It said people who experience chronic marital
stress are less able to savour positive
experiences, a hallmark of depression.
(Reuters)
Marital stress may make people more
vulnerable to depression, a new study has
warned.
The study by University of Wisconsin-Madison
researchers and their colleagues found that
people who experience chronic marital stress
are less able to savour positive experiences, a
hallmark of depression.
They are also more likely to report other
depressive symptoms, according to study
leader Richard Davidson, UW-Madison William
James and Vilas Professor of Psychology and
Psychiatry.
Married people are, in general, happier and
healthier than single people, according to
numerous studies. But marriage can also be
one of the most significant sources of long-
lasting social stress, researchers said.
For the longitudinal study — part of the
National Institute on Aging-funded Midlife in
the United States (MIDUS) study directed by
Carol Ryff, director of the Institute on Aging
at UW-Madison — researchers recruited
married adult participants to complete
questionnaires rating their stress on a six-
point scale.
They were asked questions like how often they felt let down by their
partner or how
frequently their spouse criticised them. They
were also evaluated for depression.
Roughly nine years later, the questionnaire
and depression assessments were repeated.
In year 11, the participants were invited to
the laboratory to undergo emotional response
testing, a means of measuring their resilience.
Resilience, from an emotional perspective,
reflects how quickly a person can recover
from a negative experience.
The participants were shown 90 images, a mix
of negative, neutral and positive photographs
such as a smiling mother-daughter pair.
