Spousal Interrelations in Self-Reports of Cognition in the Context of Marital Problems

Abstract

Background: Problems with cognitive function are common among older adults, yet there is little research assessing the extent to which the cognitive problems of older husbands and wives are related to those of their partners and whether any observed relationships are moderated by gender or marital quality. Objectives: Our purpose was to analyze longitudinal relationships between older spouses’ cognitive function and the cognitive function of their partners 5 years later, as well as to assess moderating roles of gender and marital quality. Methods: The subjects were 378 community-dwelling couples aged 46–89 years at baseline who were followed for 5 years. Cognitive function was measured with a scale assessing problems remembering names, finding the right word, misplacing things and paying attention. Marital quality was assessed by comparing those reporting marital problems often or sometimes with those reporting marital problems rarely or never. All data were collected by self-report. Statistical models adjusted for paired data where appropriate and included partner cognitive function, age, chronic conditions and financial hardship. Stratified models assessed moderating roles of gender and marital problems. Results: We found a negative relationship between husbands’ baseline lower cognitive function and wives’ subsequent cognitive function but only for the wives reporting marital problems. We found no comparable relationship between wives’ baseline lower cognitive function and their husbands’ subsequent cognitive function. Conclusions: Our gender-specific finding for wives is consistent with the gender differences noted in 2 previous studies. The limitation to wives with problems in their marriages is a new finding and might follow increased stress and depression responding to changes in their husbands’ cognitive functioning.

Dyadic Interrelations in Lifespan Development and Aging: How Does 1 + 1 Make a Couple? – Introduction

“…Fourth, individual differences relating to gender, personality or resource status, among others, play a key role in shaping social interrelations across adulthood and old age [14,15] . All studies in this series address some aspect of heterogeneity, with the contribution by Strawbridge et al [16] in particular demonstrating how dynamics within a given domain are influenced by marital quality.…”

“…All studies have in common that they use couple data, but some illustrate naturally occurring spousal interrelations in aging [7,10,16] , whereas others focus on highly controlled tests of dyadic mechanisms using lab-based experimental approaches and including nonspousal dyads [13] . The studies using longitudinal couple data examine dyadic processes that operate over different time frames, ranging from multiple years [10,16] to days with repeated daily-life assessments [7] .…”

“…All studies have in common that they use couple data, but some illustrate naturally occurring spousal interrelations in aging [7,10,16] , whereas others focus on highly controlled tests of dyadic mechanisms using lab-based experimental approaches and including nonspousal dyads [13] . The studies using longitudinal couple data examine dyadic processes that operate over different time frames, ranging from multiple years [10,16] to days with repeated daily-life assessments [7] . Finally, this special series brings together studies using population-based samples of community-dwelling older spouses [10,15] , specific patient samples [7] and discrete experimental samples [13] to address how dyadic mechanisms operate in both healthy and vulnerable older spouses.…”

“…The first paper [16] identifies gender-specific lead-lag associations in perceptions of cognitive functioning and long-term change. Specifically, lower husbands' self-reports of cognitive function were predictive of self-reported cognitive function in the respective wife 5 years later, but only if the wife reported marital problems.…”

“…One factor pertains to the role of gender, given the asymmetries noted in the lead-lag relationships between husbands and wives as identified by both Strawbridge et al [16] and by Walker et al [10] . It was not possible to disentangle the role of gender from that of being a husband or wife, as the two are inherently conflated.…”