Similarity in married couples: A longitudinal study of mental abilities and rigidity^flexibility.

Al, Gruber-Baldini; Kw, Schaie; Sl, Willis

doi:10.1037//0022-3514.69.1.191

Cited by 12 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 39 publications

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“…The second strand of literature this paper directly speaks to is the role of marriage (Fletcher & Marksteiner, 2017) in shaping health outcomes. While marriage has been found to be significantly associated with health gains (Wilson & Oswald, 2005), previous studies have also documented significant spousal correlation in various health outcomes, including physical health (Davillas & Pudney, 2017;Wilson, 2002), mental health (Fletcher, 2009;Powdthavee, 2009;Siegel et al, 2004;Townsend et al, 2001), cognitive abilities (Gerstorf et al, 2009;Gruber-Baldini et al, 1995), body weight (Brown et al, 2014;Clark & Etilé, 2006) and health-related behaviors (Banks et al, 2013;Clark & Etilé, 2006;Fletcher & Marksteiner, 2017). These studies suggest three main mechanisms-assortative mating, shared environment, and spillover (Clark & Etilé, 2006Davillas & Pudney, 2017;Falba & Sindelar, 2008;Fadlon & Nielsen, 2019;Meyler et al, 2007;Wilson, 2002)-in explaining spousal health concordance.…”

Section: Interrelation Of Health In Marriagementioning

confidence: 89%

Together in sickness and in health: Spillover of physical, mental, and cognitive health among older English couples

Jain,

2024

Health Economics

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Using data from eight waves of the English Longitudinal Study of Aging, we study the cross‐domain and cross‐spouse spillover of health among married adults aged 50 and above in England. We apply the system generalized method of moments to linear dynamic panel models for physical, mental, and cognitive health, controlling for individual heterogeneity and the influence of marriage market matching and shared environments. Our findings reveal bidirectional spillovers between memory abilities and mobility difficulty among men, as well as between depressive symptoms and mobility difficulty among women. Worsening mobility increases the risk of depression in men, but not vice versa. Additionally, gender‐specific cross‐spouse effects are observed. Women's mental health is significantly influenced by their spouse's mental health, while this effect is weaker for men. Conversely, men's mental health is notably affected by their spouse's physical health. These results highlight the importance of considering spillovers within families and across health domains when developing policies to promote health and reduce health disparities among the elderly population.

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