The Impact of Spouse's Health and Well-Being on Own Well-Being: A Dyadic Study of Older Married Couples

Abstract

This longitudinal study employed a dyadic approach to examine the impact of older spouses' functional health and psychological well-being on each other's psychological well-being, beyond the effects of own age and functional health. Participants were 71 community-living married couples (M = 70 years old) who were individually interviewed about their health (i.e., functional ability) and psychological well-being (i.e., depressive symptomology, perceived stress, perceived control), then reinterviewed two years later to reassess their well-being. Results indicated both contagion of well-being between spouses and gender differences in the impact of spousal health and well-being on own well-being. Specifically, spousal stress predicted own stress and various spousal well-being measures predicted the other partner's well-being. Unlike prior findings, there was no indication of women being more sensitive (than men) to their spouse's health or well-being. Instead, aside from their own prior well-being, men's well-being was largely predicted by their wives' functional health and well-being, whereas the biggest predictor of women's well-being was their own functional health. Implications for healthcare providers addressing the potentially differing needs of older adults based upon their spouse's health and well-being are discussed.