scholarly journals Precarious Work, Marital Quality, and Divorce: A Gendered Dyadic Analysis of Aging Couples

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 605-605
Author(s):  
Rachel Donnelly
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factor ◽  
Marital Quality ◽  
Job Insecurity ◽  
Dyadic Analysis ◽  
Dyadic Data ◽  
Precarious Work ◽  
Aging Adults ◽  
Midlife Adults ◽  
Marital Strain ◽  
Retirement Study

Abstract Precarious work – work that is unstable and insecure – is often stressful and may contribute to marital strain and dissolution among midlife adults. However, prior research has not considered how precarious work spills over to spouses. Using longitudinal dyadic data of midlife couples from the Health and Retirement Study, I examine whether having a spouse in precarious work is associated with marital strain and dissolution, with attention to differences by gender. I find that indicators of precarious work (job insecurity, schedule variability) are associated with a heightened risk of marital strain and divorce in midlife. These patterns depend on the gender of the spouse experiencing precarious work. Understanding the implications of precarious work for marriage is important because poor marital quality and divorce hasten health declines at older ages. Thus, this study suggests that precarious work may be a risk factor for divorce and poor health among aging adults.

Precarious Work in Midlife: Long-Term Implications for the Health and Mortality of Women and Men

2021 ◽  
pp. 002214652110550
Author(s):  
Rachel Donnelly
Keyword(s):  
Mortality Risk ◽  
Job Insecurity ◽  
Functional Limitations ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Health Consequences ◽  
Precarious Work ◽  
Health Trajectories ◽  
Aging Adults ◽  
Health And Mortality

Although prior research documents adverse health consequences of precarious work, we know less about how chronic exposure to precarious work in midlife shapes health trajectories among aging adults. The present study uses longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study to consider how histories of precarious work in later midlife (ages 50–65) shape trajectories of health and mortality risk after age 65. Results show that greater exposure to unemployment, job insecurity, and insufficient work hours in midlife predicts more chronic conditions and functional limitations after age 65. Characteristics of precarious work also predict increased mortality risk in later life. Findings indicate few gender differences in linkages between precarious work and health; however, women are more likely than men to experience job insecurity throughout midlife. Because precarious work is unlikely to abate, results suggest the need to reduce the health consequences of working in precarious jobs.

The Implications of Providing Grandchild Care for Grandparents’ Marital Quality

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (12) ◽  
pp. 2476-2501
Author(s):  
Shuangshuang Wang ◽  
Jan E. Mutchler
Keyword(s):  
Marital Quality ◽  
Health And Retirement Study ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Grandparent Caregivers ◽  
Grandchild Care ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
High Level ◽  
Marital Strain ◽  
Retirement Study

This study distinguished among types of grandchild care (i.e., co-residence, high and low levels of babysitting, and no care), and examined their associations with grandparents’ marital quality. The sample consisted of 7,267 married grandparents aged 40 years and over from the 2008, 2010, and 2012 waves of the Health and Retirement Study. Providing grandchild care generally undermined grandparents’ marital quality; however, different types of grandchild care affected different aspects of marital quality. The negative effects of providing grandchild care were more pronounced among grandmothers than grandfathers. Grandmothers providing high-level babysitting care were at especially higher risk of experiencing marital strain among the caregiver groups. Findings suggest that providing grandchild care appears to be more of a stressor than a source of reward with respect to shaping grandparents’ marital quality. Sensitivity to such impact on marital quality may be usefully incorporated into developing supports and services meant for grandparent caregivers.

scholarly journals Older Couples’ Marital Quality and Health Behaviors

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 348-348
Author(s):  
Angela Curl ◽  
Jennifer Bulanda ◽  
Amy Restorick Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Health Behaviors ◽  
Marital Quality ◽  
Older Couples ◽  
Dyadic Data ◽  
Healthy Behaviors ◽  
Joint Activities ◽  
Unhealthy Behavior ◽  
Retirement Study

Abstract Health benefits of marriage may stem in part from spouses discouraging unhealthy behavior and encouraging healthy practices. Although studies show spousal effects on health behaviors, few have assessed whether spousal effects vary by the quality of the marital relationship. Spouses in low-quality marriages may be less likely to engage in joint activities that promote health (e.g., shared exercise), make fewer attempts at monitoring their spouse’s health behaviors, and be less successful in their attempts to intervene. Those in unhappy relationships may also use unhealthy behaviors as maladaptive coping strategies to deal with marital stress. We use dyadic data from couples over age 50 in the 2006 and 2008 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to examine how both spouses’ ratings of positive and negative dimensions of marital quality are associated with their own and their spouses’ exercise and smoking (n=3,498 couples). Using HLM software, we estimated actor-partner interdependence models (APIM). Results indicate that both own and husbands’ ratings of positive marital quality are significantly associated with wives’ odds of smoking. Own perceptions of negative marital quality and wives’ perceptions of both positive and negative marital quality are associated with husbands’ odds of smoking. For wives, neither own nor spousal marital quality is significantly related to exercise. For husbands, however, wives’ higher positive marital quality and lower negative marital quality are associated with increased exercise. Strategies to improve marital quality may promote healthy behaviors among older adults, particularly for husbands.

scholarly journals Loneliness, Marital Quality, and Vascular Health Among Older U.S. Couples: A Longitudinal Dyadic Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 605-605
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Stokes ◽  
Adrita Barooah
Keyword(s):  
Marital Quality ◽  
Social Ties ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Vascular Health ◽  
Dyadic Data ◽  
Marital Support ◽  
Lagged Dependent Variable ◽  
Relational Experience ◽  
Retirement Study ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Loneliness is a contributor to later life declines in health, including vascular health. Importantly, loneliness is not restricted to those who lack close social ties: More than one-third of married U.S. older adults experience loneliness, and having a lonely spouse increases the likelihood of experiencing loneliness oneself. Thus, over time loneliness in either spouse may lead to worse health for both spouses. Using longitudinal dyadic data from the Health and Retirement Study (2008-2014), we estimated multilevel lagged dependent variable models to examine implications of both partners’ loneliness at baseline for each spouse’s HbA1c four years later. Findings revealed that effects of both partners’ loneliness were contingent upon marital quality: Own and partner’s loneliness led to increases in HbA1c when perceived marital support was low, but this was attenuated at higher levels of marital support. These results extend prior research concerning loneliness and vascular health, and loneliness as a relational experience.

scholarly journals Marital Effects in Later Life: Dyadic Approaches and Gender Differences

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 604-605
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Stokes ◽  
Deborah Carr
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Cognitive Functioning ◽  
Marital Quality ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Precarious Work ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Dyadic System ◽  
Marital Strain

Abstract Marriage is a dyadic system, within which the characteristics and experiences of each partner can have implications for both. Moreover, gender of both spouses may impact these dyadic influences. The five papers comprising this symposium all take a dyadic approach to studying midlife and older couples, and how their effects on one another may vary by gender. Donnelly examines the consequences of precarious work among midlife couples, finding heightened risks for marital strain and divorce, depending on which gender spouse is exposed to precarious work. Garcia also analyzes gender differences – in this case, how the gender of a woman’s spouse may affect associations between daily marital strain and sleep quality, with only women married to men showing adverse sleep outcomes. Polenick and colleagues study the long-term repercussions of chronic condition discordance, finding that both individual-level and couple-level discordance had impacts for husbands’ and wives’ physical activity. Gallagher and Stokes focus on cognitive functioning within dyads, revealing gendered effects: Wives’ poorer cognitive functioning was associated with their own (better) marital quality, while husbands’ poorer cognitive functioning was associated with wives’ (worse) marital quality. Lastly, Stokes and Barooah examine longitudinal dyadic associations between loneliness and vascular health, finding that own and partner’s baseline loneliness were associated with increased HbA1c levels only in the context of inferior marital support. Carr will assess the strengths and limitations of these papers, and discuss the contributions these studies can make to the field and to future research on marital effects and gender in later life.

Narcissism and Perceived Inequity in Attractiveness in Romantic Relationships

2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 295-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elke Rohmann ◽  
Hans-Werner Bierhoff ◽  
Martina Schmohr
Keyword(s):  
Romantic Relationships ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Gender Effect ◽  
Dyadic Analysis ◽  
Dyadic Data ◽  
Actor Partner Interdependence Model ◽  
Narcissistic Personality ◽  
Intraclass Correlations ◽  
Narcissistic Personality Inventory ◽  
Additional Variance

In three studies of romantic relationships (N = 253, N = 81, and N = 98) the hypothesis was tested that high narcissists, relative to low narcissists, distort the assessment of equity in attractiveness. Narcissism was measured by the Narcissistic Personality Inventory. In Study 1 the hypothesis was confirmed. In Study 2 it was shown that although narcissism correlated significantly with self-esteem, it was the unique variance in narcissism which predicted the tendency to feel underbenefited in respect to attractiveness. Finally in Study 3, dyadic data were analyzed on the basis of the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model. The data of 49 couples who lived together were included. The dyadic analysis indicated that actor narcissism exerted the expected influence on perceived inequity in attractiveness, whereas partner narcissism explained no additional variance. High narcissists felt more underbenefited than low narcissists. The analysis of dyadic data in Study 3 indicates that the link between narcissism and equity in attractiveness turns out to be an intrapersonal phenomenon because only actor narcissism, not partner narcissism, is significantly correlated with perceived inequity. In addition, partial intraclass correlations revealed that if one partner tended to feel underbenefited, the other partner tended to feel overbenefited. The results are explained on the basis of the agentic model of narcissism. All three studies consistently revealed a gender effect indicating that women felt more underbenefited than men in terms of attractiveness.

scholarly journals Marital quality and loneliness in later life

2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey E. Stokes
Keyword(s):  
Marital Quality ◽  
Married Couples ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Dyadic Data ◽  
Initial Wave ◽  
Opposite Sex ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Unpleasant Experience ◽  
The U.S

Loneliness is not merely an unpleasant experience but is harmful for older adults’ health and well-being as well. While marriage buffers against loneliness in later life, even married adults experience loneliness, and aspects of adults’ marriages may either protect against or actually foster loneliness among spouses. The current study analyzed dyadic data from 1,114 opposite-sex married Irish couples who participated in the initial wave of The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (2009–2011) in order to extend findings of two prior dyadic studies of marital quality and loneliness in the U.S. to older married couples in Ireland and to directly compare two theoretical and methodological frameworks used by these studies to explain associations between husbands’ and wives’ reports of marital quality and loneliness in later life. Results revealed that both spouses’ perceptions of positive and negative marital quality were significantly related with husbands’ and wives’ loneliness and that spouses’ reports of loneliness were significantly related with one another. Findings also indicated that associations between marital quality and loneliness were similar for Irish and American couples in later life. Comparison of differing modeling strategies suggested that emotional contagion may serve as a pathway for dyadic partner effects.

Job Insecurity as a Risk Factor for Common Infections and Health Complaints

2003 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle C.L. Mohren ◽  
Gerard M.H. Swaen ◽  
Ludovic G.P.M. van Amelsvoort ◽  
Paul J.A. Borm ◽  
Jochem M.D. Galama
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factor ◽  
Job Insecurity ◽  
Health Complaints ◽  
Common Infections

Dyadic Analysis in International Relations: A Cautionary Tale

2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 457-463 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert S. Erikson ◽  
Pablo M. Pinto ◽  
Kelly T. Rader
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Statistical Tests ◽  
Standard Errors ◽  
Dyadic Analysis ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Cautionary Tale ◽  
Randomization Tests ◽  
Dyadic Data ◽  
Independent Events ◽  
Trading Partners

International relations scholars frequently rely on data sets with country pairs, or dyads, as the unit of analysis. Dyadic data, with its thousands and sometimes hundreds of thousands of observations, may seem ideal for hypothesis testing. However, dyadic observations are not independent events. Failure to account for this dependence in the data dramatically understates the size of standard errors and overstates the power of hypothesis tests. We illustrate this problem by analyzing a central proposition among IR scholars, the democratic trade hypothesis, which claims that democracies seek out other democracies as trading partners. We employ randomization tests to infer the correctp-values associated with the trade hypotheses. Our results show that typical statistical tests for significance are severely overconfident when applied to dyadic data.

Two-Wave Dyadic Analysis of Marital Quality and Loneliness in Later Life: Results From the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing

2016 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 635-656 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey E. Stokes
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Induction Hypothesis ◽  
Intimate Relationships ◽  
Marital Quality ◽  
Married Couples ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Dyadic Analysis ◽  
Cognitive Perspective

This study examines dyadic reports of marital quality and loneliness over a two-year period among 932 older married couples resident in Ireland. Data from the first two waves of The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (2009–2013) were analyzed to determine whether husbands’ and wives’ marital quality and loneliness at baseline predicted both spouses’ loneliness 2 years later. Two-wave lagged models tested the cognitive perspective on loneliness, the induction hypothesis, and actor–partner interdependence. Results indicated that perceptions of negative marital quality at baseline were related with greater loneliness 2 years later, supporting the cognitive perspective. Further, both spouses’ reports of loneliness at baseline were related with loneliness 2 years later, supporting the induction hypothesis. Partners’ reports of marital quality were not related with future loneliness, failing to support actor–partner interdependence. I discuss the implications of these findings for theory, practice, and future research concerning intimate relationships and loneliness in later life.

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