Pathways among Self-esteem,Marital Instability,and Depression: A Personality-Relationship Transactional Perspective

Abstract

Guided by the dynamic-transaction model of health, the current study investigated how the interplay between self-esteem and marital instability affects future depressive symptoms. Based on longitudinal data, the present study demonstrated that higher self-esteem was associated with lower marital instability, thus decreasing the likelihood of depressive symptoms. At the same time, an unstable marital relationship was related to lower levels of self-esteem, which in turn increased depressive symptoms. Thus, the results of the current study provided preliminary evidence regarding the effects of the personality-relationship transaction on depressive symptoms. In addition, the prospective associations between personality-relationship transaction and depressive symptoms was not parallel for husbands and wives. For husbands, the indirect pathway from marital instability to their own depressive symptoms via self-esteem was significant. For wives, the indirect pathway from self-esteem to their own depressive symptoms via marital instability was significant. Theoretical implications and future directions for research are discussed.

Keywords

marital instability self-esteem depressive symptoms Chinese couples personality-relationship transaction

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