Short-term consequences of severe marital stressors

The current longitudinal study was conducted to examine the short-term impact of severe marital stressors and marital discord on psychological distress and marital dissolution in two groups of women. One group consisted of women reporting a recent severe marital stressor (e.g., infidelity, threat of separation), whereas the maritally discordant group consisted of women denying a recent marital stressor but reporting similar levels of marital discord. Results indicated that baseline marital discord was related to later depressive and anxiety symptoms for the control group only. In addition, women experiencing a marital stressor reported reductions in depressive and anxiety symptoms within several months after the event, after which their symptoms leveled off. In contrast, the control group's symptoms remained stable over all three assessments. Those in the marital stressor group were significantly more likely to separate or divorce than were those in the control group. These results are discussed in light of models of marital and psychological distress.