Emotions in marital conflict interactions: Empathic accuracy,assumed similarity,and the moderating context of depressive symptoms

Abstract

To examine affectivity in marital interaction, 267 couples participated in laboratory-based marital conflicts and afterward rated their own and their spouses’ emotions of positivity, anger, sadness, and fear. Actor—Partner Interdependence Models estimated empathic accuracy and assumed similarity effects, with symptoms of depression tested as a moderator. Depressive symptoms moderated spouses’ ratings of their partners’ negative emotions such that assumed similarity was higher and empathic accuracy was lower in the context of elevated depressive symptoms. The results suggest that depression may influence spouses’ judgments of how closely linked partner emotions are (i.e., assumed similarity) and spouses’ abilities to accurately perceive their partners’ negative emotions (i.e., empathic accuracy), potentially contributing to the established marital dysfunction—psychological distress cycle.