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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2021 Aug 13.
Published in final edited form as: J Fam Psychol. 2017 Mar 9;31(6):765–774. doi: 10.1037/fam0000306

Family Hostility and Depressive Symptoms in Middle-Aged Couples: Moderating Effect of Marital Integration

Victoria Bryant 1, KAS Wickrama 1, Catherine Walker O’Neal 1, Frederick O Lorenz 2
PMCID: PMC8363075  NIHMSID: NIHMS852885  PMID: 28277708

Abstract

This study examined (a) the associations between family hostility (husband-wife marital hostility and child hostility) and middle-aged husbands’ and wives’ depressive symptoms over an eleven year time period and (b) the moderating influence of couples’ marital integration on these associations, as measured by their joint activity. Higher-order family-level latent constructs captured chronic husband-wife (marital) hostility using husbands’ and wives’ reports of chronic hostile interactions from 1990 to 1992, while a higher-order latent construct of chronic child hostility towards parents was measured using parental reports of child hostile behaviors from 1990 to 1992. Structural equation modeling with data from 370 families depicted the longitudinal impact of family hostility on depressive symptoms of both husbands and wives in 2001 after accounting for earlier levels of depressive symptoms in 1991. Separate models were fit for couples with high and low levels of marital integration. For couples who experienced low levels of marital integration, chronic marital hostility and child hostility were related to depressive symptoms in husbands and wives. But, for those with high marital integration, these influences were largely diminished.

Keywords: Marital Hostility, Child Hostility, Depression, Middle-Aged Couples, Family Processes

Psychological distress has been shown to affect close to a fifth of the American population at some point during their life time (Kessler, Berglund, Demler, Jin, & Walters, 2005). There is reason to believe that hostility in close relationships contributes to this public health problem, particularly depressive symptoms (Tindle et al., 2009). Recent research has shown that chronic hostile marital interactions (subsequently referred to as chronic marital hostility) are detrimental for spouses’ physical health and depressive symptoms (Uebelacker, Courtnage, & Whisman, 2003). In a similar vein, hostile interactions between parents and children often lead to increases in parents’ depressive symptoms. What is lacking in the current body of research is an understanding of how both chronic child hostility and chronic marital hostility uniquely influence changes in depressive symptoms in husbands and wives over the middle years (defined as the ages from 30–45). A deeper understanding of the associations between close interactions within the family system and husbands’ and wives’ depressive symptoms will aid in the formulation and implementation of mental health interventions for married couples.

To address these research needs and consistent with previous theoretical and empirical research, this study seeks to further understand how both chronic marital hostility and child hostility (measured by parents’ reports of child hostility) uniquely influence changes in depressive symptoms over the later middle years in a sample of 370 middle-aged husbands and wives.

Marital Hostility and Depressive Symptoms in Husbands and Wives

Previous research has documented that negative marital processes are one of the most powerful threats to individuals’ depressive symptoms (Christian-Herman, O’Leary, & Avery-Leaf, 1996; Uebelacker et al., 2003; Whitton et al., 2007). Consistent with the bio-psychobehavioral model (McEwen & Gianaros, 2010), chronic marital hostility may be related to depressive symptoms in both husbands and wives because chronic hostility and the associated conflict acts as a stressor to invoke physiological, psychological, behavioral, and cognitive arousal. This study focuses on depressive symptoms as an important outcome because depressive symptoms have been linked to subsequent health risks, including cardiovascular disease risk, hypertension, and diabetes (Goldston & Baillie, 2008; Grippo & Johnson, 2002).

Systems theory contends that individuals exist, and their experiences occur, in an environment of mutual influences and interactions. As such, husband’s hostility and wife’s hostility within a couple may be strongly associated with each other forming a couple-level construct. That is, a couple-level hostility construct is thought to capture the level of hostility in the couple context (shared variance) and may have implications for the mental health of both husbands and wives (Larson, Wilson, & Beley, 1994). Thus, we posit that the marital hostility can act as a powerful stressor for both spouses thereby leading to poor mental health for husbands and wives over the life course.

The marital discord model of depression suggests that marital hostility, as one form of disruption in a marital relationship, can enhance the experience of depressive symptoms for couples (Beach, Sandeen, & O’Leary, 1990). This model emphasizes that such a link exists because the negativities experienced in a marital relationship result in decreases in positive marital behaviors, such as support and warmth. These decreases in positive marital behaviors exacerbate experiences of depressive symptoms for husbands and wives. Using cross-sectional data, Proulx, Buehler, and Helms (2009) found that marital hostility was directly related to increases in depressive symptoms, but that marital warmth counteracted the detrimental impact of marital hostility. The current study builds upon these findings by assessing the change in depressive symptoms (using residual values) in husbands and wives, rather than a single time point. Moreover, we build on these findings by considering the impact of chronic marital hostility on their depressive symptoms directly and indirectly through child hostility.

In addition and consistent with the erosion hypothesis (Whisman & Kwon, 1993), negative marital processes, including chronic marital hostility and child hostility, occur at the expense of positive resources as these resources are “eroded” by negative experiences. Chronic marital hostility and child hostility can cause reductions in available psychological resources (e.g. self-esteem and mastery), which can make individuals more susceptible to the experience of depressive symptoms (Choi & Marks, 2008; Demo, Small, & Savin-Williams, 1987).

Child Hostility and Husbands’ and Wives’ Depressive Symptoms

Like chronic marital hostility, chronic child hostility often stems from conflict between a child and parent or a child mirroring hostile parent interactions (Knox, Burkhart, & Khuder, 2011), and this has potential implications for the mental health of mothers and fathers. Relatively little research has directly studied the effects of chronic child hostility on parental depressive symptoms within samples of clinically unimpaired children. But, some studies have examined how parental depressive symptoms are impacted by child aggression using samples of children with autism or conduct disorders (Charles, Bywater, Edwards, Hutchings, & Zou, 2013; Jones, Hastings, Totsika, Keane, & Rhule, 2014; Schieve, Blumberg, Rice, Visser, & Boyle, 2007). Within these studies results have supported the negative impact of child behavioral problems and aggression on parents’ depressive symptoms. Results suggest that there is a high rate of comorbidity between parental depressive symptoms and childhood conduct disorders; additionally, aggressive tendencies in children can exacerbate parental depressive symptoms (Knox, Burkhart, & Khuder, 2011; Sanders & McFarland, 2000). Theoretical work has also acknowledged the implications of child mood and behavior on parents’ well-being (Crnic & Greenberg, 1990; King, King, Rosenbaum, & Goffin, 1999; Stores, Stores, Fellows, & Buckley, 1998). King and colleagues (1999) suggest that child behavior problems can significantly impact parents’ overall well-being, but protective factors from the parents’ environment, such as levels of family functioning and social support can help to protect against child behavior problems.

Marital (Parent) Hostility and Child Hostility

As previously noted, a significant body of research supports the link between the experience of parents’ marital hostility and their children’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors (Knox et al., 2011; Matthews, Woodall, Kenyon, & Jacob, 1996; Williams, Conger, & Blozis, 2007). For instance, previous research has shown that when parents exhibit more hostility in the context of their marital relationship their children often exhibit above average levels of hostility and aggression (Stover et al., 2016). Patterson (1992) has identified this as a ‘coercive family process’ where parental hostility perpetuates childhood aggression, and therefore contributes to the experience of depressive symptoms in husbands and wives. It may be that, children model parents’ aggressive behaviors, which leads parents to respond with harsh parenting and creates a perpetuating cycle of co-occurring parental hostility and child hostility (Conger, Ge, Elder, Lorenz, & Simmons, 1994). Thus, as shown in Figure 1, the present investigation will assess both chronic marital and child hostility as family-level constructs and their family-level association (‘common fate’) within the same analytical framework and investigate chronic marital hostility as a precursor to child hostility.

Figure 1.

Figure 1.

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Theoretical Model

Marital integration as a Moderating Variable

In line with previous research, we define marital integration as the amount of time couples spend together engaging in joint or collective activities; as such, our marital integration construct represents a behavioral aspect of overall marital functioning (Wickrama et al., 1997; Wickrama, Surjadi, & Bryant, 2011). This is in line with interdependence theory (Kelley & Thibaut, 1978) and emotional investment perspectives (Berscheid et al., 1983), which stress that couples who show higher levels of marital functioning, of which behavioral closeness is a key component, are often interdependent on one another and emotionally invested with one another (Berscheid, Snyder, & Omoto, 1989; Knobloch & Solomon, 2004). We contend that this emotional investment and interdependence through marital integration (i.e., high levels of engagement and shared interests) may operate as a resource for husbands and wives as they seek to effectively cope with marital and child hostility; and, as such, marital integration may buffer husbands and wives from the negative mental health effects that often stem from family hostility. Furthermore, marital integration may enhance positive emotions, which have a dampening effect on husbands’ and wives’ depressive feelings through a direct compensatory mechanism (Dush, Taylor, & Kroeger, 2008).

Furthermore, in alignment with attribution theory (Bradbury & Fincham, 1990; Heider, 1958), marital integration is thought to be tied to the interpretation partners’ make of each other’s hostility (Uebelacker & Whisman, 2016), and these interpretations can buffer individuals from the detrimental mental health impact of hostility. More specifically, we expect spouses with higher levels of marital integration to potentially make contextual attributions about their partner’s hostile behaviors (e.g. hostile behavior may be attributed to a bad day), thereby minimizing the impact of hostility. Thus, marital integration can influence the appraisal of the stressor (hostile family context) and diminish emotional stress responses that stem from hostile family context and are associated with depressive feelings (Pearlin, Schieman, Fazio, & Meersman, 2005). Whereas, couples with lower marital integration may tend to draw global attributions from their hostile behaviors (e.g., my partner always has a bad attitude towards me), which can serve to enhance the association between hostility and depressive symptoms.

For these reasons, we posit that for couples with high marital integration, the negative impact of chronic family hostility (i.e., marital hostility and child hostility) on depressive symptoms of husbands and wives will be weaker than the outcomes for marriages with less marital integration.

Specific Hypotheses

This study examines how individual-level measures form higher-level constructs of chronic marital hostility and child hostility. Then, we examine how chronic marital hostility and chronic child hostility are related to middle-aged adults’ depressive symptoms over time. The specific study hypotheses are as follows:

  1. Husbands’ reports of wife hostility and wives’ reports of husband hostility will form a higher-level construct of marital hostility. Also, fathers’ report of child hostility and mothers’ report of child hostility will form a higher-order construct of child hostility.

  2. Marital hostility, as captured by both husbands’ and wives’ chronic hostile behavior, will be associated with child hostility as captured by child chronic hostile behavior reported by mothers and fathers.

  3. Chronic marital hostility will be related to both middle-aged husbands and wives experiencing increased depressive symptoms.

  4. Parental perceptions of chronic child hostility will be related to an increase in the depressive symptoms of both husbands and wives.

  5. The relationships between family hostility (i.e., marital hostility and child hostility) and change in husbands’ and wives’ depressive symptoms will be moderated by couples’ levels of marital integration; such that, high levels of marital integration will buffer the detrimental effects of family hostility on husbands’ and wives’ depressive symptoms.

Method

Sample

All procedures and study measures were reviewed and approved by the university research ethics board. The data used to evaluate these hypotheses are from the Iowa Midlife Transitions Project (MTP). This study is an ongoing, prospective, longitudinal study of 451 white European American families from eight counties in rural Iowa (see Conger & Elder, 1994). The MTP originated from the Iowa Youth and Families Project (IYFP) in 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, and 1994 and then continued as the MTP in 2001. The IYFP studied target adolescents and their families in north central Iowa. For both projects, trained field interviewers visited the families in their homes. During the visit, a trained interviewer asked each family member to complete a detailed questionnaire about family life, work, finances, friends, and mental and physical health status. Family members completed the questionnaires independently so that they could not see one another’s answers. At the first wave of data collection, the median age was 39 and 34 for husbands and wives, respectively. The median yearly income was $22,000 and $10,000 for husbands and wives, respectively. Almost all of the men were employed (99.6%), and 66% of the women were employed. The median education for both husbands and wives was 13 years. On average, the couples had been married for 17 years and had three children from their marriage together. The median age of the youngest child was 10. The attrition rate for the combined sample was 11% across the 12-year period. Detailed information about the MTP and IYFP can be found in Conger and Conger (2002) and Conger and Elder (1994). Data for this study used 370 families, and the data were collected at four time points, 1991, 1992, 1994, and 2001 during in-home visits (with 2001 being the most currently available data collected and prepared for analyses).

Measures

Chronic Marital Hostility

A latent construct capturing chronic marital hostility was constructed separately for husbands and wives based on each partner’s reports of their spouse’s hostility at three time points, including 1990, 1991, and 1992. This 17-item assessment of perceived hostile interactions was developed for the IYFP (Matthews, Wickrama, & Conger, 1996). Sample items include how often in the past year their spouse: “Got angry at you,” “Called you bad names,” and “Criticized you or your ideas.” The items were rated using a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = Never to 7 = Always. The internal consistencies for hostile interactions were: for 1990, .91 and .90, for 1991, .91 and .93, and for 1992, .90 and .92 for husbands and wives, respectively.

Child Chronic Hostility

A latent construct capturing child chronic hostility was constructed using fathers’ and mothers’ reports of child hostile behavior from three time points (1990, 1991, and 1992). This 18-item assessment was developed for the IYFP (Conger, 2000). Sample items included how often in the past year their child: “Ignored you when you tried to talk to him or her,” “Tried to make you feel guilty,” and “Insulted or swore at you.” The items were rated using a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = Never to 7 = Always. The internal consistencies for child hostile interactions were: for 1990, .91 and .89, for 1991, .92 and .92, and for 1992, .92 and .92 for fathers and mothers, respectively.

Depressive Symptoms

Nine items from the SCL90 (Derogatis, Lipman, & Covi, 1981) were used to capture the self-reported ratings of depressive symptoms from the previous week for husbands and wives during the years of 1994 and 2001. Sample items include, “Thoughts of ending your life,” “Feelings of worthlessness,” and “Feeling hopeless about the future.” These items were scored on a 5-point Likert scale 1 = Not at all to 5 = Extremely with higher scores indicating more depressive symptoms. The internal consistencies for 1994 were .90 and .91 and for 2001 were .88 and .89 for husbands and wives, respectively.

Couples’ Marital Integration

Couples’ marital integration was assessed by a 10-item measure of engagement in joint activities created for the IYFP (Wickrama, Lorenz, Conger, & Matthews, 1997). Sample items included how often the partners: “Got involved together in community, church, or school activities,” “Did household chores or yard work together,” “Take time to go out by yourselves, just the two of you”, “Do some enjoyable activity together”, and “Socialized with friends.” These items were rated on a 4-point scale and scored so that higher scores indicated higher joint activities (1 = Never, 4 = Always). A sum score was computed for each partner during the years of 1991, 1992, and 1994. This measure had good internal reliability across the years, alphas ranged from .70 to .75 for husbands and .75 to .78 for wives. Next, a couple-level score was computed for each couple by taking the average of the husband’s and wife’s score to create a couple-level average of their marital integration over the 3-year time period. This couple-level score was dichotomized based on a mean-split, to represent high (n = 181) and low (n = 159) levels of marital integration.

Analysis

Analyses were performed using structural equation modeling (SEM) with AMOS software version 23.0 (Arbuckle, 2014). Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were used to confirm the existence of higher-order constructs assessing constructs of marital hostility and child hostility. Additionally, a mean split of marital integration was used to assess the moderating impact of marital integration on the associations between family hostility and husbands’ and wives’ depressive symptoms over time. We relied on a range of indices to evaluate the fit of our theoretical model, including the chi-square statistic, the comparative fit index (CFI), and the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA). Bentler (1990) states that a CFI of more than .95 indicates a respectable model fit, and MacCallum, Browne, & Sugawara (1996) reports that a RMSEA of .08 indicates reasonably good model fit as well.

Results

Correlations and Descriptive Statistics

Table 1 depicts the correlations, means, and standard deviations among the study variables. Husbands’ reports of wives’ hostility was significantly correlated with wives’ depressive symptoms in 1994 (p < .05). Additionally, wives who reported their spouses as more hostile generally experienced more depressive symptoms in 1994 and 2001 compared to wives who did not report high spousal hostility (p < .01); this finding was replicated for husbands as well (p < .01). Parents’ reports of chronic child hostility were significantly related to their own depressive symptoms in both 1994 and 2001 (p < .05), which provides evidence for the persistent influence of hostility within the parent-child relationship on husbands’ and wives’ own depressive symptoms. Wives’ marital integration was significantly correlated with all variables except husbands’ depressive symptoms in 2001 (p < .01), and lastly husbands’ marital integration was significantly correlated to most variables (p < .05) except mothers’ reports of child hostility and wives’ depressive symptoms at 1994 and 2001. Test-retest reliability was computed for husbands’ and wives’ reports of spousal hostility and fathers’ and mothers’ reports of child hostility across all time points. Out of the twelve test-retest reliability coefficients, eleven were more than .70. Father’s reports of child hostility between the years of 1990 and 1992 had a reliability coefficient of .64.

Table 1.

Correlations, Means, and Standard Deviations among Study Variables

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.
1. W. Hostility - H. Reported ---
2. H. Hostility - W. Reported .55*** ---
3. C. Hostility - F. Reported .44*** .26*** ---
4. C. Hostility - M. Reported .10* .43*** .45*** ---
5. H. Depressive symptoms 1994 .23*** .10 .12* .06 ---
6. W. Depressive Symptoms 1994 .11* .37*** .08 .26*** .10* ---
7. H. Depressive Symptoms 2001 .18** .07 .19*** .04 .53*** .13** ---
8. W. Depressive Symptoms 2001 .04 .16** .02 .13* .06 .53*** .19*** ---
9. H. Marital Integration −.28*** −.17*** −.11* .08 −.16** −.09 −.15** −.06 ---
10. W. Marital Integration −.30*** −.37*** −16*** −.13** −.13** −.22*** −.09 −.20*** .39** ---
11. Marital Integration −.40*** −.42*** −.20*** −.10 − 14** −.28*** −.15** −.22*** .68** .71** ---
Mean 7.25 7.15 10.12 9.58 1.33 1.55 1.42 1.52 3.37 3.80 15.37
SD 2.02 2.23 1.77 1.82 .41 .55 .44 .48 .56 .62 5.26
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*

p < .05.

**

p < .01.

***

p<.001

Testing the Measurement Model

First, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to assess the content validity of the family hostility latent variables (four latent variables capturing wives’ hostility, husbands’ hostility, fathers’ reports of child hostility, and mothers’ reports of child hostility at three time points). The results of this CFA are shown in Figure 2. These results indicated that the latent variables comprised of hostile interactions at three time points (1990, 1991, and 1992) loaded on to their respective constructs with high factor loadings, which ranged from .74 to .95 (p < .001). This is evidence of the validity of the indicators (Bollen, 1989). The relatively strong correlations between the latent constructs capturing husbands’ and wives’ marital hostility (r = .68, p < .001) is evidence for their convergent validity and suggests the existence of a higher-order construct of marital hostility. Similarly, the correlation between fathers’ (i.e., husbands) and mothers’ (i.e., wives) reports of chronic child hostility (r = .54, p < .001) is evidence of a higher-order construct of child hostility. These findings support hypothesis 1, suggesting the existence of higher-order constructs capturing the shared variance of mother and father, or husband and wife, reports. Thus, all subsequent models will utilize these higher-order constructs of marital hostility and child hostility to capture stressful hostile family contexts.

Figure 2.

Figure 2.

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Confirmatory Factor Analysis of Latent Constructs

Testing the Hypothesized Model

Next, a structural equation model (SEM) using higher-order constructs of marital hostility and child hostility was fit to the data (see Figure 3). This model provided support for the use of higher-order constructs by showing high factor loadings for both spouse’s reports of their partner’s hostility on the second-order marital hostility latent factor for husbands’ reports of wives’ hostility (β = .84, p < .001) and for wives’ reports of husbands’ hostility (β = .81, p < .001). That is, the latent construct capturing marital hostility validly represented (or explained) both husband and wife hostile behaviors. Additionally, the latent constructs for both mothers’ and fathers’ reports of child hostility had adequate factor loadings for the higher-order child hostility construct (β = .75, p < .001 and β = .71, p < .001 for fathers’ and mothers’ reports respectively). As for the marital hostility second-order construct, these results indicate that the child hostility latent construct validly represent (or explain) both husband and wife reports of child hostile behavior. Lastly, in a family-level (“common fate”) model, marital hostility from 1990 to 1992 was related to increased child hostility over the same period of time (β = .33, p < .001). This model fit the data relatively well, (χ2 (df) = 227.66 (63), CFI = .95, RMSEA = .09).

Figure 3.

Figure 3.

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higher-order constructs: marital hostility and child hostility

Next, husbands’ and wives’ depressive symptoms in 2001 were added into the model utilizing higher-order hostility constructs as predictors after controlling for depressive symptoms in 1994. Because the variation in depressive symptoms in 1994 was utilized as a predictor of depressive symptoms in 2001 in this model (i.e., residual scores), model results pertaining to depressive symptoms in 2001 represent statistically significant influences on the change in depressive symptoms from 1994 to 2001. The majority of the results were consistent with the expected hypotheses. In support of hypothesis 2, chronic marital hostility was significantly related to increased reports of parental hostility (chronic child hostility) (β = .57, p < .001). In alignment with hypothesis 3, marital hostility was significantly associated with the change in husbands’ and wives’ depressive symptoms (β = .20, p < .001 and β = .19, p < .001 respectively). Partially supporting hypothesis 4, child hostility was related to increases in depressive symptoms for mothers (β = .15, p < .05), but this was not replicated for fathers. Lastly, Sobel’s tests were utilized to test for indirect effects, one significant indirect effect was the effect of marital hostility on wives’ change in depressive symptoms through child hostility (t = 2.08, SE = .03, p < .05). This model fit the data relatively well, (χ2 (df) = 261.61 (63), CFI = .94, RMSEA = .08).

To assess hypothesis 5, the SEM was analyzed separately for couples with high and low levels of marital integration using a mean split. As hypothesized (see Figure 5), for couples with a relatively low level of marital integration, family hostility (i.e., both marital hostility and child hostility) appears to detrimentally impact husbands’ and wives’ change in depressive symptoms, whereas for couples with relatively high levels of integration, the impact of family hostility on depressive symptoms was absent or greatly reduced. Among couples with relatively low marital integration, child hostility was related to husbands’ experienced increases in depressive symptoms from 1994 to 2001 (β = .55, p < .05). Similarly, in couples with low marital integration, both marital and child hostility were related to wives’ reporting increases in depressive symptoms over time (β = .81, p < .001 and β = .67, p < .001 for chronic marital hostility and child hostility respectively). Again, marital hostility was significantly related to increases in child hostility (β = .87, p < .001). When testing for indirect effects utilizing Sobel’s tests there were two significant indirect effects in the model under low-marital integration; the paths from marital hostility to husbands’ and wives’ depressive symptoms both through child hostility (t = 4.01, SE = .17, p < .001 and t = 1.92, SE = .25, p < .05 for wives’ depressive symptoms and husbands’ depressive symptoms, respectively). Overall, the model fit the data reasonably well (χ2 (df) = 147.55(64), CFI = .90, RMSEA = .11).

Figure 5.

Figure 5.

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Moderating Effect of Marital Integration

When examining the SEM for couples with high levels of marital integration (higher than the mean), these results support our buffering hypotheses; in that, individuals in relationships characterized by high levels of marital integration were largely protected or “buffered” from the detrimental effects of chronic family hostility on changes in depressive symptoms. Within this model, family hostility was largely unrelated to changes in depressive symptoms, and only higher reports of marital hostility were significantly related to increases in child hostility, (β = .57, p < .001). Indirect effects were not significant within this model. This model also fit the data reasonably well (χ2 (df) = 161.44 (64), CFI = .94, RMSEA = .09).

Additionally, a chi-square difference test was performed to examine the statistical significance of marital integration as a moderator in the conceptual model. Overall, the model does fit differently under the two levels of marital integration (high and low marital integration), thus when comparing an unconstrained model to a constrained model where the 5 prominent paths were constrained to be equal across two models, these two models were significantly different (Δχ2 (df) = 100.56 (5), p < .001). When assessing pairwise comparisons to determine differences in individual paths, all paths except for the path between marital hostility and husband depressive symptoms, were significantly different across the two models (p < .001). This suggests that marital integration has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between family hostility and husbands’ and wives’ depressive symptoms.

Discussion

To date, there has been a lack of research studying the simultaneous influence of chronic marital and parent-child hostile relationships on the change in depressive symptoms of middle-aged husbands and wives. The current study addressed this gap. The hypotheses were drawn from bio-psychobehavioral (McEwen et al., 2010) and marital discord (Beach et al., 1990) perspectives. Overall, findings supported most of the hypotheses, indicating that higher-order constructs of both marital and parent-child hostility has implications for subsequent experiences of depressive symptoms (over seven years) for husbands and wives. This study also investigated the moderating impact of marital integration. In accordance to interdependence theory (Kelley, et al., 1978) and emotional investment perspectives (Berscheid et al., 1983), high levels of marital integration were found to buffer middle-aged couples against the adverse mental health influences of chronic family hostility; that is, marital integration appears to act as a protective factor to mitigate the detrimental psychological impact of family hostility.

In addition to the indirect effect of chronic marital hostility through parent-child hostility, support was found for our hypotheses that chronic marital hostility is directly related to the change in husbands’ and wives’ depressive symptoms. In line with these findings, chronic hostile contexts may be seen as an enduring stressor that can wear away at positive personal resources, such as self-esteem and mastery, further increasing the risk of depressive symptoms for those who lack high levels of marital integration. This aligns with the idea that couples that lack interdependence, as reflected by low marital integration, may not benefit from the psychological and emotional resources that close, interconnected couples may enjoy (Kelley et al., 1978).

Additionally, chronic child hostility was significantly related to wives’ change in depressive symptoms, but this finding was not replicated for husbands’ change in depressive symptoms. Finding that child hostility impacts wives’ depressive symptoms is in line with previous research suggesting that mothers may be more sensitive to the experience of hostility exhibited by other family members (Sanders et al., 2000). It is suggested that mothers who experience higher rates of depressive symptoms due to hostile or aggressive children are more likely to have a more difficult time acquiring child management skills and show slower levels of recovery from depressive symptoms (Dadds &McHugh, 1992; Stoolmiller, Duncan, Bank, & Patterson, 1989). Additionally, studies suggest that the use of cognitive behavioral interventions may help alleviate parental experiences of depressive symptoms (especially for mothers) with disruptive and aggressive children, but future studies should investigate this further as these results highlight the sensitivity that mothers may have towards child hostile and aggressive behaviors (Sanders et al., 2000).

The Moderating Effect of Marital integration

The present study further tested the relationship of chronic family hostility on depressive symptoms over time by investigating the moderating impact of couples’ marital integration. The impact of family hostility on husbands’ and wives’ depressive symptoms varied depending on the couples’ marital integration measured through their joint activities. Under low levels of marital integration, family hostility had a relatively strong impact on husbands’ and wives’ depressive symptoms over their later middle years. But, for couples with high levels of marital integration, the impact of chronic family hostility on the change in depressive symptoms was virtually nonexistent. These results are supported by the interdependence model (Kelley et al., 1978) and the emotional investment perspective (Berscheid et al., 1983). Such that, couples who show higher levels of marital integration, exhibited by behavioral closeness, become interdependent and emotionally invested with one another towards accomplishing shared goals.

Due to the nature of the behavioral affiliation that is captured between the couples within this measure, it is possible that this construct may tap into aspects of a broader social or community integration (e.g., one item measures couples’ time spent engaging together with their community and friends) and psychosocial functioning. Thus, the findings related to marital integration as a buffer against the detrimental influence of family hostility on husbands’ and wives’ depressive symptoms may, at least in part, reflect the established effect of broader social support on mental health outcomes (Applebaum, Stein, Lord-Bessen, Pessin, Rosenfield, & Breitbart, 2014; Lin & Ensel, 1999).

Additionally, past research highlights the importance of couple-level attributions suggesting that perceived attributions about a spouse can affect marital satisfaction over time (Durtschi, Finchman, Cui, Lorenz, & Conger, 2011). Couples with high levels of marital integration may potentially make contextual attributions about hostile behaviors (e.g. they may be expressing hostility due to a bad day at work). In comparison, couples who report low levels of marital integration may make global attributions about hostile behaviors (e.g. my partner is hostile because he is always in a bad mood). The results from the moderation analyses highlight the importance of marital integration by further explaining the relationship between partners’ perceived family hostility and subsequent depressive symptoms.

Limitations

There are several limitations to the current study that should be noted. The first limitation is related to the generalizability of the results. The sample was comprised only of European-American individuals that lived in rural Iowa. Studies testing similar models with a more diverse population are needed. Future samples should not only include greater racial/ethnic diversity, but also greater variation in length of marriage and geographic location. Second, reverse causality is possible as we were unable to account for the possibility that increased rates of depressive symptoms predict subsequent chronic family hostility. However, our findings are in line with most of the existing research, which has shown that hostile interactions predict subsequent depressive symptoms. Additionally, through the use of residual scores, this has decreased the risk of reverse causality within the tested models. Last, there may be other determinants of depressive symptoms that were not included in the current study as they were outside the scope of this study.

Conclusion

These results highlight several important findings regarding the impact of family hostility on husbands’ and wives’ depressive symptoms during the middle years. Chronic family hostility can have powerful implications for the change in depressive symptoms of both husbands and wives in their later middle years. Additionally, these results highlight the importance of couple connectedness in alleviating the negative impact of family hostility on husbands’ and wives’ depressive symptoms, as results suggested that higher amounts of couples’ marital integration diminished the impact of family hostility on depressive symptoms. These results are important for interventions and clinicians, as results demonstrate the negative cycle of hostility that extends from one relationship to another (i.e., marital hostility leading to child hostility). Furthermore, these results emphasize the importance of considering numerous detrimental impacts of hostility, as marital hostility is not only related to child hostility, but also to subsequent depressive symptoms. Consequently, interventions aimed at reducing hostility can have ripple effects to improve other sub-system relationships as well as psychological well-being. Additionally, results highlight the need for family counselors to consider strong couple connections within the marital relationship as a way to buffer against the negative consequences of family hostility on depressive symptoms of husbands and wives. It may be particularly important for clinicians to consider the effect that hostile family relationships can have on mothers as results from the current study suggest that mothers may be more sensitive than fathers to exposure from child hostility.

Figure 4.

Figure 4.

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Marital Hostility, Child Hostility, and Change in Husbands’ and Wives’ Depressive Symptoms over Time.

Acknowledgments

Portions of these analyses were previously presented at the 2016 National Council for Family Relationships. Support for this research was provided by National Institute of Mental Health grant MH59355-03, with additional support from the Iowa State Agricultural and Home Economics Experiment Station (project 3320). We appreciate the thoughtful criticisms of all reviewers to earlier drafts of this paper.

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