Daily relationship satisfaction and depressed mood

Biesen & Smith (2022) published “Daily Relationship Satisfaction and Depressed Mood: The moderating roles of support satisfaction, over- and under-provision” in Journal of Family Psychology. I like this study because it gathers information from both partners daily. The bidirectional nature of depressed mood and relationship satisfaction is not at all surprising but this work emphasizes the value of couples therapeutic interventions.

Research on the impact of romantic partner social support on depressed mood and relationship satisfaction focuses primarily on the discrepancies between actual and desired frequency of support behaviors, which are conceptualized as social support over- and underprovision. However, frequency counts of support behaviors neglect other potentially important qualities of those behaviors, such as whether the support behaviors, however frequent, are satisfying, or even occurring in relevant domains. In the present study, 62 opposite-sex couples completed daily online questionnaires to assess their depressed mood, relationship satisfaction, actual and desired frequency of emotional/esteem, informational, tangible, and physical support as well as satisfaction with their partner’s support. Results of lagged, multilevel moderation analyses showed that satisfaction with prior-day informational, physical, and tangible support was associated with a greater decrease in relationship satisfaction if partners had reported an increase in prior-day depressive symptoms. In addition, overprovision of prior-day tangible support mitigated the negative impact of prior-day depressed mood on relationship satisfaction and vice versa. These results are consistent with prior research on the bidirectional nature of the association between depressed mood and relationship satisfaction, and clarify the role of frequency of and satisfaction with support behaviors in relationships. Recommendations for couples therapists working with depressed partners focus on emphasizing gradual changes in support behaviors to avoid overwhelming the partner reporting depressed mood and encouraging tangible support provision between partners who report depressed or relational distress. 

Brock & Lawrence (2009) define support underprovision as “receiving less support than is desired” and support overprovision as “receiving more support than is desired.” This is a good example of smart research in that the question of whether one receives adequate support can be answered ‘no’ for a variety of reasons. It is also interesting that Biesen & Smith emphasize gradual changes in support behaviors and find that it is overprovision of tangible support that mitigated the negative effects of previous day depressed mood on relationship satisfaction and vice versa, suggesting that informational and physical support are less powerful.