This revised proposal seeks support for secondary data analysis using three general population surveys of married couples. The research has two main substantive concerns. The first concern is the origin of spouse concordance for a variety of psychiatric disorders (including major depression, dysthymia, generalized anxiety disorder, and substance abuse) and for their risk factors. This research represents the first effort to estimate spouse concordance in the general population. The second substantive concern is the impact of spouse concordance on marital quality and on the course of illness of each spouse. By using general population samples, and by analyzing explicitly the determinants of spouse concordance, the proposed research promises to provide fresh insights into the processes of assortative marriage for psychiatric disorders. The first data set comprises interviews with both members of 592 married couples living in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan. The second data set was also collected in Detroit, but includes interviews with 423 married couples over the age of 60. The third data set represents a national survey of 238 married couples over the age of 60. These data include information dating the onsets and offsets of major periods of psychiatric disorder, allowing event history analysis of the joint course of illness among spouse pairs. This research is justified by the near lack of such work outside of treatment populations, and by the strong implications of spouse concordance for understanding psychological functioning among married couples.
| McLeod, J D (1994) Anxiety disorders and marital quality. J Abnorm Psychol 103:767-76 |
| McLeod, J D (1993) Spouse concordance for depressive disorders in a community sample. J Affect Disord 27:43-52 |
| McLeod, J D (1993) Spouse concordance for alcohol dependence and heavy drinking: evidence from a community sample. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 17:1146-55 |
