A Twin Study on Perceived Stress, Depressive Symptoms, and Marriage
Open accessAbstract
Marriage is associated with reductions in both perceived stress and depressive symptoms, two constructs found to be influenced by common genetic effects. A study of sibling twins was used to test whether marriage decreases the proportion of variance in depressive symptoms accounted for by genetic and environmental effects underlying perceived stress. The sample consisted of 1,612 male and female twin pairs from the University of Washington Twin Registry. The stress-buffering role of marriage was tested relative to two unmarried groups: the never married and the divorced. Multivariate twin models showed that marriage reduced genetic effects of perceived stress on depressive symptoms but did not reduce environmental effects. The findings suggest a potential marital trade-off for women: access to a spouse may decrease genetic effects of perceived stress on depressive symptoms, although marital and family demands may increase environmental effects of perceived stress on depressive symptoms.
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Marriage can decrease perceived stress and depressive symptoms, and improve maternal mental health.
“This finding is consistent with other studies showing that marriage can decrease perceived stress and depressive symptoms, and improve maternal mental health (Beam et al., 2017; Hannighofer et al., 2017).”
From Parenting Stress, Child Social Functioning, and Part C Early Intervention in Predominantly Low-Income Families of Children With or at High Risk for Developmental Delay From Minoritized Racial and Ethnic Groups (2023) · cites this paper as Beam et al., 2017
The paper’s “Stress-relieving benefits of marital support” section reports that married people often have fewer stress and depressive symptoms, while the Discussion finds that marriage may buffer stress-related depressive symptoms in women. It does not establish an improvement in maternal mental health specifically, and the Discussion cautions that marriage may introduce stressors for women. Page numbers were not available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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References 72 · Cited by 39
Research works printed but not linked: 51
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- Authors
- Beam, C. R., Dinescu, D., Emery, R., & Turkheimer, E.
- Affiliations
- University of Southern California (US)
- University of Virginia (US)
- Corresponding author
- Beam, Christopher R.
- Venue
- Journal of Health and Social Behavior
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2017-01-31
- Volume
- 58
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 37-53
- ISSN
- 0022-1465 (ISSN-L)
- 2150-6000
- PMC
- PMC5746173
- OpenAlex
- W2583884229
- Cited by
- 39
- References
- 72
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 2
- FWCI
- 7.81
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Journal of Health and Social Behavior (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (5r01hd056354-06)
- National Institute on Aging (F31AG044047, T32AG020500, T32AG000037)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01-HD056354)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Demography › Family Dynamics and Relationships
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Health and Well-being Studies
- Keywords
- marriage, perceived stress, depressive symptoms, genetic factors, environmental effects, stress buffering, divorce, never married, twin pairs, women
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Depression, Divorce, Female, Humans, Male, Marriage, Middle Aged, Models, Theoretical, Registries, Social Environment, Stress, Psychological, Twins, Marital Status, Young Adult
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