Abstract

Personality traits, marital adjustment, depression and anxiety are closely interrelated, and their complex interrelationships can differ between ambivalent and supportive social ties. This study investigated the intricate pattern of these interrelationships among personality traits (agreeableness, conscientiousness, extroversion, openness to experience, neuroticism), three dimensions of marital adjustment (spousal consensus, spousal cohesion, marital satisfaction), depression, and anxiety using network analyses. The network structure was characterized, and centrality indices of strength and bridge strength were examined. Group differences between ambivalent and supportive social ties were also assessed using the Network Comparison Test. Results based on a sample of 485 married adults (Mage=54.38) revealed that depression, anxiety, and neuroticism were densely interrelated and negatively connected to marital satisfaction. Depression, neuroticism, and spousal consensus were identified as central nodes, and depression and neuroticism were central bridge nodes in the network. The connections of conscientiousness and spousal consensus, and neuroticism and marital satisfaction were found only in the supportive ties, whereas the connection of agreeableness and depression was stronger in supportive ties than in ambivalent ties. The findings underscore that focusing on strength-based personality traits and spousal consensus could be beneficial for effective intervention efforts.