Anxious attachment linked to depression spillover in romantic relationships, study finds

A study from Germany has found that women with anxious attachment styles face a slightly elevated risk of depressive symptom spillover from their partners. In other words, when their partners reported higher levels of depressive symptoms, anxiously attached women were slightly more likely to experience increases in their own depressive symptoms compared to securely attached women. The study was published in Personal Relationships.

Depressive symptoms include persistent sadness, loss of interest or pleasure, fatigue, changes in appetite or sleep, and difficulty concentrating. While major depressive disorder is a common mental health diagnosis, many individuals experience depressive symptoms that do not meet the criteria for a clinical diagnosis.

These symptoms often do not remain isolated. In romantic relationships, one partner’s depressive symptoms can influence the other partner, potentially leading to increased symptoms over time. This phenomenon is referred to as spillover or crossover of depressive symptoms. However, because both partners are often exposed to similar external stressors, it is sometimes unclear whether such changes are due to true spillover or shared environmental influences affecting both individuals simultaneously.

Study author Preston C. Morgan and his colleagues sought to examine the extent to which a partner’s anxious attachment moderates the spillover of depressive symptoms over time in romantic relationships. Specifically, they wanted to determine whether men’s or women’s initial depressive symptoms could predict changes in their partner’s symptoms over a four-year period—and whether this effect was influenced by anxious attachment. Anxious attachment is a relational style characterized by a heightened fear of abandonment, increased sensitivity to rejection, and a strong need for closeness and reassurance.

The researchers analyzed data from the German Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics (Pairfam), using five waves of data collected between 2010 and 2014.

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The final sample included 1,179 heterosexual couples who remained together throughout the study period. At the start of the study, the average age was approximately 36 for men and 33 for women, and 72% of the couples were married. Participants completed validated assessments of depressive symptoms and anxious attachment.

The results showed that participants’ initial levels of depressive symptoms were not significantly associated with changes in their partners’ depressive symptoms across the four-year period. However, women’s anxious attachment significantly moderated this association. In particular, women with higher levels of anxious attachment were slightly more likely to experience increases in their own depressive symptoms when their male partners had elevated depressive symptoms at the start of the study.

“In general, depressive symptoms in one partner seem to be at least partially transferrable to the other romantic partner. This depressive symptom spillover seems to occur at the same time point, but men’s and women’s initial depressive symptoms were not associated with changes in their partner’s depressive symptom trajectories—limiting the spillover effect. However, this long-term spillover effect may occur in one context. Specifically, women who are more anxiously attached—seeking increased reassurance—are at an even higher risk for depressive symptom spillover within their romantic relationships,” the study authors concluded.

The study sheds light on the depressive symptom spillover effect within couples. However, it should be noted that the mean depression level of study participants was low and that these were not clinically depressed individuals. This may have limited the magnitude of detected spillover effects. Furthermore, the study sample was limited to couples who remained together during the study period. Results on other categories of individuals may differ.

The paper, “Depressive symptoms spillover between romantic partners partially explained by anxious attachment,” was authored by Preston C. Morgan, Jared A. Durtschi, and Salena King.