A Correlational Study Between Depression and Marital Adjustment in Hispanic Couples

Abstract

This study examines the relationships between depression and marital adjustment in Hispanic couples as measured by the Beck Depression Inventory—II and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. The participants were 98 married Hispanic couples from Las Vegas and San Antonio area churches and community centers who volunteered to participate in this study. Correlations for husbands and wives and the total group between depression and overall marital adjustment and the subscales of marital adjustment were significant. In addition, the husbands’ and wives’ depression scores were significantly correlated to one another. Furthermore, the relationship between husbands’ marital adjustment scores and wives’ depression scores was significantly stronger than the inverse relationship of wives’ marital adjustment with husbands’ depression. The results of this study support an interactional theory of depression and thus highlight the need to take both members of a couple and the cultural dynamics into consideration when developing interventions to treat depression.