The contribution of spouse responses and marital satisfaction to the experience of chronic tinnitus

Abstract

There is a dearth of literature examining the contribution of spouse responses and marital satisfaction to the experience of chronic tinnitus. The present study therefore aimed to examine the relationships of tinnitus‐relevant solicitous and punishing spouse responses and global levels of marital satisfaction to patients' use of maladaptive or effective coping strategies, their reported levels of tinnitus severity and the degree of anxiety and depression that they experienced. Ninety‐one patients and 74 spouses completed self‐report questionnaires. Results indicated that solicitous responses (i.e. sympathetic responses to complaints about tinnitus) were directly and positively related to a maladaptive coping style and reported levels of tinnitus severity in male but not female patients. Punishing responses (i.e. ignoring or selectively punishing complaints) were directly and positively related to anxiety and depression, both of which in turn mediated a relationship between punishing and maladaptive coping and tinnitus severity. On the basis of these findings, it was tentatively concluded that solicitous responses have a detrimental effect on the experience of chronic tinnitus in the manner predicted by the operant conditioning model of chronic pain, while punishing responses have a detrimental effect in a manner consistent with a social support perspective. Global levels of marital satisfaction were found to be negatively associated with anxiety and depression. The general finding that marital dysfunction is predictive of negative affect was therefore supported in a sample of chronic tinnitus patients.

• tinnitus severity
• coping style
• marital interactions