Adult Attachment as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Depressive Symptoms and Marital Satisfaction (2006)
Undergraduate: Erica Ragan
Faculty Advisor: Martha Cox
Department: Psychology & Neuroscience
The present study investigated the potential moderating effect of adult attachment on the relationship between marital satisfaction and depressive symptoms. Self-report measures of marital satisfaction and depressive symptoms were given to 138 participating couples. The Adult Attachment Interview (Main & Goldwyn, 1994) was used to classify the adult attachment stance of participants. The relationship between marital satisfaction and depressive symptoms was supported for wives but not for husbands. Adult attachment was a moderator of the relationship between marital satisfaction and depressive symptoms for husbands but not for wives. Specifically, secure and dismissive men had a low number of depressive symptoms at both high and low levels of marital satisfaction. Preoccupied men had a greater number of depressive symptoms when experiencing high marital satisfaction than when experiencing low marital satisfaction.