Using Marital Status and Continuous Marital Satisfaction Ratings to Predict Depressive Symptoms in Married and Unmarried Women With Systemic Sclerosis: A Canadian Scleroderma Research Group Study

摘要

Objective. Married persons have, on average, better mental health than nonmarried persons. Among married persons, marital satisfaction is associated with better mental health. Studies on mental health in married and nonmarried persons that consider marital satisfaction have categorized patients as satisfied versus unsatisfied, which reduces statistical power and does not generate clinically useful information on mental health across the satisfaction spectrum. Our objective was to demonstrate a novel regression approach to evaluate mental health in women with systemic sclerosis (SSc), comparing married and unmarried women, accounting for continuously measured marital satisfaction.