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Table 4 Comparisons of personality traits and psychosocial functioning of couples in which one partner presents BD and the other major depression, couples in which one partner presents BD and the other no major depression, and healthy control couples

From: A comprehensive assessment of personality traits and psychosocial functioning in parents with bipolar disorder and their intimate partners

 

Couples

Couples with a partner with BD and MDD vs healthy control couples

Couples with a partner with BD no MDD vs healthy control couples

Couples with a partner with BD and MDD vs couples with a partner with BD no MDD

One partner with BD

Two healthy control partners

MDD

No MDD

M (SD)

M (SD)

M (SD)

F

η2

Personality (NEO-PI-R)a

n = 18

n = 40

n = 47

  

Neuroticism

57.07 (7.13)

54.61 (7.53)

44.94 (7.35)

18.82**

.27

✔

✔

 

Extraversion

48.02 (6.64)

47.81 (6.44)

52.10 (5.56)

3.87*

.07

 

✔

 

Openness

49.49 (7.06)

49.76 (8.06)

52.10 (6.46)

.08

.00

   

Agreeableness

47.34 (8.41)

51.35 (5.64)

52.16 (5.71)

3.09*

.06

✔

 

✔

Conscientiousness

48.00 (6.05)

46.7 (8.42)

51.06 (5.45)

3.30*

.06

 

✔

 

Negative life events (LES)b

n = 16

n = 32

n = 33

     

Dependent

2.25 (1.30)

2.70 (1.54)

1.32 (1.17)

7.19**

.16

✔

✔

 

Independent

.38 (.50)

.41 (.48)

.35 (.41)

.33

.01

   

Coping skills (CISS)c

n = 18

n = 39

n = 47

     

Task-oriented

46.28 (6.21)

47.23 (7.99)

51.60 (7.20)

2.85

.05

✔

  

Emotion-focused

51.98 (6.02)

52.83 (7.65)

46.19 (6.08)

6.74**

.12

✔

✔

 

Avoidance-oriented

51.26 (7.21)

51.36 (8.64)

45.38 (7.60)

7.03**

.12

✔

✔

 

Social support (ASSI)d

n = 18

n = 40

n = 47

     

Size of social network

9.42 (5.42)

10.50 (5.89)

17.20 (9.22)

6.39**

.11

✔

✔

 

Satisfaction with social network

26.22 (2.73)

25.54 (2.97)

28.27 (1.85)

10.98**

.18

✔

✔

 

Amount of social contact

6.23 (4.92)

7.34 (6.49)

12.45 (8.10)

4.52**

.08

✔

✔

 

Satisfaction with social contact

4.19 (.686)

4.19 (.80)

4.70 (.496)

5.12**

.09

✔

✔

 

Marital adjustment (DAS)e

n = 15

n = 30

n = 47

     

Consensus

49.97 (5.33)

50.60 (7.39)

53.52 (5.44)

3.27*

.07

✔

✔

 

Affectional expression

6.72 (2.94)

8.77 (1.79)

9.23 (1.95)

8.34**

.16

✔

 

✔

Satisfaction

32.83 (6.65)

34.68 (8.35)

39.72 (4.22)

8.34**

.16

✔

✔

 

Cohesion

13.21 (5.10)

14.45 (4.82)

16.15 (3.32)

3.06

.07

✔

  

Verbal aggression (CTS)f

n = 15

n = 30

n = 45

     

Inter-partner

20.95 (16.63)

17.28 (20.93)

9.44 (9.34)

2.02

.05

   
  1. Due to non-independence of data and to obtain a global estimate of couple functioning, mean scores across all available parents were used for these analyses when there was more than one parent in a family [number of single-parent families = 11 (7 BD)]
  2. T-scores were used for the Personality and Coping Skills subcategories, *p < .05, **p < .01
  3. BD: bipolar disorder; MDD: major depression disorder; ✔: significant group difference
  4. aFrom the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised
  5. bFrom the Life Events Scale
  6. cFrom the Coping Inventory of Stressful Situations
  7. dFrom the Arizona Social Support Interview
  8. eFrom the Dyadic Adjustment Scale
  9. fFrom the Conflict Tactic Scale