Robust evidence supports the bidirectional and prospective association between depressive symptoms and marital satisfaction in couple relationships (Davila et al., 2003; Morgan et al., 2018; Whisman & Uebelacker, 2009; Woods et al., 2019). Still, there is a need to investigate this longitudinal association for couples with distinct sociodemographic and sociocultural backgrounds (Whisman et al., 2021). Additionally, it is vital to examine how partners' marital satisfaction and depressive symptoms impact the other's marital satisfaction and depressive symptoms. Previous studies on Chinese couples found cross-sectional associations between depressive symptoms and marital distress, as well as unidirectional effects of marital distress on depression (Cao et al., 2017; Miller et al., 2013; Wang et al., 2014). However, the nature of the associations between depressive symptoms and marital satisfaction among Chinese couples remains unclear.The present study aims to investigate the bidirectional association between depressive symptoms and marital satisfaction among Chinese couples by controlling for potential confounding variables. A dyadic data analysis strategy was employed to test both actor and partner effects of the association. This study analyzed depressive symptoms and marital satisfaction over two years among 5,552 couples in rural (n = 4,021) and urban (n = 1,531) China. The results indicated a bidirectional association for Chinese couples overall. Specifically, a negative, bidirectional association between depression and marital satisfaction was found for Chinese couples. Both partners' depressive symptoms were negatively associated with their own levels of marital satisfaction at the baseline, and both partners' levels of marital satisfaction were linked to their own' initial levels of depressive symptoms, indicating that the actor effect was significant. Partner effects were insignificant when examining couples in rural and urban areas together. However, differences in the associations existed based on gender and household location. For couples in rural areas, male partners' depressive symptoms were associated with their own and their spouses' previous levels of marital satisfaction, while female partners' depressive symptoms were merely linked to their own levels of marital satisfaction at the baseline. Urban male partners' levels of depressive symptoms were not associated with either their own or their spouses' previous levels of marital satisfaction, in contrast to urban female partners' whose own levels of depressive symptoms were associated with previous levels of marital satisfaction. Other differences were also found in this study. Results revealed that the association between levels of marital satisfaction and depressive symptoms varied depending on the couples' personal characteristics. These findings strengthen the theoretical basis for applying couple therapy to treat both marital satisfaction and depression for Chinese couples. Future studies are needed to explore the factors and mechanisms causing the variations among couples in diverse sociodemographic regions.
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