MATTERS OF HEART: RELATIONS BETWEEN THE QUALITY OF COUPLE RELATIONSHIP AND THE COURSE OF MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION IN THE MALE PARTNER.

The literature about couple relationship and health showed that negative dimensions of marital functioning affect health indirectly through depression and health habits and directly through cardiovascular, immune, neurosensory, endocrine, and other physiological mechanisms. The aim ofthe present multicenter study is to evaluate the relationship between the quality of the couple relationship and the course of myocardial infarction in the male partner. 30 couples were recruited from the Cardiology Department of the San Giovanni Hospital of Rome after about a month from the myocardial infarction of the male partner. Both partners filled out the Experiences in Close Relationships Revised Form, the Dyadic Adjustment Scale, the 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale, the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and the Couple Relationship Inventory. Medical variables on the course and progression of the myocardial infarction were collected after 6 months from the first examination. Regarding males, results showed significant correlations between participants’ total alexithymia levels and their systolic blood pressure levels (r=.40; p=.03) and between participants’ Attachment Anxiety and the frequency of their physical exercise in the week (r=.45; p=.01). Regarding the relationships between characteristics of the female partners and the medical variables of their partner, results showed significant correlations between: the women’s total alexithymia levels and the obesity of their partner (r=.51; p=.00); the women’s Difficulties in Identifying Feelings and their partner’s low-density lipoprotein level (r=.42; p=.02); the women’s attachment Anxiety and their partner’s alcohol consumption in the week (r=.38; p=.04). Data contribute to confirm the effects of couple relationship on health, and specifically the relationships between psychological characteristics of one partner and the cardiovascular health of the other partner after a myocardial infarction.