Table 5.

Regression Coefficients for Each Family Member’s Language Use Predicting Patient, Couple, and Family Adjustment

LIWC word category	Patient Depression	Couple Adjustment	Family Cohesion	Family Conflict	Average Adjustment
	(N = 71)	(N = 74)	(N = 75)	(N = 75)	(N = 75)
Emotional processes
Positive emotion words
patient	−.13	−.07	−.06	−.10	.04
partner	−.07	.18	.27*	.06	.15
child	.13	.01	.05	.00	−.02
Negative emotion words
patient	.03	−.08	−.02	.25*	−.14
partner	.21	.00	.02	−.09	−.01
child	−.05	.12	−.07	.12	−.01
Anger words
patient	−.04	.12	.03	.17	.00
partner	.04	.04	−.17	−.07	−.08
child	.30*	−.17	−.20	.33**	−.34**
Anxiety words
patient	−.10	−.14	.01	.15	−.09
partner	.36**	.06	−.06	.06	−.11
child	−.23†	.21†	.08	−.23†	.24*
Sadness words
patient	.05	−.03	−.17	.30*	−.18
partner	.05	−.05	.10	−.10	.03
child	−.04	.06	−.07	−.09	.04
Social processes
We-talk
patient	.11	−.16	−.17	.04	−.16
partner	−.20†	.35**	.11	−.02	.20†
child	−.08	.13	.11	.00	.11
“You”
patient	.25*	−.19	−.15	.13	−.24*
partner	.11	−.10	−.15	.23†	−.20†
child	.13	−.05	−.05	−.01	−.07

Note. Numbers are standardized regression coefficients. Predictor variables are percentages of all words uttered by each family member that fall into each word category (except we-talk, which is the ratio of first-person plural to all first-person pronouns). Language use and outcomes for families with multiple children represent the average across all sons and daughters. Anger, anxiety, and sadness are subcategories of LIWC negative emotion words. All outcome measures were self-reported on the same day that the language use was observed in the laboratory. Patient depression is from the Profile of Mood States depression scale, couple adjustment was from the Dyadic Adjustment Scale, and Family cohesion and conflict were from the Family Environment Scale. Couple adjustment is the average of the patient’s and partner’s scores. The Family variables are averages across all family members. Total adjustment is a composite measure including couple adjustment, family cohesion, and reverse-scored patient depression and family conflict.

^†p ≤ .10;

^*p ≤ .05;

^**p ≤ .01.