Depressive Symptoms and Conflict Behaviors: A Test of the Stress Generation Hypothesis in Romantic Couples During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Introduction: In early 2020, North American jurisdictions required households (e.g., romantic couples) to isolate together to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19. This study provides a first look at the interplay of depressive symptoms and conflict behaviors among isolating couples, including tests...

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Published inJournal of social and clinical psychology Vol. 41; no. 6; pp. 517 - 540
Main Authors Kim, Andy J., Smith, Martin M., Sherry, Simon B., Rodriguez, Lindsey M., Meier, Sandra M., Nogueira-Arjona, Raquel, Deacon, Hélène, Abbass, Allan, Stewart, Sherry H.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York Guilford Press 01.12.2022
Subjects
Behavior
Conflict
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Enactment
Households
Hypotheses
Interdependence
Mental depression
Mixed gender
Pandemics
Stress
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Summary:Introduction: In early 2020, North American jurisdictions required households (e.g., romantic couples) to isolate together to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19. This study provides a first look at the interplay of depressive symptoms and conflict behaviors among isolating couples, including tests of predictions of the stress generation hypothesis. Methods: Mixed-gender couples residing in Canada (N = 711) completed online measures across two waves. We used the actor-partner interdependence mediation model, with Wave 1 depressive symptoms as the predictor, Wave 1 conflict enactment as the mediator, and Wave 2 depressive symptoms as the outcome. Results: Depressive symptoms showed stability across Wave 1 and 2. Wave 1 depressive symptoms showed associations with Wave 1 conflict enactment. For men (but not women), Wave 1 conflict enactment was associated with their own and their partner's Wave 2 depressive symptoms. For both partners, Wave 1 conflict enacted by men mediated the association between Wave 1 depressive symptoms and Wave 2 depressive symptoms. Discussion: Our study confirms and extends the stress generation hypothesis to the pandemic context, showing that depressive symptoms may partially contribute to conflict for isolating couples and that conflict behaviors enacted by men toward their partner can exacerbate depressive symptoms in both partners.
ISSN:0736-7236
1943-2771
DOI:10.1521/jscp.2022.41.6.517