In couples: Largely divergent patterns of emotional expression that predict the long-term symptoms of psychopathology of men and women

Weber, D. M., Fischer, M. S., Baucom, D. H., Baucom, B. R. W., Engl, J., Thurmaier, F., Wojda, A. K., Carrino, E. A., & Hahlweg, K. (2022). For better or worse: Associations among psychopathology symptoms, interpersonal emotion dynamics, and gender in couples. Journal of Family Psychology, 36(2), 246–257. Feb 2022. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000881

Communication has long been associated with the well-being of a couple’s relationship, and it is also important to explore associations with individual well-being. This study examined the associations between emotions communicated within couple interactions and each partner’s psychopathology symptoms concurrently and up to 3 years later. Vocally-encoded emotional arousal (f₀) was measured during couples’ (N = 56) conversations. Analyses examined each partner’s trajectories of f₀ and how each partner influenced the other’s f₀ across the conversation. The findings indicated that women experienced higher symptoms if they (a) decreased more steeply in f₀ overall and (b) returned to their baseline in f₀ more quickly. Moreover, women had higher symptoms if they had a steeper return to baseline because of men’s elevated f₀. In contrast, men experienced higher symptoms when men (a) more slowly returned to baseline and (b) changed their f₀ trajectory because of women’s elevated f₀. That is, women who expressed less emotional arousal, independently and as a result of the influence of their male partner, experienced more symptoms. In contrast, men’s symptoms were differentially associated with their own independent experience of emotional arousal (in which he experienced fewer symptoms when changing arousal more quickly) from how they responded to women’s arousal. Given how differently men’s and women’s psychopathology were associated with emotional expression, these findings raise questions about how partners can communicate to protect their own and their partner’s mental health in the short- and long-term.