A Research On Marital Relationship Of Mental Disorders

This study aims to analyze the characteristics of the marital relationship of mental disorders, and the influences of original family and emotional expression on marital relationship were explored. In this study, by using self-reported questionnaire and projective test in combination, the Marital Adjustment Test(MAT), Marital Satisfaction Test(ENRICH), Marital Health Test(MHT), Family-of-Origin Scale(FOS), and Emotional Expressiveness Questionnaire(EEQ) were used as research tools, and taking the 3731 national sample and 311 adults from Jiangsu and Fujian provinces as matched groups, and 108 mental disorders and 99 mental disorders’ spouses from Suzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Hefei, Zhangzhou were surveyed. This study revised the Chinese version of EEQ, followed by an investigation on the characteristics of marital relationship, original families, emotional expression of mental disorders and their spouses, and then exploried the relationship between mental disorders’ original families, emotional expression and their marital relationship, eventually establishing the relational models of those factors. The results indicate that:(1) Whether in the individual self-report or the spousal interaction, mental disorders’ marital relationship were lower than the normal level.(2) The differences of marital adjustment and marital satisfaction between the male mental disorders and the female spouses were not significant, but the female mental disorders’ marital adjustment and marital satisfaction were lower than the male spouses.(3) Differences between different types of mental disorders had different characteristics on two aspects of the marital relationship. In the individual self-report, the spouses’ marital satisfaction of the compulsive disorders were better than those of the anxiety disorders; In the spousal interaction, the male satisfaction degree of the compulsive disorders was the best, followed by the depression disorders’ and the anxiety disorders’, and the schizophrenia disorders’ was the worst, however the female comprehension degree and the male comprehension degree of the compulsive disorders were relatively poor.(4) The overall function of mental disorders’ original family were not so good as normal; Original family did not have significant differences on the variable of types of mental disorder, while original family of the patients with a family history were worse than those without a family history.(5) Compared with the spouses’ original family, the relation of mental disorders’ original family and their marital relationship were closer, and the mental disorders’ original family predicted greater on their marital relationship.(6) The results of Exploratory Factor Analysis found that the Chinese version of EEQ consisted of 3 factors including expression of positive emotion, expression of negative emotion and expression of intimacy. The Chinese version of EEQ had satisfactory reliability and validity.(7) The mental disorders expressed more negative emotions and less positive emotions than the normal, they also had less expression of intimacy than their spouses; The male patients had less emotional expression than the female patients; The compulsive disorders expressed more positive emotions and more intimacy, and the depression disorders expressed more negative emotions.(8) Compared with the spouses’ emotional expression, the relation of mental disorders’ emotional expression and their marital relationship were closer, and the mental disorders’ emotional expression predicted greater on their marital relationship.(9) The expression of intimacy of mental disorders and their spouses could positively predicted the individual self-report of their marital relationship, and their expression of negative emotion could positively predicted the spousal interaction.(10) The relation of the mental disorders’ expression of intimacy and original family was the closest, and the mental disorders’ expression of intimacy mediated the relationship between mental disorders’ original family and the individual self-report of their marital relationship.