A dyadic approach to health, cognition, and quality of life in aging adults.

Abstract

Married couples evidence interdependence in their psychological and physical wellbeing across the life span. This is particularly true in aging populations that experience declines in physical health and cognitive ability. This study investigated the effects of partners' physical health and cognition on quality of life (QoL) in a series of bivariate latent curve growth models. The sample included aging married couples (N = 8,187) who participated in the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) study and provided data across 6 years. Results indicated that husbands' and wives' baseline levels and rates of change in QoL covaried significantly over time. In addition, husbands' and wives' physical health and cognition predicted their partners' baseline level of QoL above and beyond their own health and cognition, and these effects were of equivalent size for both men and women. The findings suggest that as couples age, husbands' and wives' QoL, cognition, and health are predictive of their partners' QoL.

Lovesick: How Couples’ Relationships Influence Health

“…Survey data from aging adults showed that wives’ and husbands’ quality of life traveled together over time; furthermore, each partner’s self-reported physical health and cognition predicted their spouses’ baseline quality of life, even after controlling for their own health and cognition (Bourassa et al, 2015b). In turn, better quality of life scores were related to longer-term health outcomes including better cardiovascular health, better sleep, and lower all-cause mortality (Bourassa et al, 2015b).…”

“…In turn, better quality of life scores were related to longer-term health outcomes including better cardiovascular health, better sleep, and lower all-cause mortality (Bourassa et al, 2015b). Indeed, interdependence in couples' quality of life can persist even after a partner's death; among couples in which one spouse had died, the surviving partner’s later quality of life was associated with the deceased’s prior life quality (Bourassa et al, 2015a).…”

“…Crossover or spillover effects can arise in one partner following a spouse’s negative experience, particularly when one member of the couple is experiencing health problems (Bourassa et al, 2015b). In a diary study, patients diagnosed with both diabetes and osteoarthritis had heightened blood glucose problems and arthritis severity on days when their disease-free spouses reported worse physical symptoms (Yorgason et al, 2012).…”

Beyond the Individual: The Interdependence of Advance Directive Completion by Older Married Adults

“…It was also expected that husbands’ education and health‐related predictors would exhibit stronger partner effects on wives’ ACP than vice versa. Because of cultural norms that result in women assuming relational self‐concepts, older women tend to be more sensitive than men to the physical, cognitive, and emotional states of their spouses . Spousal education frequently confers more economic benefits on women than men .…”

“…Because of cultural norms that result in women assuming relational self-concepts, older women tend to be more sensitive than men to the physical, cognitive, and emotional states of their spouses. 22,23 Spousal education frequently confers more economic benefits on women than men. 24 Greater financial resources may enable ACP through access to higher-quality health care or as part of estate planning.…”