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Spouse concordance for depressive disorders in a community sample
1Department of Sociology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55455.
Journal of Affective Disorders
|January 1, 1993
Summary
Spouses show weak agreement on major depression diagnoses but significant concordance for experiencing depressive episodes. This finding holds regardless of marriage length or divorce status.
Area of Science:
- Psychiatry
- Psychology
- Sociology
Background:
- Marital relationships can influence mental health.
- Understanding shared experiences of depression within couples is important.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze spouse concordance for major depression and other depressive experiences.
- To investigate factors influencing concordance, such as marriage duration.
Main Methods:
- Community survey of 586 married couples.
- Utilized a modified Diagnostic Interview Schedule for diagnoses.
- Identified major depression, dysthymia, and subclinical depressive episodes.
Main Results:
- Weak concordance for lifetime major depression diagnoses.
- Statistically significant concordance for the experience of depressive episodes.
- Concordance did not increase with marriage length or differ in divorced couples.
Conclusions:
- Spousal concordance is higher for depressive experiences than for formal major depression diagnoses.
- The length of marriage and divorce do not appear to influence depressive symptom concordance.