyze whether moderator variables affect the direction and strength of the effect of marital satisfaction on self-rated depression. In the robustness test part, the robustness of the APIMoM model was tested by reanalyzing the independent variables using two kinds of binary codes respectively, and the results showed that the models were robust. Results Individuals’ marital satisfaction was significantly negatively correlated with their own depression level and with that of their spouse. The number of family members had a positive moderating effect on the results of the wife’s partner effect. Couples who lived in the environment with more family members had lower depression scores. Couples who have more children have higher depression scores. The number of children has a negative moderating effect on the results of partner effect of husbands and wives. The wife’s neurotic personality score has a negative moderating effect on the wife’s actor effect. Conclusions In terms of measures to prevent depression, women’s mental health should be given more priority than men’s. Living in a larger family with more children is beneficial for couples’ mental health. Efforts to prevent depression in couples should take into account the neurotic character of the members, especially the wife, and design special treatment and preventive measures accordingly. These findings highlight that binary dynamics should be considered in exploring what factors influence the mental health of married couples.

Parent-couple satisfaction, parent depression, and child mental health in families with autistic children

“…These findings align with previous literature showing that parent mental health problems often take a toll on satisfaction with the couple relationship [e.g., ( 19 , 21 , 22 )]. In a transactional manner, being dissatisfied with one’s parent-couple relationship satisfaction may contribute to depression symptoms e.g., ( 2 , 3 ). It is unclear why within families of autistic children, mother depression symptoms predicted declines in her parent-couple relationship satisfaction, but the opposite direction of effects was true for fathers (i.e., low parent-couple relationship satisfaction predicted increases in depression symptoms in fathers).…”

“…This higher severity of depression symptoms may be why these symptoms lead to declines in satisfaction with the parent-couple relationship in mothers but not in fathers. Alternatively, evidence from neurotypical samples suggests that the mental health of wives (versus husbands) is more likely to foster negative couple interactions [e.g., ( 3 , 22 , 23 )], whereas negative couple relationships are more likely to lead to mental health problems in husbands ( 24 ). Thus, it is possible that the low parent-couple relationship satisfaction takes a greater toll on father mental health than mother mental health within families of autistic children.…”

“…In a bi-directional manner, parent mental health also impacts their couple relationship satisfaction. For example, one’s own and one’s partner’s level of depression and anxiety negatively predicts their parent-couple relationship satisfaction [e.g., ( 3 , 19 )]. A depressed parent often withdraws from their partner, becomes more irritable and hostile to their partner, and engages in destructive strategies which foster couple conflict ( 20 , 21 ).…”

“…A depressed parent often withdraws from their partner, becomes more irritable and hostile to their partner, and engages in destructive strategies which foster couple conflict ( 20 , 21 ). The mental health of women in particular (versus men) has been reported to shape couple interactions [e.g., ( 3 , 22 , 23 )]. In contrast, an unsatisfying couple relationship has been shown to take a toll on the mental health of men ( 24 ), perhaps because men often report that their partner is their primary source of emotional support.…”

“…Similar pathways are hypothesized from T2-T3-T4. Given prior reports of higher depression symptoms in mothers (versus fathers) of autistic children ( 45 ), and evidence of altered time-ordered direction of effects between partner mental health and couple relationship quality in general population samples [e.g., ( 3 )], the above pathways were tested separately in mothers and fathers.…”