Department of Psychology, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Gutenbergstr. 18, 35037, Marburg, Germany.
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA.
Behav Res Ther. 2024 Sep;180:104571. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2024.104571. Epub 2024 May 23.
Given the bidirectional association between psychopathology and relationship distress, an in-depth understanding of couples' interaction processes that contribute to psychopathology is needed. This study examined the interpersonal dynamics of vocally-encoded emotional arousal (fundamental frequency, f) during couple conversations and their associations with depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and relationship distress. Data from eight samples were pooled (N = 404 couples) to examine (a) overall trajectories of f across the interaction and (b) moment-by-moment intraindividual changes in and interpersonal reactivity to partners' f. Multilevel growth models and repeated-measures actor-partner interdependence models demonstrated that individuals with more severe depression showed more synchronizing reactivity to their partners' f on a moment-by-moment basis, and their overall baseline level of f was lower. More severe relationship distress was associated with more steeply increasing trajectories of f and with greater synchronizing reactivity to partners' f. Relative differences in depressive symptoms between the two members of a couple were associated with interpersonal dynamics of f as well. There were no associations with anxiety symptoms. Thus, depressive symptoms were associated with characteristic interpersonal dynamics of vocally-encoded emotional arousal; yet, most consistent associations emerged for relationship distress, which future studies on individual psychopathology should take into account.
鉴于精神病理学和关系困扰之间存在双向关联，因此需要深入了解有助于精神病理学的夫妻互动过程。本研究考察了夫妻对话中声音编码情绪唤醒（基频，f）的人际动力学及其与抑郁症状、焦虑症状和关系困扰的关联。从八个样本中汇集了数据（N=404 对夫妻），以检验：（a）整个互动过程中 f 的总体轨迹；（b）个体内瞬间变化和对伴侣 f 的人际反应。多层次增长模型和重复测量的演员-伙伴相互依存模型表明，抑郁症状更严重的个体在瞬间对伴侣 f 的同步反应性更强，并且他们的 f 整体基线水平更低。更严重的关系困扰与 f 的轨迹更陡峭增加以及与伴侣 f 的更大同步反应性有关。夫妻双方的抑郁症状差异也与 f 的人际动力学有关。与焦虑症状没有关联。因此，抑郁症状与声音编码情绪唤醒的特征性人际动力学有关；然而，对于关系困扰，出现了最一致的关联，这是个体精神病理学的未来研究应该考虑的因素。
