Surprise! Hostile Husbands Increase Wives' Depression Symptoms

We're being sarcastic. We're not surprised. How can people act like this news is something folks didn't already know? Sure, this is more than catching your spouse's bad moods, but marriage experts like John Gottman have been saying for years that negativity hurts marriages.

"But the positivity must outweigh the negativity by five to one."
Source: John Gottman, Nan Silver. "What Makes Marriage Work?." PsychologyToday.com. Mar/Apr 1994.

Several news sites including MSNBC and Medical News Today, reported about an article at ScienceDaily.com, "Husbands' Hostile, Anti-Social Behaviors Increase Wives' Symptoms of Depression, Study Shows."

The study explains: "... anti-social behaviors, which are those that are self-centered, defiant or show a lack of constraint; and hostile behaviors that are angry, critical or rejecting ... For instance, being snippy or curt with a spouse, interrupting her, eye-rolling, sneers and yelling were considered hostile behaviors."

It is interesting that the "researchers found no significant relationship between wives' hostile behavior and husbands' depression, unless significant life events, such as a death in the family or a job loss, were present."

We haven't been able to locate the full study online to see why, other than Proulx's belief that women may be more vulnerable to hostility than men and that "It is possible that women's well-being is more closely tied to the well-being of their close relationships than is the case for men."

More Quotes From the Study:

Christine Proulx: "The more hostile and anti-social behavior exhibited by husbands, the more depressed their wives were after three years. These findings suggest that husbands' treatment of their wives significantly impacts their psychological well-being and that hostile behavior has a lasting effect on couples that continues throughout their marriages."

Christine Proulx: "It's critical that professionals ask people experiencing depression about their close relationships and recognize that their spouse's behavior influences how they feel about life and themselves, especially among women. It is important to intervene at the couple level and make spouses aware that how they act toward each other has a long-term effect on their emotional and physical well-being."

Info About the Study:

Authors and Title: Christine M. Proulx, Cheryl Buehler, Heather Helms. "Moderators of the Link between Marital Hostility and Change in Spouses' Depressive Symptoms." Journal of Family Psychology. Vol 23(4). 08/2009. pgs. 540-550.

Where: University of Missouri.

How: Videos of 416 married couples at home over a period of three years were coded for anti-social behaviors and hostile behaviors.

Surprise! Hostile Husbands Increase Wives' Depression Symptoms originally appeared on About.com Marriage on Friday, February 26th, 2010 at 00:35:28.

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