Mental health in marriage: the roles of need for affiliation, sensitivity to rejection, and other factors

This study reports on the associations between a number of personality factors and spouse mental health, happiness, and communication (N = 78). Lower Affiliative Drive and higher Sensitivity to Rejection emerge in this sample as being associated in wives (but not husbands) with increased psychological morbidity. Wives had higher levels of both Need for Affiliation and Sensitivity to Rejection than husbands, which possibly may lead to higher internal conflict for them. Although causality cannot necessarily be assumed, these results are consistent with the hypothesis that wives' mental health is more "relationship related" than that of husbands.