Stress and coping strategies in spouses of depressed patients

The relationships between the coping strategies used by spouses of clinical ly depressed patients and spouses' anxiety, depression, and marital maladju stment were investigated. Fifty spouses of clinically depressed patients co mpleted a biographical questionnaire, the Coping Strategy Indicator (J. H. Amirkhan, 1990, 1994), the Beck Depression Inventory (A. T. Beck, 1967; A. T. Beck, C. H. Ward, M. Mendelson, J. Mock, & J. Erbaugh, 1961), the State- Trait Anxiety Inventory (C, D. Spielberger, R. E. Lushene, B. A. Vagg, & E, Jacobs, 1983), and the Locke Wallace Marital Adjustment Test (H. J. Locke & K. M. Wallace, 1959, 1987). Anxiety was highly prevalent in the spouses; more than half were depressed, and half showed marital maladjustment. Signi ficant positive correlations were found between an avoidant coping strategy and anxiety as well as depression, and a significant negative correlation was found between an avoidant coping strategy and marital adjustment. These findings indicate the ineffectiveness of an avoidant coping strategy for s pouses of clinically depressed patients.