Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Archives of Psychiatric Nursing journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apnu Relations Between Depression Level and Conﬂict Resolution Styles, Marital Adjustments of Patients With Major Depression and Their Spouses Saﬁye Özgüç a , Derya Tanrıverdi b, ⁎ a Gaziantep Public Health, Gaziantep, Turkey b Gaziantep University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Psychiatric Nursing, Turkey ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Conﬂict resolution style Marital adjustment Major depression ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to determine to relations between the depression level and the conﬂict resolution styles, marital adjustments of the depressed patients and to analyze the conﬂict resolution styles, marital ad- justments of both the patients and their spouses as the possible predictors of depression levels. The research comprised 113 patients with major depression and their spouses. While there was a negative correlation between depression scores and positive and subordination conﬂict resolution styles subscales of the patients, there was a positive correlation between the depression scores and negative conﬂict resolution style subscale. Negative correlation was observed between the depression and marital adjustment scores of patients (p < 0.05). The conﬂict resolution styles and marital adjustment of depressed patients and their spouses are predictors of de- pression in patients. Depression is an extremely disruptive disorder with frequent long- term attacks leading to high risk of chronicity, and high recurrence and relapse rates, thus causing serious physical and psycho-social disability (Oral, 2010). It is also deﬁned as a syndrome in which there are feelings and opinions of insigniﬁcance, inability, and indignity, as well as re- tardation in many psychological functions such as thinking, speaking, and movement (Köroğlu & Güleç, 2007). The marital adjustment that plays such an important role in happy and satisﬁed marriages is inﬂu- enced by many individual, situational and relational factors. Percep- tions of the relationship, communication styles, and problem-solving skills are just some examples of such factors (Polat, 2006). In addition to adjustment, conﬂicts may also be experienced in marriages and the disagreements associated with resolving conﬂicts are among the most signiﬁcant problems of married couples (Gülşen, 2010; Olson & DeFrain, 2002). Conﬂict solving reﬂects the ability of married couples to solve or handle the conﬂicts underlying the relationship. Solving conﬂicts primarily encompasses successful problem-solving (Proulx, Buehler, & Helms, 2009). According to a national study of married couples, happy couples are more skilled than unhappy ones in solving their conﬂicts, understanding each other while discussing problems, being more relaxed when expressing their feelings, reaching a con- sensus to solve the disagreement and sharing the responsibility (Olson & DeFrain, 2002). The means by which conﬂicts are handled and solved are important regarding conﬂicts in marriages. Well-managed and positively solved conﬂicts may contribute to satisfaction in marriage (Gülşen, 2010). How couples react during the conﬂict and how they manage them are thus signiﬁcant issues that aﬀect the state of their marriage, satisfaction from marriage, raising children, as well as the physical and mental health of couples (Kessler et al., 2003; Proulx et al., 2009). Some behavior of couples in marriages (spouse's communications or conﬂict resolution) may cause major depression (Cano-Prous, Moyá- Querejeta, Alonso, Martín-Lanas, & Cervera-Enguix, 2013). Further- more, the conﬂict resolution styles of both the depressed patients and their spouses are important for depressive symptoms. For example in a study on this subject that have been found while the behaviors of husbands towards conﬂicts in marriage cause major increases in their spouses' depressive symptoms, husbands' warm and sincere behaviors regulate the relationship between the marriage conﬂicts and the spouse's depressive symptoms (Proulx et al., 2009). Marital satisfaction also plays an important role in depressive symptoms (Levis, Kwakkenbos, Steele, & Hagedoorn, 2016). Conﬂict resolution styles and adjustment of couples in marital re- lationships are therefore very important for recovery from depression. Considering them concurrently will contribute to the depression treat- ment process. From the literature survey, it was observed that marital adjustment and conﬂict management styles in marriage have mostly been studied among healthy individuals to date. The eﬀects of marital adjustment levels on depression, as well as the conﬂict management styles used by both the patients and their spouses, are still not clearly https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnu.2017.11.022 Received 16 July 2016; Received in revised form 6 November 2017; Accepted 18 November 2017 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Gaziantep Üniversitesi Sağlık Bilimleri Fakültesi, 27310 Gaziantep, Turkey. E-mail address: dtanriverdi@gantep.edu.tr (D. Tanrıverdi). Archives of Psychiatric Nursing 32 (2018) 337–342 0883-9417/ © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. T