Depression and verbal aggressiveness in different marital couple types

In light of the strong association between depression and marital functioning, a study was conducted to examine the impact of various communication variables on depression in a marital context. 176 couples were surveyed and asked to report on their views toward marriage and marital interaction, tendencies toward verbal aggressiveness, and their current level of depression. The results indicated that certain relational ideologies were significantly associated with depression and verbal aggressiveness. In addition, verbal aggressiveness was associated with depression for both husbands and wives. A relationship between depression and the spouse's verbal aggressiveness was evident only for husbands. The more verbally aggressive women were, the more their husbands reported symptoms of depression. In contrast, husbands’ verbal aggressiveness showed no correlation with their wives’ level of depression.