Horwitz A V, McLaughlin J, White H R
Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08903-5070, USA.
J Health Soc Behav. 1998 Jun;39(2):124-36.
The relationship between marriage and positive mental health is one of the most established findings in the stress literature. Few studies, however, examine the problematic as well as the supportive impacts of marriage on mental health. This paper uses a cohort of young adults who were sampled at 18, 21, or 24 years of age and resampled seven years later when they were married at 25, 28, or 31. It examines what factors are associated with the quality of marital relationships, the relative impact of and balance between negative and positive partner relationships on mental health, and sex differences in the determinants and outcomes of marital quality. The results indicate that the structural strains of parenthood and financial need and their interaction predict problematic and supportive spousal relationships and the difference in the levels of these two relationships. Problematic relationships with spouses have considerably stronger impacts than supportive relationships on depression. However, the difference between the amounts of supportive and problematic relationships with spouses has a greater impact on mental health than levels of either considered separately. Finally, relational quality has a greater impact on the mental health of wives than husbands. These findings indicate the importance of considering how marriage affects mental health in complex, rather than in straightforward, ways.
婚姻与积极心理健康之间的关系是压力研究文献中最确凿的研究成果之一。然而，很少有研究考察婚姻对心理健康产生的问题性影响和支持性影响。本文采用了一组在18岁、21岁或24岁时接受抽样的年轻人，并在七年后他们25岁、28岁或31岁结婚时进行重新抽样。研究考察了哪些因素与婚姻关系质量相关，负面和正面伴侣关系对心理健康的相对影响及平衡情况，以及婚姻质量的决定因素和结果中的性别差异。结果表明，为人父母的结构性压力和经济需求及其相互作用预示着问题性和支持性的配偶关系以及这两种关系水平上的差异。与配偶的问题性关系对抑郁的影响比支持性关系要强烈得多。然而，与配偶的支持性关系和问题性关系数量之间的差异对心理健康的影响比单独考虑任何一种关系的水平都要大。最后，关系质量对妻子心理健康的影响比对丈夫的更大。这些发现表明，以复杂而非简单的方式考量婚姻如何影响心理健康很重要。
