Latest study reveals that marriage can cause stress, which makes more people prone to depression.
Marriage is considered as a partnership between a couple and based on previous studies, marriage makes people happier as well as healthier when compared to singles. Other prior studies suggest that if a marriage is unsuccessful it may become one of the major factors of long-term stress.
The researchers claim that people who suffer chronic stress in their marital life are more likely to report symptoms of depression. The study will enable researchers to understand what makes people more susceptible to depression and at the same time develop techniques to overcome the issue.
Dr. Richard Davidson, founder of the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin's Waisman Center leads the research team.
"This is not an obvious consequence, if you will, of marital stress, but it's one I think is extraordinarily important because of the cascade of changes that may be associated," says Davidson. "This is the signature of an emotional style that reveals vulnerability to depression."
For the purpose of the study, the research team conducted a survey on select married couples. The couples were asked to complete a questionnaire, which asked them to rate their stress level on a six-point scale.
The questionnaire included an array of questions like how frequently they felt that their partner is letting them down or how often their partner criticized them. The researchers asked the couples to complete the survey again in nine years and assessed the depression levels in them.
After 11 years from the initial questionnaire, the couples were asked to undertake an emotional response test in a laboratory with the intention to measure their resilience from an emotional point of view. The researchers also measured how swiftly an individual recovers from a negative experience with their partner.
The research team also showed 90 images, which included positive, neutral and negative feelings to the participants. The researchers say that "the electrical activity of the corrugator supercilii, also known as the frowning muscle, was measured to assess the intensity and duration of their responses to the photos."
The scientists explained that these tools helped them to assess the depression level in couples.
Davidson concludes that understanding the reasons that make people more prone to depression will enable them to find techniques, such as meditation, to manage potential depression at an early stage.
