Negative emotional states, marital status and gender: a comparative study

ABSTRACT

The aim of the present study was to investigate negative emotional states of depression, anxiety and stress in married and unmarried men and women. It was hypothesized that the level of depression, anxiety and stress would be high in unmarried men and women as compared to married men and women. The sample of the study comprised of 137 participants, 82 participants were male [50 married and 32 unmarried] and 55 were female [31 married and 24 unmarried] age ranging from 35 to 50 years. Their socioeconomic status was middle and their minimum educational level was graduation. Depression Anxiety Stress Scales [DASS] [Lovibond and Lovibond, 1995] was administered to measure negative emotional states of depression, anxiety and stress in married and unmarried men and women. Two-Way ANOVA was applied through statistical package for social sciences [SPSS, V-12.0] to test the significance of results. Results reflect Marital Status as a significant determinant for depression [F [1, 133] =21.69, p<.001], anxiety [F [1, 133]= 24.44, p<.001] and stress [F [1, 133] = 12.06, p<.001]. However factor of gender found to be not significant as trivial difference was found among males and females on variable of depression, anxiety and stress. Further, interaction effect of gender and marital status found to play significant role in determining depression and anxiety but not in stress. It was found that unmarried females are the most vulnerable group for all the three negative emotional states