The time has come to talk of many things: A commentary on Kurdek (1998) and the emerging field of marital processes in depression

In an important investigation of the longitudinal relation between marital adjustment and depressive symptoms, L. A. Kurdek (1998) reported an apparen t failure to replicate prior findings reported by F. D. Fincham, S. R. H. B each, G. T. Harold, and L. N. Osborne (1997). He attributed the diverging r esults to differences between the analytic approach taken in each of the st udies. The authors reanalyzed F. D. Fincham et al.'s data using L. A. Kurde k's analytic procedures and found no change in results. A more parsimonious assessment of the diverging results is that L. A. Kurdek failed to general ize F. D. Fincham et al.'s findings to a longer time lag and a sample chara cterized by a rather different pattern of attrition. The authors highlight several important issues that require greater attention in developing a cum ulative body of knowledge on the longitudinal relation between marital proc esses and depression.