Core beliefs about you and me: Schema structures, relationship quality, and depressive severity in romantic couples

Romantic relationship distress and depression are mutually reinforcing phenomena with common vulnerability factors. In particular, negative 'schema structures' (i.e., cognitive organizations of an individual's core beliefs) containing beliefs about one's partner ('partner-schema structures') and beliefs about oneself ('self-schema structures') are established vulnerability factors of relationship distress and depressive severity. To our knowledge, no existing studies have examined the effects of partner- and self- schema structures on these outcomes in a dyadic sample. The current study aimed to investigate the effects of partner- and self- schema structures on relationship quality and depressive severity in a community sample of 253 romantic couples. A multilevel model approach was used, following guidelines of the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model, to account for interdependence and allow for a novel examination of partner effects. Results suggested that loosely interconnected positive partner-schema content was associated with actors' and partners' lower perceived relationship quality, whereas both loosely interconnected positive self-schema content and tightly interconnected negative self-schema content were associated with actors' higher depressive severity. Future studies should examine these models in clinical samples (i.e., couples are included based on their current experience with clinical levels of relationship distress and/or depression), examine possible mediating factors to better explain the link between partner-schema structures and relationship quality, and determine the longitudinal associations among schemas and relationship outcomes over time.