How Couple Relationships Affect Mental Health

A special issue of Behavioral Sciences (ISSN 2076-328X). This special issue belongs to the section "Social Psychology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 April 2025 | Viewed by 1336

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Human Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210-1172, USA
Interests: dyadic data analyses; couple relationship process; relationship satisfaction; quantitative analyses; structural racism; couple and family therapy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

There is ample evidence that relationships matter for both physical and mental health. The relationship between romantic partners (i.e., spouses and significant others) seems to have implications for several mental health issues, specifically depressive symptoms. There is debate in the field about the direction of the association. That is, do depressive symptoms in one partner lead to a decrease in relationship satisfaction, or does a decrease in relationship satisfaction lead to depressive symptoms? Much of the literature available includes only one member of the pair, and there is continuing debate about how best to measure relationship satisfaction.

In this Special Issue, authors are encouraged to submit manuscripts that include dyadic data on couple relationships and mental health outcomes, with a special emphasis on papers that include more nuanced ways of assessing relationship processes (i.e., positive and negative aspects of the relationship and their interaction; observational coding; and daily diary studies). Studies that include clinical populations and/or longitudinal studies, as well as same-sex couples, are also encouraged. 

Prof. Dr. Suzanne Bartle-Haring
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • couple relationship processes
  • depression
  • dyadic data analyses
  • moderation
  • relationship satisfaction
  • couple therapy outcome
  • mental health

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

14 pages, 1358 KiB  
Article
The Interaction of Positive and Negative Relationship Characteristics and Their Association with Relationship and Individual Health Outcomes in Older Couples
by Suzanne Bartle-Haring, Jie Hu, Lorraine Mion and Millie Ash
Behav. Sci. 2024, 14(11), 1017; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs14111017 - 1 Nov 2024
Viewed by 568
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine how positive and negative relationship characteristics and their interaction were predictive of global relationship happiness, psychological symptoms, and physical health in a large sample of older couples. The NSHAP Wave 2 partner data n = [...] Read more.
The purpose of this study was to examine how positive and negative relationship characteristics and their interaction were predictive of global relationship happiness, psychological symptoms, and physical health in a large sample of older couples. The NSHAP Wave 2 partner data n = 955) were used to estimate both actor (within person) and partner (between person) effects using the Actor Partner Interdependence Model with Moderation. Global relationship happiness was predicted by the interaction of positive and negative characteristics, suggesting that more positive characteristics are only predictive of greater happiness in the presence of some negative characteristics. Male partners’ depressive symptoms were predicted by the female partners’ interaction of positive and negative characteristics, suggesting that negative characteristics were only associated with male partner depressive symptoms when positive characteristics were rated very low by their partner. Positive and negative characteristics were predictive of anxiety and stress but not their interaction, and only the male partner’s perception of positive characteristics was predictive of the female partner’s physical health. These results are discussed in the context of controversy over the measurement of relationship satisfaction in the field. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue How Couple Relationships Affect Mental Health)
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