The Connection Between Close Relationships and Depression

Jin Wu

Department of Science, McMaster University, Hamilton, L8S 4L8, Canada

Keywords: Close Relationship, Depression, Attachment.

Abstract: Depression, or major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the most pervasive mental health disorders that has

affected millions of individuals globally. In this field of study, researchers have examined many factors that

could affect and help with the disorder. In this review, the intricate connection between close relationships

and depression is discussed. By exploring how the quality of intimate relationships including romantic

partnerships, family relationships, and close friendships influence the depressive symptoms, several

conclusions have been made. Supportive and high-quality relationships could serve as protective factors that

reduced the risk and severity of depression as well as provided emotional resilience. On the other hand,

conflict, abuse or insecure attachment styles could increase the vulnerability to depressive symptoms. This

bidirectional influence was addressed, acknowledging that depression could also strain close relationships.

The implication for supportive therapy and interventions such as Emotional Focused Therapy (EFT) and

Family Based Therapy (FBT) were also discussed.

1 INTRODUCTION

Recently, depression has become one of the biggest

and most pervasive mental health disorders

worldwide. Individuals from various age groups and

cultural backgrounds were affected and 6% of the

population globally meets the major depressive

disorder criteria at a specific time point (Penninx et

al., 2013). As depression became prevalent, much

research has been conducted in studying this field.

Depression could be characterized by loss of interest

and enjoyment in life, irregular sleep patterns,

persistent feelings of sadness and associated

cognitive, behavioural, and emotional symptoms

(Penninx et al., 2013). The importance of studying

depression was unadopted as it may rise to a first

place ranking global disease burden (Mathers &

Loncar, 2006). Due to the major symptoms of

depression, which has a great impact on functioning

and quality of life and higher chance in getting other

diseases in the life period, depression largely affects

public health (Penninx et al., 2013). Because of the

complex and multifaceted nature of depression,

researchers still have a long journey on understanding

the environmental, psychological, and social factors

that contribute to its onset and progression. Based on

these factors, close relationships including romantic,

familial, and close friendships draw attention to the

potential influences on mental health outcomes.

Previous research has shown that the increase of

major depressive disorder is related to insecure

family, friendship, and romantic partner relationships

(Goodman et al., 2019). Close relationships are

necessary to human well-being, it offers emotional

support, companionship, and a sense of belonging

while the partner can provide help, support goal

striving, and celebrate the accomplishments together

(Clark & Grote, 2012). Positive relationships help

against the life challenges and stressors, which make

one’s life brighter and happier. However, a negative

relationship such as insecure or conflict will

exacerbate one’s feelings of loneliness and

hopelessness.

By exploring the connection between depression

and close relationships, this review can provide

critical insights into how positive relationships

promote mental well-being and why negative

relationships can be harmful. Understanding these

dynamics is essential for developing comprehensive

approaches to mental health and imply the role of

close relationships in supporting interventions and

therapies.

This study will review articles that relate to how

the quality of romantic partnerships, family

relationships, and close friendships influence the

depressive symptoms, and discuss the possible

factors in the close relationships that affect the

depression.

Wu, J.

The Connection Between Close Relationships and Depression.

DOI: 10.5220/0014121600004942

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Applied Psychology and Marketing Management (APMM 2025), pages 435-439

ISBN: 978-989-758-791-7

435

2 METHOD

A comprehensive literature search was conducted

using the database Google Scholar. Following search

terms and their derivatives were used: close

relationship, mental disorder, depression, major

depressive disorder, romantic relationship, close

friendship, family, and depression symptom. Studies

were included in accordance with the following

criteria: (i) has evidence-based conclusion in how

depression affects the close relationships, (ii) contain

empirical data, (iii) contain analysis related to the

connection between two objects. Each study would be

read and reviewed fully and the conclusion about the

connection between depression and close relationship

would be made after the review. A total of 25 articles

were reviewed.

3 LITERATURE REVIEW

3.1 Influence of Romantic Partnerships

on Depression

The quality of romantic relationships has significant

impacts on depression, it serves as both a risk and

protective factor. Positive romantic relationships such

as individuals having a secure attachment style tend

to have a positive perception of themselves and their

partner, allowing them to build supportive and

trusting relationships. Those kinds of individuals are

more likely to seek emotional support when they face

stressful events and benefit from stable relationships.

Securely attached individuals often report lower

levels of depressive symptoms since their

relationships give them a reliable backup of comfort

and resilience (Beatson & Taryan, 2003).

Conversely, the negative relationships or insecure

relationships increase the vulnerability to depression.

Insecure relationships can be formed by individuals

who have insecure attachment styles such as avoidant

attachment style and anxious attachment style.

Avoidant attachment style can reflect how individuals

are comfortable with closeness and emotional

intimacy in a relationship. Highly avoidant peoples

have positive but brittle self-views, they see their

romantic partners negatively and they do not give

hope to the relationships (Simpson et al., 1996).

Avoidant people believe that they cannot get

emotional support or proximity from their partner, so

they maintain high independence and control in their

relationships. They usually behave negatively when

coping with situations as well as communicating with

partners. Individuals with anxious attachment styles

often think negatively of themselves, worry about

being abandoned by their partners, as well as heavily

seek emotional support from their partners (Simpson

et al., 1996). This worrying behaviour always pulls

their partners away and worsen their mental health.

Those insecure attachments predict higher levels of

anxiety symptoms in depression and anxious

attachment styles are more associated with higher

depressive symptoms (Yi et al., 2012). One

longitudinal study conducted within 1706 adolescents

also proved that. The participants were tested three

times in total with a one-year interval between each

measurement (Verhees et al., 2021). The result

indicated that both anxiety and avoidant attachment

style could affect the depressive symptoms (Verhees

et al., 2021). Another research indicated that

individuals high on attachment anxiety and/or

avoidance tend to have higher rates of depressive

symptoms than those with low levels of attachment

anxiety and/or avoidance (McGuire et al., 2018).

Other than the attachment style, the relationship

status could also affect depression. One meta-analysis

investigated the association between adolescent

romantic relationship quality, breakups and mental

health outcomes. The results showed that higher

relationship quality was associated with better mental

health outcomes, and the breakups were linked to

increased depression (Mirsu-Paun & Oliver, 2017).

The conflict and intimacy in romantic relationships

are other factors that could affect depression. These

factors directly related to the quality of romantic

relationships and their association between

depression was supported by one new research. The

research examined how intimacy and conflict in

romantic relationships among emerging adults

predicted depressive symptoms and got the results

that both intimacy and conflict were directly related

to depressive symptoms (Graziano et al., 2024).

3.2 Family Relationships and

Depression

Family relationships are one of the most significant

factors in one’s life that shape developments from

early childhood to adulthood. Family acts as a

primary source of emotional support and stress

management which have profound effects on mental

health. The childhood experiences play a strong role

in shaping one’s emotional development, painful

childhood such as abusing experiences or ignoring by

the parents affect one’s feeling of worthiness and

associate with long-term mental health challenges.

For example, early interactions with caregivers

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significantly shape attachment styles, the attachment

styles formed can influence emotional regulation and

coping mechanisms. Secure attachment increases

resilience and reduces vulnerability to depression,

and insecure or disorganized attachment styles

increase the risk of getting depression. In an

individual’s life, a supportive and less conflictual

family relationship can be protective to individuals’

mental states and maintain stability under challenging

situations (Mason et al., 2009). A study published in

2019 indicated that positive family relationships

during adolescence are associated with better mental

health outcomes, they had less chance to get

depression, and it extended into adulthood (Chen &

Harris, 2019). For the adolescent study, another

research has been done in China and suggested that a

relaxed and happy family atmosphere, higher

emotional differentiation among family members,

and less parental control are associated with lower

likelihood of depression in adolescents (Shi et al.,

2023). Another analysis has shown that individuals

with a stable and positive family environment were

low in depression symptoms and high in self-concept

(Lau & Kwok, 2000). The study was done with 2706

adolescents in Hong Kong and the stable and positive

family environment could be described as cohesive,

orderly, and achieving family environment in the

study (Lau & Kwok, 2000). There were lots of studies

that tested on adolescents, but for adults, are there any

family relationship’s effect on depression? The

answer is yes. One research analysed the relationship

between depression and family arguments among

older adults, the results showed that more family

arguments predicted harsher depressive symptoms in

both men and women (Wong et al., 2020). Other than

this result, the research also found that depression can

lead to increased family conflicts and worsen the

depressive symptoms, also creating a reciprocal

relationship between depression and family conflicts

(Wong et al., 2020).

3.3 Social Isolation and Depression

Social isolation is a significant and well-documented

risk factor for depression, lack of meaningful social

connections with others can lead to emotional distress

and psychological challenges. Although social

isolation can be a risk factor in depression, there was

no evidence that indicates a significant relationship

between social isolation and its impact on depressive

symptoms when an individual already has depression

(Santini et al., 2015). One possible reason could be

that individuals who have depression have already

isolated themselves from society and they might be

used to it, so when the researchers did the experiment,

there was no significant impact on the depressive

symptoms.

3.4 Bidirectional Influence:

Depression’s Impact on

Relationships

The relationship between depression and close

relationships is bidirectional, which both affect each

other in a reciprocal way. While the quality of close

relationships significantly affects the progression of

depressive symptoms, depression can also alter the

nature of these relationships. Understanding this

bidirectional connection is essential for addressing

the relationship between depression and close

relationships. In the aspect of romantic relationships,

a securely attached individual with partners who have

depression would result in an insecure romantic

relationship (Sharabi et al., 2016). Another study has

indicated that lower levels of depression and anxiety

could form a better quality of romantic relationship

(Leach et al., 2013). Depression also connected to the

atmosphere in the family. One research has shown

that depressive parents had higher chance in child

abuse which would affect the mental states of the

child and affect their future life (Burke et al., 2003).

In the research done by Wong et al mentioned above,

its result indicated that depression affects the family

relationships and created a negative reciprocal cycle

(Wong et al., 2020). In the context of social

interaction and depressive symptoms, Elmer and

Stadtfeld held a study in 2018 among undergraduate

students and found out that individuals with

depressive symptoms engaged in fewer social

interactions, they often stayed with others who have

similar symptoms. This study suggested that

depression could lead to social withdrawal, and social

isolation may worsen depressive symptoms, which

created a cyclical effect (Elmer & Stadtfeld, 2018).

4 DISCUSSION

These findings highlight the connections between

depression and close relationships in romantic

partnerships, family relationships and social

friendships, which emphasizes the importance of how

relationships can interact with depression. To further

use these findings to help depressed individuals,

psychologists should use more strategies such as

Emotional Focused Therapy (EFT) and Family Based

Therapy (FBT) when they treat patients with

The Connection Between Close Relationships and Depression

437

depression. These therapies could specifically

address relational dynamics and aim to improve the

quality of close relationships as well as decrease the

symptoms of depression. The EFT focuses more on

creating secure attachment bonds within romantic

relationships. The FBT targets more on family

relationships which could help to make a supportive

home environment for individuals with depression.

Society and community can also play a role in helping

the patients. For example, the community could

provide opportunities to individuals to build

meaningful social connections and give them

emotional support when they feel bad. Those

supporting programs could help individuals with

depression to decrease symptoms and reduce pain.

Future research could focus on longitudinal studies

that examine the long-term impact of close

relationships on depression and vice versa. Also, the

investigation of how cultural and societal factors

affect the relationship between depression and close

relationships could provide valuable insights.

This study does have several limitations. It is not

targeting one specific group which may affect the

accuracy of different ethical or age groups. For

example, adolescents with depression might be more

affected in family relationships than adults. There

might be differences between women and men. Only

25 articles were reviewed which is a limited number

and the result may not be very trustworthy. It also

does not have a time frame on the reviewed article

and there lacks some explanation on the several

conflicts in the selected articles.

5 CONCLUSION

There is a significant bidirectional connection

between depression and close relationships. Insecure

romantic relationships including avoidant attachment

and anxious attachment would result in higher

depressive symptoms as secure romantic

relationships show lower depressive symptoms. The

relationship status such as break ups, as well as the

intimacy and conflict within romantic relationships

also affect the depressive symptoms significantly.

More supportive and secure family environment leads

to fewer depression. Social isolation would count as

a risk factor to depression but not an influencer for

existing depression. The understanding of the

relationship between close relationships and

depression helps for developing effective therapeutic

interventions and forming healthier relationships.

These findings address both the relational and

individual aspects of depression, which helps the

psychologists and mental health professionals to

better support individuals in healing and curing the

depression and achieving emotional resilience.

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