How Couple Relationships Affect Mental Health

Dear Colleagues,

There is ample evidence that relationships matter for both physical and mental health. The relationship between romantic partners (i.e., spouses and significant others) seems to have implications for several mental health issues, specifically depressive symptoms. There is debate in the field about the direction of the association. That is, do depressive symptoms in one partner lead to a decrease in relationship satisfaction, or does a decrease in relationship satisfaction lead to depressive symptoms? Much of the literature available includes only one member of the pair, and there is continuing debate about how best to measure relationship satisfaction.

In this Special Issue, authors are encouraged to submit manuscripts that include dyadic data on couple relationships and mental health outcomes, with a special emphasis on papers that include more nuanced ways of assessing relationship processes (i.e., positive and negative aspects of the relationship and their interaction; observational coding; and daily diary studies). Studies that include clinical populations and/or longitudinal studies, as well as same-sex couples, are also encouraged. 

Prof. Dr. Suzanne Bartle-Haring
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Behavioral Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• couple relationship processes
• depression
• dyadic data analyses
• moderation
• relationship satisfaction
• couple therapy outcome
• mental health