Problem-solving interactions of depressed women and their husbands

Abstract

The problem-solving interactions of normal marital dyads were compared with those of two groups of couples in which the wife was clinically depressed. One group was experiencing marital distress; in the second group marital distress was minimal. Fifty-two couples were recruited and videotaped as they attempted to solve two salient relationship problems in two 10-min interactions. The interactions were coded by observers trained in the LIFE Coding System which specifies both verbal and nonverbal behaviors. Multivariate analyses compared the diagnostic groups on rates of behaviors and on the conditional responding of one spouse to the other. Depressed women exhibited significantly higher rates of depressive behavior than their husbands or either of the normal spouses. Depressed women also displayed less problem-solving behavior than their husbands, while both husbands and wives in couples with a depressed wife exhibited less self-disclosure than normal dyads. Sequential analyses suggested that depressive behavior is functional in reducing the spouses' aversive behavior. Additionally, it was found that couples with a depressed wife who were experiencing marital distress exhibited less facilitative behavior than all the other couples and had a greater reciprocity of facilitative behavior than did normals. The findings underscore the importance of marital interactions in depression.