Marital Quality as a Moderator of the Association Between Sensory Impairments and Cognitive Functioning

Research suggests that marital quality may buffer the impact of sensory impairments in later life, and that marital quality relates to cognitive functioning. This study explored how marital quality moderated links between sensory impairments and cognitive functioning. We used data from 723 paired marital dyads from two cohorts in the NHATS and NSOC studies across three-year periods (n=340 dyads from waves 1, 2, 3; n=383 dyads from waves 5, 6, 7). Growth curve models of executive functioning indicated that marital quality moderated effects of both hearing and vision impairment on changes in cognitive functioning longitudinally. Specifically, higher marital quality was associated with higher executive functioning across time. Results suggested no improvement in executive functioning among those with average or lower marital quality. Although cognition declines with advanced age and with sensory impairments, results suggest that older adults with higher marital quality may improve in some aspects of cognition longitudinally.

DEALING WITH A DISTRESSED SPOUSE: MARITAL DYNAMICS IN SAME-SEX AND DIFFERENT-SEX COUPLES

We use a mixed-methods strategy to generate insights into gendered marital dynamics when one partner is experiencing high levels of psychological distress/depression. Our data are unique in their dyadic design and in the inclusion of same-sex and well as different-sex marital dyads. The data are from closed- and open-ended survey responses (from 808 gay, lesbian, and heterosexual spouses in 404 unions) as well as in-depth interview data (with a subsample of 45 gay, lesbian, and heterosexual couples in 90 unions). Respondents were asked about their most significant period of emotional distress during the marriage, how their spouse reacted to their distress (e.g., providing emotional or instrumental support, withdrawing), and how much they worried about burdening their spouse. Respondents were also asked how they reacted to their spouse’s periods of emotional distress. Preliminary results point to gendered experiences of distress within marriage that sometimes differ for same-sex compared to different-sex couples.

RE-CONCEPTUALIZING SPOUSAL CAREGIVING FROM A DYADIC PERSPECTIVE IN THE U.S.

Existing literature on later-life spousal caregiving tends to focus on one member of the marital dyads, assuming a priori distinction between the caregiver and care-receiver. Theoretically and empirically, this individualistic role-related (caregiver-receiver) approach is inaccurate, as the concept of spousal care intrinsically involves two people within a marital dyad. Therefore, this paper used a social exchange perspective to re-conceptualize spousal caregiving as a dyad-level phenomenon. Using the 2014 wave of the Health and Retirement Study, 6,500 individuals (3,250 couples) aged 65 and above and their spouse were selected. Based on each partner’s need for care, receipt of spousal care, and provision of spousal care, the study identified five distinctive caregiving typologies. Household-level factors such as the availability of other types of informal care were associated with these typologies. This paper offers a broader and more dynamic perspective of the spousal caregiving experiences.

Loneliness in the older adult marriage

Marriage protects against loneliness, but not all marriages are equally protective. While marriage is a highly interdependent relationship, loneliness in marital dyads has received very little research attention. Unlike most studies proposing that positive and negative marital qualities independently affect loneliness at the individual level, we used a contextual approach to characterize each partner’s ratings of the marriage as supportive (high support, low strain), ambivalent (high support, high strain), indifferent (low support, low strain), or aversive (low support, high strain) and examined how these qualities associate with own and partner’s loneliness. Using couple data from the Wave II National Social Life, Health and Aging Project ( N = 953 couples), we found that more than half of the older adults live in an ambivalent, indifferent, or aversive marriage. Actor–partner interdependence models showed that positive and negative marital qualities synergistically predict couple loneliness. Spouses in aversive marriages are lonelier than their supportively married counterparts (actor effect), and that marital aversion increases the loneliness of their partners (partner effect). In addition, wives (but not husbands) in indifferent marriages are lonelier than their supportively married counterparts. These effects of poor marital quality on loneliness were not ameliorated by good relationships with friends and relatives. Results highlight the prominent role of the marriage relationship for imbuing a sense of connectedness among older adults and underscore the need for additional research to identify strategies to help older adults optimize their marital relationship.