Psychology Department, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0376, USA.
J Fam Psychol. 2010 Dec;24(6):791-4. doi: 10.1037/a0021734.
In this study, we explored whether the degree of temporal instability in relationship satisfaction might add to our understanding of the well-documented association between relationship quality and depression. We hypothesized that greater relationship satisfaction instability would be associated with higher depressive symptoms, controlling for mean satisfaction levels. We conducted 12 weekly assessments of relationship satisfaction and depressive symptoms in a sample of 131 cohabiting and married women, and used intraindividual standard deviations of scores over the 12 weeks as an index of instability. Results indicated that, as hypothesized, relationship satisfaction instability predicted variance in depressive symptoms beyond that predicted by mean satisfaction; women whose weekly relationship satisfaction fluctuated more widely tended to have higher depressive symptoms. In comparison, temporal instability in depressive symptoms did not predict variance in relationship satisfaction beyond that predicted by mean depressive symptoms. Prospective analyses tentatively suggested that satisfaction instability may precede rather than follow elevated depressive symptoms. Results suggest the utility of assessing relationship satisfaction instability in future studies exploring links between marital quality and depression.
在这项研究中，我们探讨了关系满意度的时间不稳定性是否可以帮助我们更好地理解已有文献中关系质量和抑郁之间的关联。我们假设，在控制平均满意度水平的情况下，更大的关系满意度不稳定性与更高的抑郁症状相关。我们对 131 名同居和已婚女性进行了为期 12 周的关系满意度和抑郁症状的每周评估，并使用 12 周内得分的个体内标准差作为不稳定性的指标。结果表明，正如假设的那样，关系满意度的不稳定性预测了抑郁症状的变化，超出了平均满意度的预测范围；每周关系满意度波动较大的女性往往抑郁症状较高。相比之下，抑郁症状的时间不稳定性并不能预测平均抑郁症状之外的关系满意度变化。前瞻性分析初步表明，满意度不稳定性可能先于而不是后于抑郁症状的升高。研究结果表明，在未来研究中评估关系满意度不稳定性对于探索婚姻质量与抑郁之间的联系具有一定的作用。
