Spousal Interrelations in Old Age – A Mini-Review

Abstract

We review findings on spousal interrelations in old age in such key domains as cognition, well-being, and health. Therein, we demonstrate that spousal interrelations may extend developmental options but may also make an individual vulnerable to the experience of loss. We address theoretical questions concerning possible underlying mechanisms, e.g. individual and spousal goal-related processes. Furthermore, we draw attention to important methodological challenges such as identifying processes that operate along different time scales and employing adequate data analytic tools. We propose that aging research may benefit from an examination of interrelations in developmental pathways of multiple co-developing individuals such as spouses and point to the need to disentangle individual from relationship-specific effects.

The Benefits of Social Technology Use Among Older Adults Are Mediated by Reduced Loneliness

“…24 Health behavior and illnesses also spread through social networks and are coordinated within relational dyads. 25,26 Finally, the personality and health behavior of individuals in an older adult's social network can be the antecedents to positive health changes, irrespective of that individual's initial personality and health behavior.…”

Biobehavioral Pathways Underlying Spousal Health Dynamics: Its Nature, Correlates, and Consequences

“…Yet, marriage per se does not guarantee good health. In fact, adults in unhappy marriages face the same health burden as people who are single [1,3]. Interestingly, most research investigating the impact of marriage on health has focused on the individual as the unit of analysis (e.g., married individuals on average outlive those who are not married [1]), thereby limiting our ability to better understand the spousal dynamics and mutual influences that occur within a given marriage and link them to aging outcomes [2,4].…”

“…In fact, adults in unhappy marriages face the same health burden as people who are single [1,3]. Interestingly, most research investigating the impact of marriage on health has focused on the individual as the unit of analysis (e.g., married individuals on average outlive those who are not married [1]), thereby limiting our ability to better understand the spousal dynamics and mutual influences that occur within a given marriage and link them to aging outcomes [2,4]. However, recent research using long-term longitudinal data from both spouses has started to demonstrate that physical and mental health wax and wane in association with the respective spouse over periods of years and decades [5,6].…”

Spousal Goals, Affect Quality, and Collaborative Problem Solving: Evidence from a Time-Sampling Study With Older Couples

“…spouses influence each other's daily-life activities and feelings (Berg & Upchurch, 2007;Hoppmann & Gerstorf, 2009;Larson & Almeida, 1999;Laurenceau & Bolger, 2005). Investigating daily goal-related processes in marital relationships is important because they may accumulate over time, potentially providing an explanation for well-documented dyadic associations in long-term aging trajectories (Bookwala & Schulz, 1996;Hoppmann, Gerstorf, Willis, & Schaie, 2011;Strawbridge, Wallhagen, & Shema, 2007).…”