As one of the most significant social forces in a person’s life, marriage has an important contextual role in the etiology and maintenance of psychopathology (Beach, Fincham, & Katz, 1998). Partners in conflict-laden marriages often exhibit behaviors like criticism, contempt, and defensiveness (Gottman, 1994), behaviors which are hallmarks of expressed emotion, a measure of family atmosphere that strongly predicts psychiatric relapse and poor response to treatment (Hooley, 2004). Following from the diathesis-stress model of psychopathology, there is theoretical and empirical evidence to suggest that conflict laden or unsatisfying marriages may act as an environmental stressor leading to the development of mental illness in vulnerable individuals (e.g., Beach, Katz, Kim, & Brody, 2003). However, others have suggested that marital distress is subsequent to, and a consequence of, psychopathology (Coyne, 1976). It is likely that both models are equally valid, although the direction of causality may differ by type of pathology.
