Table 1.
Comparisons of personality traits, psychosocial functioning, and marital adjustment of index parents with bipolar disorder (BD) and index healthy control parents and of intimate partners of parents with BD and intimate partners of healthy control parents
| Index parents | Intimate partners | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BD | Healthy control | Of adults with BD | Of healthy controls | |||||
| M (SD) | M (SD) | F | η2 | M (SD) | M (SD) | F | η2 | |
| Personality (NEO-PI-R)a | n = 55 | n = 47 | n = 59 | n = 43 | ||||
| Neuroticism | 60.40 (12.70) | 45.11 (8.80) | 33.41** | .25 | 50.49 (10.20) | 44.58 (8.70) | 7.41** | .07 |
| Extraversion | 48.47 (9.11) | 51.45 (7.35) | 1.62 | .02 | 47.10 (7.87) | 52.67 (7.22) | 11.08** | .10 |
| Openness | 50.95 (10.50) | 52.85 (8.65) | .01 | .00 | 48.20 (8.35) | 50.98 (7.04) | .99 | .01 |
| Agreeableness | 49.56 (9.74) | 54.04 (6.74) | 4.08* | .04 | 51.19 (8.41) | 49.67 (8.77) | 1.14 | .01 |
| Conscientiousness | 44.44 (11.10) | 50.43 (6.07) | 6.25* | .06 | 50.18 (9.84) | 51.42 (7.74) | .19 | .00 |
| Negative life events (LES)b | n = 48 | n = 32 | n = 28 | n = 33 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dependent | 2.83 (1.98) | 1.09 (1.28) | 13.41** | .15 | 1.93 (1.33) | 1.58 (1.56) | .90 | .02 |
| Independent | .44 (.62) | .31 (.59) | .89 | .01 | .32 (.55) | .39 (.55) | .25 | .00 |
| Coping skills (CISS)c | n = 55 | n = 47 | n = 58 | n = 43 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Task-oriented | 44.80 (10.80) | 51.60 (9.75) | 5.82* | .06 | 49.40 (8.85) | 51.88 (8.11) | .98 | .01 |
| Emotion-focused | 55.27 (10.40) | 46.70 (8.68) | 11.39** | .10 | 49.90 (8.79) | 45.63 (7.51) | 5.69* | .06 |
| Avoidance-oriented | 53.04 (11.90) | 44.62 (9.24) | 15.10** | .13 | 48.34 (9.63) | 46.37 (10.6) | 1.07 | .01 |
| Social support (ASSI)d | n = 55 | n = 47 | n = 59 | n = 43 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Size of social network | 10.04 (6.66) | 17.85 (13.80) | 7.65** | .07 | 10.25 (7.74) | 16.60 (12.40) | 8.66** | .08 |
| Satisfaction with social network | 25.53 (3.56) | 28.30 (2.01) | 17.78** | .15 | 25.98 (3.46) | 28.23 (2.45) | 11.80** | .11 |
| Amount of social contact | 6.27 (6.98) | 12.47 (11.8) | 7.08** | .07 | 7.61 (7.91) | 12.65 (11.8) | 5.47* | .05 |
| Satisfaction with social contact | 4.25 (.95) | 4.74 (.61) | 6.40* | .06 | 4.14 (.97) | 4.63 (.691) | 7.09** | .07 |
| Marital adjustment (DAS)e | n = 38 | n = 45 | n = 43 | n = 40 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Consensus | 50.87 (7.80) | 53.62 (5.66) | 2.46 | .03 | 49.77 (8.12) | 52.88 (6.54) | 4.89* | .06 |
| Affectional expression | 8.24 (2.50) | 9.31 (1.81) | 7.05** | .08 | 8.00 (2.66) | 9.10 (2.41) | 3.47 | .04 |
| Satisfaction | 35.71 (7.70) | 39.56 (4.46) | 5.54* | .07 | 32.63 (8.90) | 39.53 (4.83) | 17.49** | .18 |
| Cohesion | 13.79 (5.48) | 16.18 (3.51) | 4.94* | .06 | 13.81 (5.49) | 15.68 (4.04) | 3.60 | .04 |
| Verbal aggression (CTS)f | n = 38 | n = 45 | n = 44 | n = 41 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| From partner | 18.39 (21.60) | 8.62 (11.60) | 3.97* | .05 | 14.98 (21.00) | 10.61 (10.8) | .41 | .01 |
| Towards partner | 16.71 (21.90) | 8.73 (9.78) | 3.76 | .05 | 23.73 (26.80) | 8.95 (9.31) | 8.11** | .09 |
T-scores were used for the Personality and Coping Skills subcategories, *p < .05, **p < .01
BD: bipolar disorder
aFrom the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised
bFrom the Life Events Scale
cFrom the Coping Inventory of Stressful Situations
dFrom the Arizona Social Support Interview
eFrom the Dyadic Adjustment Scale
fFrom the Conflict Tactic Scale