Abstract
Despite considerable literature documenting associations between relationship functioning and depressive symptoms, there has been relatively little direct examination of this association among African American couples. Likewise, little research has investigated factors that may exacerbate this association. The current study addressed this gap by investigating longitudinal associations between relationship functioning and depressive symptoms among 344 rural African American couples and by examining whether experiences of childhood maltreatment (i.e., childhood physical neglect and childhood physical abuse) amplify this association. Results indicated relationship functioning and depressive symptoms were negatively associated, initially and over time, for both men and women. Additionally, childhood maltreatment moderated several of these associations, such that associations between relationship functioning and depressive symptoms were generally strongest for those reporting greater levels of childhood maltreatment. This pattern of results suggests that experiences of childhood maltreatment may amplify negative associations between adult relationship functioning and depressive symptoms among African American couples, providing further evidence that adverse family-of-origin experiences can contribute to negative consequences later in the life course.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1043-1065 |
| Number of pages | 23 |
| Journal | Journal of Social and Personal Relationships |
| Volume | 39 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Apr 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported by award R01 AG059260 funded by the National Institute on Aging and R01 HD069439 funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to SRHB, and by award P30 DA027827 to Gene H Brody funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Funding Information:
The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. The authors thank the families for their willingness to participate in this research and the staff at the Center for Family Research for their assistance implementing this study. The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported by award R01 AG059260 funded by the National Institute on Aging and R01 HD069439 funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to SRHB, and by award P30 DA027827 to Gene H Brody funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2021.
Keywords
- African American couples
- childhood
- depression
- maltreatment
- relationship functioning