An exploration of the relationship between couples's marriage perceptions and mental health

Objective To understand the relationship between spouses' marital quality and their mental health.Method 384 pairs of couples from 28 provinces in China were examined with the Marriage Perception Scale(MPS) and Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90).Result ( 1 ) Husbands' scores of couple conflict( 10.85 ±5.02) were significantly lower than wives' scores of couple conflict ( 11.66 ± 5.63 ) (P ＜ 0.05 ).( 2 ) Husbands' seores in the 5 factors of SCL-90 ( symptoms that somatization ( 1.44 ± 0.50 ), interpersonal sensitivity ( 1.57 ±0.54),depression( 1 .50 ± 0.52 ) ,anxiety ( 1.46 ± 0.54 ), panic ( 1.38 ± 0.55 ) ) were significantly higher than wives' in the 5 factors of SCL-90[symptoms that somatization ( 1.52 ± 0.54 ), interpersonal sensitivity ( 1.66 ±0.58), depression (1.59 ±0.59 ), anxiety ( 1.55 ± 0.58 ), panic ( 1.47 ± 0.59 )] (P ＜ 0.05 ).( 3 ) Individual's MPS and its SCL-90,spouses' MPS andits SCL-90 correlated as well( r=-0.372 ～0.239)(P＜0.01 ).Conclusion Couples are similar in their marriage perceptions.Husbands are psychological healthier than their spouses'.Individual marriage perception is correlated with his/her mental health level and his/her spouses' as well. Key words: Couple;  Marital quality;  Mental health