Empathy in marriage: Implications for marital satisfaction and depression.

摘要

Empathy has long been studied as an interpersonal phenomenon with far-reaching implications for relationship functioning. Existing research suggests that empathy has important associations with both marital satisfaction and depression. The study of empathy in the context of marital satisfaction and depression, which are highly associated with one another, may help point to directions for clinical interventions and research. A new method of measuring empathic accuracy and perceived similarity involving on-line, global mood ratings by spouses is introduced in this multitrait, multimethod study. In addition, this study introduces a new method of measuring empathic accuracy and perceived similarity involving post-interaction mood ratings by spouses. Empathy, marital satisfaction, depression, and their interrelationships are evaluated and discussed. Empathic accuracy, as measured following a discussion of a marital problem area, correlated positively with marital satisfaction in wives and husbands. In addition, perceived similarity in wives and husbands correlated positively with wives' and husbands' marital satisfaction. Wives' report of husbands' empathy correlated positively with marital satisfaction in wives and husbands, and wives' and husbands' reports of their own empathy correlated positively with husbands' marital satisfaction. Perceived similarity in wives and husbands correlated negatively with major depression in wives. Exploratory multiple regressions indicated that wives' perceptions of their husbands' empathy and of the empathy in their relationship were the only variables that contributed unique variance to marital satisfaction in wives and husbands. This study advocates future research investigating the associations among empathic accuracy, perceived similarity, and marital satisfaction.