Understanding Relationship Functioning, Depression, and Anxiety: Models of Risk and Protection in German and American Couples
Final Report Abstract
In this project, three longitudinal samples of families and one daily diary sample were used to understand course of relationship dysfunction over time and elucidate the bidirectional paths between parental relationship functioning and their mood symptoms. Results across American and German families found that the majority of couples remain satisfied in their relationship when their children were pre-school aged. By the time their children entered adolescence, approximately 20% of German couples had ended their relationships (data was not collected past two years for the American families). The trajectory of relationship distress over the first four years among the German couples (Sample 1), identified an at-risk group who had higher rates of separation over the ten year period. Across samples, relationship distress and mood symptoms covaried over time. However, the results showed important differences in bidirectional change processes based on gender and timing of the assessment. Relationship distress and mood symptoms showed bidirectional effects over days for both partners, but not for women when assessments were further apart (over years). Further, results differed for depressive symptoms and anxiety symptoms by gender. Relationship distress and anxiety symptoms were not significantly related for men over the longer follow-up periods but were associated for women. The combination of relationship distress and restricted independence due to socioeconomic barriers placed mothers at higher risk for depressive and anxiety symptoms over time. Other factors such as psychological abuse and dominating behavior of the partner also interacted with relationship distress to predict higher depressive symptoms cross-sectionally in another sample. For both mothers and fathers, risk for depressive symptoms was increased when multiple family domains were impaired (i.e., problems in the marriage and problems with the children). In addition, the ten year effectiveness of a universal parental intervention on parental mood symptoms and relationship functioning was also examined as part of this project. Although there was evidence that the intervention influenced women’s relationship satisfaction over the first four years, these effects were not maintained at the ten year follow-up. No other effects of the intervention on parental mental health and relationship health were significant. These findings suggest that in order to reduce children’s risk for poor behavioral and emotional health outcomes related to parental mood symptoms and relationship discord, parenting prevention programs may benefit from incorporating modules that address these risk factors more directly. Booster sessions may also necessary to maintain effects over the longer term.
Publications
- (2013). Longitudinal patterns of relationship adjustment among German parents. Journal of Family Psychology, 27, 838-843
Foran, H. M., Hahlweg, K., Kliem, S., & O'Leary, K. D.
(See online at https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0034183) - (2014). Familienstatus, mütterliche Belastung, dysfunktionales Erziehungsverhalten und kindliche Auffälligkeiten: Ergebnisse einer multiplen Mediatorenanalyse. Kindheit und Entwicklung, 23, 113 -123
Kliem, S., Foran, H. M., & Hahlweg, K.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1026/0942-5403/a000130) - (2015). Intimate partner relationship distress in the DSM-5. Family Process (Special Issue, invited article), 54, 48-63
Foran, H. M., Whisman, M. A., & Beach, S. R. H.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12122) - (2015). Longitudinal analysis of dyads using latent variable models: Current practices and constraints. In. M. Stemmler, A. von Eye, & W. Wiedermann (Eds.). Dependent data in social sciences research: Forms, issues, and methods of analysis. New York: Springer
Foran, H. M., & Kliem, S.
- (2016). Moving toward universal definitions and assessment of relational problems. In E. Lawrence & K. Sullivan (Eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Couple Dysfunction. New York: Oxford University Press
Foran, H. M., Heyman, R. E., Slep, A. M. S., Beach, S. R. H., Kaslow, N. J., Cordaro, A. R., Wamboldt, M. Z., & Reiss, D.
- (2016). Sexuelles Risikoverhalten im Jugendalter – Familiäre und individuelle Faktoren. Kindheit & Entwicklung, 25, 122-129
Propp, O., Schulz, W., & Foran, H. M.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1026/0942-5403/a000195)
